Now, let’s turn our attention to the main space where you do writing: your desk.

The financial guru Dave Ramsey says that you must make your money behave. Why? Because our human nature is to let money get out of control.

The same is true for your desk. If you’re not careful, your desk can easily get out of control. Before you know it, your desk becomes a catch-all for mail, to-do lists, trinkets, pens, notebooks, your computer, and books to read.

I have a general rule that everything on my desk has to justify its existence. In other words, nothing goes on my desk unless it has a very good reason to be there. Every item on your desk is literally asking for your attention by virtue of its being there. So, if you want to clear your mind and free up mental space for writing, clean off your desk and put stuff away.

Some writers believe that a messy desk is a sign of brilliance or creative genius. It doesn’t mean any of those things. A messy desk just means that you’re disorganized.

When I taught college, one of my fellow professors had the messiest office I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of messy offices!). He had books piled all over the floor, and his desk looked like someone had literally taken a box of papers and dumped them all over the place.

I felt incredibly stressed just being in that environment. I had no idea how he concentrated or got any work done… much less found the papers he needed to grade!

When you’re cleaning your desk, don’t forget about the drawers. These can become black holes for all kinds of office supplies and junk. When cleaning out drawers, there are two important rules to follow:

1. The 6-month rule: If I haven’t used it in the last six months, and I probably won’t use it in the next 6 months, it needs to go.
2. The rule of two: You don’t need any more than two of an item. You don’t need 4 cheap plastic letter openers with insurance agents’ logos, you don’t need 85 dry-erase markers, and you don’t need those 4-gigabyte thumb drives from 2007… none of which probably work anyway.

Why do we keep stuff like this we don’t need? Because of fear. We’re afraid we will suddenly need 170 colored paper clips and they won’t be there. This comes from a scarcity mindset. Learn to let go of this clutter and junk that populates our desks and their drawers. It will free up a lot of mental space.

Your desk is a sacred space. If you’re a writer, your desk is your sanctuary. If you’re a person of faith, you wouldn’t walk into church and dump all the junk in your desk drawer onto the floor.

So, if you’re fulfilling your sacred calling as a writer, why would you treat your desk any differently? Come to your sanctuary each day with proper reverence and respect. Treat it like the holy place it is.

Today’s Challenge: Take ten minutes and clean off your desk. Organize your desk drawers and get rid of the junk. Use those extra letter openers to open all the checks that will be coming your way from your increased productivity and more mental space due to a clean desk!

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We all hang onto certain things longer than we should. I tend to hang onto cords, cables, technology, and sentimental items I no longer need. I’m the guy who still has Huey Lewis cassettes from 1985 in his closet… along with the broken Walkman to play them! I’ve always been a packrat.

The problem with being a packrat is that these items clutter your life… and your work area.

As I approach 50 in the next couple of years, I’m much less inclined to hang onto this stuff than I used to be. I’m downright ruthless these days when cleaning. I challenge you to go through your work area and get rid of any items that are no longer serving you.

For example, as I look around my office right now, I see several things that need to go. There’s a random stick of Chapstick on my bookcase someone gave me for Christmas. I never use Chapstick but I felt guilty throwing it away. I see a pencil sharpener I have used a grand total of one time.

I see a Kindle Paperwhite tablet that’s about 8 years old, and I never use it. I see a small drawstring bag that held a small gift. I thought I might use the bag but it’s sat on my shelf untouched for almost a year. I see a high-quality lanyard that has my old college’s logo on it. The lanyard held my college name tag, and I wore it around my neck every day for the last few years I worked there. I kept it for sentimental reasons, but there’s no reason for me to keep it.

You see a pattern here: I felt a tinge of guilt at the idea of throwing these items away. But here’s the problem with hanging onto things we don’t need anymore: each unwanted item contains just a bit of emotional energy that we could free up for things that are relevant to our lives right now.

I will either throw away each of these items or find a new home for them. You can probably identify lots of items in your work area also. Physical items are not neutral. Your relationship with those items either adds positive energy to your life because it’s helping you in some way now… or it’s draining your energy because you feel guilt for not removing it from your life.

As you can see, this exercise isn’t just about being “neat” and “organized.” It’s really about getting your emotional life in order. Writing requires a lot of emotional energy. If you can free up more energy by getting rid of random junk, knick-knacks, and other odds and ends from your physical space, you will have that much more energy to give to the things that matter to you.

Today’s Challenge: Take five minutes and get rid of random stuff in your work area. If you hesitate or feel ambivalent about keeping it, that’s a sign it should probably go.

The post Clear the Clutter: Office or Work Area appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

It begins by facing the truth that your office or work area is probably a lot dirtier than you realize. All you need to do is take a close look at your computer keyboard or run your finger over a bookshelf to get a firsthand glimpse of the dust and dirt that covers nearly every surface of your office or work area.

I’m no cleaning expert, but I recommend taking a few minutes to tackle these three areas to help you get a solid start in cleaning:

1. Clean the floor and walls. Break out the vacuum, broom, or mop. Wipe down the baseboards and walls, making sure to get the dirt, grime, and cobwebs, especially near the ceiling.
2. Clean your desk area and shelves. Take off the items and wipe down every square inch of your desk if possible. Wash your desk mats if you use them. Clean your computer keyboard and mouse with alcohol and Q-tips. Dust off the shelves and bookcases.
3. Clean the windows, doors, dry-erase boards or other hard surfaces. It’s amazing to me how dirty these surfaces can get, especially doors.

