Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The Paper Clutter MUST BE STOPPED!

It's Day 20 of my TV-fast and either I'm getting really bored or my energy is returning and I'm finally starting to get more productive.

Why? I'm gonna tell you...

At the moment, I'm sitting in my office next to three boxes and several stacks of old paperwork and receipts I pulled off my desk and out of my closet. Next to the paper mess is my shredder and a garbage bag full of shredded paper! For the past 2-3 hours I've been sorting and tossing, mostly tossing.

Gosh it really feels good; almost spiritual if you can believe that! Having tons of old useless stuff around you all the time literally saps your energy. You might not realize it, but you are always thinking about things in your life that are not done or not in their proper place. Even if it's totally on a subconscious level, it's still consuming your energy and affecting your daily routine.

Remember my post from a couple days ago about the book, Getting Things Done, and how it spurred me to completely empty my email inbox at work? Well, it was last Thursday when I did that, and it's STILL empty today!

This is a very strange phenomena, but I truly feel about 10 times more productive at work. Since I no longer have 1000+ not-dealt-with messages in my inbox and I'm now dealing with new emails almost the moment they come in, I'm able to get a lot more done, and feel much more in control of my day. If I'm away from my desk for a while, I take 5-10 minutes when I return to deal with everything that has accumulated. No matter what it is, I either delete it, defer it to someone else, file it away for future action or reference, or I create an appointment or task out of it depending on what it is of course.

Needless to say, this puts me in a MUCH better mood while at work, and I feel closure and accomplishment when I leave for the day.

So, do I attribute all this new found energy and desire to get organized to the fact that I'm no longer watching the idiot box? You bet I do!!! Otherwise, I'd still be laying on the family room floor staring at the cool blinky flashy screen for 4-6 hours every night. In fact, that's what Michele is doing right now. She has MAJOR issues! LOL

Stay tuned because in a few days I'm going to post the before and after pictures of my home office so you can see the results of my organizing efforts. You're gonna love it! :-)

2 comments:

Chris S. said...

Funny, I've been doing almost exactly the same things since I turned off my TV (coming up to the end of day 8!) I've sorting old paperwork, though not yet quite as thoroughly as you. I took a quick pass through a 3-foot pile, sorting into four new piles: trash, need it right now, needs to go somewhere else, and can wait indefinitely. The latter pile ended up being the biggest, of course. But that's OK, 'cause now I know it can wait indefinitely. And the other three piles were quick to take care of.

I've been cleaning out my e-mail boxes too. I'm not as far along as you, and I'm not going as fast, but I'm getting there.

I'm doing other cleaning up too: reorganizing the shelves over my desk so that only the things I really need day-to-day are there, and everything else is in the back room, and placing the most-used items within easiest reach.

Also Getting rid of lots of things. I'm using a group called Freecycle that lets you easily give away reusable items to people who need them, and it's been a blessing. People show up and take away my stuff, and I don't even have to drive to Goodwill. What a concept.

And I completely share your feelings of renewed energy. The cleaning up feels terrific. It's a psychic weight lifted off of me -- knowing that there are fewer things now that need my attention leaves me feeling freer and almost physically lighter. By me, that's spiritual for sure. :o)

Can I thank my TV abstinence for helping all of this to happen? You bet.

Unknown said...

That is pretty funny! I guess when you stop watching TV, you start really thinking about the hundreds of other things you really could & should be doing.

Congratulations on your TV-fast! Going 8 days already is pretty darn good. It also starts getting quite a bit easier around that time, but much more so after 2 weeks. At least for me it did.

Thanks for the tip on Freecycle. I just joined the Toledo, OH group.

Dave