Letting Go of Clutter In Your Office > NetSparsh - Viral Content you Love & Share

Home
>
Get Organized - Organization
>
Letting Go of Clutter In Your Office

Letting Go of Clutter In Your Office

Some people would say I'm the last person in the world to be writing about clearing out clutter; I seem to accumulate so much of it. But I also get rid of it, when it reaches the point of bothering me.

That's the first thing about clearing out clutter. Everyone has a threshold at which the clutter starts to bother them. My husband's threshold is much lower than mine, and when he starts clearing out, I jump in and help him. But in my office, things go to my threshold and no further-usually. Recognizing your threshold and working within it is the first key to letting go of clutter. If it's really not bothering you, and you can find everything you need, it's not essential to tackle it right away.

The second key to letting go of clutter is to bring the recycle bin (for paper without staples) and the large kitchen trash can (for everything else) into your office and put them beside the desk, which is clutter central in most offices. Get a box of manila file folders, a box of hanging file folders, and a plastic file box, the kind with a handle that you can get for about ten bucks at a big office supply store. And a pen.

Pick up every piece of paper off your desk, one sheet or sheaf at a time. Start with paper because there's usually more of it than anything else. Don't touch anything twice. When you pick it up either put it in the recycle bin (remove staples first), put it in the trash if it can't go in the recycle, or put it in a folder, label the folder, and put the folder, inside a hanging folder, in the plastic file box. Don't worry about organizing the files. Just get everything out of site and off your desk. Get two or three boxes if you need them. They stack nicely out of the way against the wall.

Once the paper is off your desk, you should be able to see the surface, which will probably be littered with books, pens, soda cans, memo pads, and CDs, if it looks anything like my desk. Take one category at a time, like CDs, and put all of them away. Then books, and so on.

The rest of your office may be cluttered in the same way as your desk, with stacks of papers and books scattered around. Use the same method. Start with the paper, don't touch anything twice, and declutter by category-CDs, books, etc. after the paper.

De-cluttering doesn't have to mean deep-cleaning, though you may get motivated and do that. Really it just means getting the clutter out of the way so you can work. Letting go of it is as simple as realizing you don't need it where it is right this minute, and putting it somewhere else-even if that somewhere else is the recycle bin.

A good rule of thumb is, if you can get that piece of paper again, especially by printing it off your computer, you don't need to keep it. Now, you might, if it's important. But just use this as a rule of thumb.

Happy clearing!

About The Author

Angie Dixon helps small business owners get their acts together. She is a personal development coach specializing in helping people integrate their home and work lives so they feel less stretched and more balanced. Get her FREE EBOOK on balance at http://www.discoveringtruenorth.com. For questions or to discover how coaching can change your life, contact Angie at mailto:angie@discoveringtruenorth.com.

You are free to use this article in ezines, web sites and print publications. If you do use it, please send a quick email to mailto:angie@discoveringtruenorth.com. Thank you.

In The News:

This RSS feed URL is deprecated, please update. New URLs can be found in the footers at https://news.google.com/news

KRQE News 13
Simplifying and organizing can help make laundry load easy
KRQE News 13
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) - Doing the laundry is one of these chores that can quickly become overwhelming. There are so many laundry items to use and the more clothes we have, the more laundry we have to do. Having a well thought out laundry ...

Soccer America
Kathy Carter picked to head up LA 2028 organizing committee's business venture
Soccer America
Former Soccer United Marketing president Kathy Carter has been named chief revenue officer for LA 2028 and a joint venture between LA 2028 and the USOC. The goal is to achieve more than $5 billion in revenue from domestic sponsorship, consumer ...
Former soccer executive to lead US Olympic marketing ventureWashington Post

all 14 news articles »

Washington Examiner
'Protest Tax?' Organizing demonstrations in DC may soon see changes
Washington Examiner
The National Park Service is proposing to overhaul regulations related to demonstrations and special events at certain national parks in the capital that could make organizing a protest more expensive. The proposal, for which the NPS is taking public ...
Regulations.gov - Proposed Rule DocumentRegulations.gov
ACLU NPS comments 2018-10-08 - American Civil Liberties UnionAmerican Civil Liberties Union

all 37 news articles »

Truthout
Five Ways to Make Direct Action Organizing Less Ableist
Truthout
I also experience ableism in activist organizing spaces that purport to support the rights of the marginalized. We are often excluded from leadership and from conversations regarding justice, and our accessibility needs to attend events and meetings ...

The Detroit News
Activist Cecile Richards: Women 'most powerful organizing force in the country'
The Detroit News
Richards, past president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a women's rights activist, said women are the most powerful organizing force in the country. "And we have work to do," Richards said. "I think we are on the verge of a major ...

Court rejects tax case against German World Cup organizers
Tampa Bay Times
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A German court has rejected tax evasion charges against three people involved in the organizing of the 2006 World Cup, saying it sees insufficient evidence of wrongdoing. The charges against Theo Zwanziger, Wolfgang ...

and more »

Nashville Scene
Nashville Web Developer's Viral Offer of Help Becomes Ad Hoc Political Organizing Tool
Nashville Scene
Update: Morris allegedly has a history of using abusive and discriminatory language online. Read more here. When asked about the allegations, Morris responded with an image of a fabricated Pith tweet disparaging minorities. On Saturday afternoon, as ...

Mwakilishi.com
Kenyan Catholic Priest Suspended for Reportedly Organizing Sex Parties at His House for Young Girls
Mwakilishi.com
The Catholic Church has reportedly suspended a Kenyan priest who is accused of hosting sex parties for young girls at his house. The priest, who was attached to Kambaa Parish in Githunguri, Kiambu County, has been luring young women to his house for ...

and more »

Progressive.org
Can Community Organizing Improve Schools?
Progressive.org
At the other school in the film, Fremont High, community organizers' efforts to improve the school are newer, and have had decidedly mixed results, oftentimes due to decisions made by district leaders that sometimes went counter to community input.

Self-Organizing Maps For Selecting Hedge Funds
Seeking Alpha
A new paper by Claus Huber, of Rodex Risk Advisers, looks at machine learning for risk analysis, working especially from the "self-organizing maps" associated with Finnish Professor Teuvo Kohonen. A SOM is a low-dimensional representation of input ...

Google News

Letting Go of Clutter In Your Office

Get Organized - Organization Get Organized - Organization