I know some people believe that the process of cleaning windows and doors brings in a new spiritual energy. I don’t know how all that works, but I do know that when you have a clean work area, you FEEL better, like you have a fresh start.

Even if you do nothing else, this single act of taking a few minutes to clean the dirt from surfaces will give you a new energy and vitality!

Today’s Challenge: Before you go to bed, take ten minutes to clean these areas where you write and notice you good you feel!

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Time for a confession: Our basement used to be an absolute disaster area.

Over the years we had let boxes, odds and ends, and even unused furniture accumulate to the point where it was hard to get to our washer and dryer. Every time I went into the basement (which was several times a day), I felt a tinge of stress because of the clutter.

I knew that cleaning it would be a big project and I had been putting it off.

A couple of years ago, we needed to have a new furnace and air conditioner installed. When the representative from the company came to do an inspection and analysis, he had to go downstairs. I was embarrassed because the basement was such a mess.

So in a flurry of activity the evening before he came, I cleaned the whole basement. It didn’t take that much time once I got started.

The difference was staggering. Not only did the area look like an entirely different place, it now resulted in a real sense of peace every time went into the basement.

This principle applies to any area of your office or home, including your work area. Perhaps especially to your work area.  Most of the time we don’t give a lot of attention to how our workspace is organized. But if this is where your creativity comes to life, it makes to set it up for maximum efficiency.

A clean workspace is important because there’s an intimate link between your physical environment and your mind.

The state of your environment tends to reflect the state of your mind. But it also works the opposite direction. When you clear the clutter from your environment and have an orderly, clean place to work, it affects your mind. You have less stress and anxiety because the clutter is not there to distract you.

Here are five steps for clearing the clutter from your workspace:

1. Deal with one area at a time.

If you have a really messy workspace or office, just take it one area at a time. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with things and get stressed out. You might start with one box, or start with your desk.

Then once you have that organized, move on to the next area. Doing it this way will give you positive momentum.

The important thing here is to just get started. It can be incredibly intimidating to stand in the middle of a messy area and envision a clean, neat environment. It’s much easier just to walk away.

However, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Just begin, and you will soon feel the momentum you need to carry you through.

2. Get rid of things you don’t really need.

Each of us has certain things we tend to hang onto longer than we should. For me, it’s technology. I’m the guy who still has cassettes from 1985 in his closet (and the Walkman to play them!). I tend to be a packrat.

A couple of years ago I moved to a new office at the college where I teach. I gave away several boxes of books. My rule was that if I hadn’t used a book in ten years, I probably didn’t need it.

I didn’t apply this rule consistently because I have a lot of reference books I didn’t want to get rid of. But I did get rid of lots of books.

I also used to keep old magazines. Every time I see a magazine that I haven’t read, but that I paid for, I feel a tremendous sense of guilt. But the truth is that if you haven’t read it soon after you got it, you’ll never read it. So just throw it away or cancel the subscription if you don’t read it.

3. Free up the real estate on your desk.

Your desk becomes a catch-all for all kinds of things like mail, to-do lists, trinkets, pens, and other things. It’s important to try and move everything off your desk except for the items you actually need.

A messy desk doesn’t mean you’re busy or important. It just means you’re messy. And it’s amazing how much it reduces your stress when you have a clean desk.

There used to be a professor at the college where I teach. He was bad about having piles of stuff on his desk. Whenever you walked into his office, there were books piled all over the floor. His desk looked like someone had literally taken a box of papers and dumped them all over the place.

I felt incredibly stressed just being in that environment. I have no idea how he concentrated or got any work done.

4. Get rid of as much paper as possible.

Over the last few years I have been pretty ruthless about getting rid of as much paper as possible. This includes receipts, tax information, notes from college and grad school, appliance manuals, and many other items.

This frees up space both in your filing cabinets, and your mind.

There are really only three things you should do with paper items:

1. File it physically (in a file cabinet or drawer, or box)
2. File it digitally (I’ll talk about this in a moment)
3. Discard it.

Whenever you handle paper, make a decision about it as soon as possible. Then take action on it. When we put off taking action on paper items, we end up with piles of paper and it causes us stress.  And when we feel stressed and overwhelmed, we can’t do our best creative work.

I used to have a desktop scanner, but these days I just use the Scannable app from Evernote. It’s very easy to use, and very fast. I also have a shredder by my desk when I need to discard anything with personal information on it.

5. Don’t confuse “clean” with “perfect.”

If you’re like me (which is, a perfectionist) sometimes you put off doing work until everything is perfect and tidy.

But if you’re not careful, you can easily procrastinate on getting work done. Things are rarely perfect, and when they are, it doesn’t last long.

Don’t let your desire for a perfectly clean environment be an excuse for putting off work.

Three Benefits of De-cluttering

Those are a few suggestions for clearing the clutter from your workspace. What are the results? Here are three benefits of keeping a neat workspace:

1. More peace. You are dealing with less physical “stuff” that is cluttering your life. This has a positive effect on your mind, emotions and spirit. It simply makes life more enjoyable.
2. More focus. You have fewer distractions in your environment and can focus on the people and the work that matters most to you.
3. More momentum. Success breeds more success. If you are overwhelmed by the clutter in your life, just start in one area. Once you have it cleaned, you will feel a sense of momentum that will lead to more success.

If you have a messy environment, don’t feel guilty about it. Just dive in and get started. The energy and momentum you feel will be worth it!

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