Free Yourself From Office Clutter

Written by: Monika Mundell

Posted on April 1, 2008 
Filed Under Starting your Online Business

One of the biggest issues we often have by working from home is the amount of clutter we assemble in our office. The worst kind for me is the digital clutter. I’m not sure how you organize yours, but I’m trying to shed some light on what I do to keep track of my digital and paper clutter.

office clutter

Like with clutter in our home we often tend to think that paper and digital clutter will be used later and therefore we file it away for further use, only to never look at it again.

Does this ring a bell?

Avoiding traffic jams

Just like we don’t drive into town when everybody else finishes work (if we can avoid it anyway) we shouldn’t do too many things that keep us from working organized.

The easiest way for me to keep my computer clutter free is by cleaning up every day. Kind of like a quick car wash. I wash my computer and then give it a once over polish. The next day will be started much more pleasurable by finding a clutter free environment that allows me to concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Do I always succeed in this? Heck no, I also struggle, but find that the more I focus on achieving, the more it does become a habit.

Tim Ferriss author of the 4 Hour Work Week says:

“Not-to-do” lists are often more effective than to-do lists for upgrading performance The reason is simple: what you don’t do determines what you can do.

I think he is right. In the past I tried so many times to stick to massive to do lists and the more I tried, the more I failed. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t manage a simple list and it never dawned on me that I was simply trying to do too much at once.

With every task I didn’t manage to finish (some 98% of the list) I programmed myself for failure. It was like a massive whirlpool of destruction.

Only when I took a step back looking at it from a new perspective did I realize that I needed to change direction of approach.

So I did. It’s the Baby steps that lead to big changes.

Simplicity matters

I simplified my task list. So much so that the only place I use to scribble on now is my Moleskine notebook. Before I discovered the Moleskine I had 100’s of paper scraps everywhere throughout the house.

Since implementing this I have noticed two things:

  1. I make a lot less notes and the ones I do are of much higher value to me. Plus I also reference them more often opposed to before.
  2. I don’t have stacks of paper lying around the office anymore. It’s kind of like a Zen approach I guess by reducing unnecessary waste.

My diary only contains 3 major tasks per day and the rest is made up by “fillers”. Funny enough I still get a lot more done within the week now with a lot less stress in trying to play catch up (except when coming back from a quick getaway).

Digital Zen

Once a week I do a huge digital sweep. Most of my past projects and stuff I used in the past are sitting on a different hard drive or in my Google Docs folder now. Most of these things I hardly use these days anyway and the only thing that stops me from throwing it in the rubbish bin is the money/time I spent on buying/writing.

The purpose for me is to keep my computer clutter free so that it runs at optimum speed and doesn’t get cluttered up with digital dust.

Acquiring the Zen state: All it takes is a bit of resolve and sticking power. It isn’t easy and will need a couple of months of determination on your behalf to settle into your system. But in the end, it really is well worth it.

I hope these tips have given you some inspiration to clean up your clutter and free your mind. I’d love to know what you do to keep your office clean of clutter.

Have you got a great idea you’d like to share with us?

Welcome feel free to look around. Subscribing to my Feed or Newsletter guarantees you don't miss any new content, give it two weeks, you will love it RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Hope to see you again soon.

Tags:, , , , , , ,

Related Posts

    Expand your Home Based Business with your Brains not your Hands

    Years ago, actually more years ago than I care to remember I was a young business owner who thought knew everything. Have you ever met that type of person? As a young man I was full of energy and could

    A Guide to Becoming an Infopreneur, Part 3

    We have all heard the old adage you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. The look and feel of you site is very comparable. Selecting a theme for you blog with a look and feel your visitors

    Starting a Business Against the Odds

    Beverly Williams Entrepreneur.com Q: I want to start a business. But I have bad credit, and everything seems so far off and out of reach (financially and time-wise). Also, I have a 17-month-old baby at home, and I would hate to

    Its The Business We Have Chosen

    This week I added some 50 + sites to my home based business. My friends it’s a lot of work. Please don’t let anyone tell you it is not. My sleep pattern is , well, not a sleep pattern at

    bla.st Free Advertising Network & Web Directory

    Read the head line again, Emphasis on Free. I am not quite sure if you are not using bla.st why you're not. Bloggers and website owners like us pay for advertising. Links , buttons and banners. I bought 5

    Free Downloads for your Web Business

    For those of you reading these posts , you know by now I love Site Build It and all their products. My own site www.heart-healthy-cooking.com is about to be launched . Site Build It! is composed of over

    Offer to a Spammer, How could they Refuse

    This week I received yet another get rich quick e-mail. Another offer to make me wealthy for doing absolutely nothing. All I have to do is sit back, and watch the money just pour in. Of course it does involve

    You Need Initiative to Make Money Online Now

    I was talking with a friend of mine today about starting a blog. We chatted for bit online and he decided he was going to investigate further his chosen niche. I was telling him that personally I was fearless when

Comments

One Response to “Free Yourself From Office Clutter”

  1. bloggingzoom.com on April 1st, 2008 9:58 am

    Free Yourself From Office Clutter…

    Monika stopped in today for post an article. Seems Monika has had some trouble in thr past staying organized and offers up some home remedies for the problem. I used to fight this problem myself, actually I think I still do. Im kind of a pack rat and t…

Leave a Reply