"Why are you spreading out your stuff on the dining room table?" my daughter asked, as she sat down with her dinner adjacent to my new makeshift "desk." My laptop, checkbook, papers, business cards, notebooks and magazines all surrounded me as she tried to find room for her plate and cutlery.
The truth was, I was afraid to hole up in my office space. The desk was daunting. Pounds of papers from little sticky pad scribbles to huge notebooks with notes, to print-outs of Twitter updates, made it it impossible to even get near my ancient computer. Months of client-speak, proposals that never culminated in accounts, resumes that needed just one more tweak, had proliferated from computer to desktop, to the point where just sitting in front of the desk sent papers flying and made me feel disorganized and disheveled. So I took my new laptop and started a new clutter space downstairs. Where my daughter was trying to eat.
Ridiculous, but so true...the clutter was chasing me.
As I sat in Rosie the Hypnotists dark room yesterday, I confessed my innermost anxieties...that I could no longer focus on anything anymore...there was much too much clutter in my life. Rosie listened to my description patiently. You WILL change it, she said firmly. Beginning tomorrow, you will take a few hours each day and you will put yourself back together. Losing control of your life is no way to run a business. It's affecting your business, your life, your self-esteem. You can and will change it by turning your life into modular compartments, addressing each compartment methodically, and tackling the tasks at hand.
And so today, I entered the dreaded office. Before I got started, I listened to Rosie's self-hypnosis CD, relaxing my mind and letting her positive suggestions in. Then I attacked the office, blowing off potential appointments, with a giant empty box from my garage and I began going through the mess that has taken over my life. I made piles - kids' report cards; notes from lectures; business cards, magazines, phone numbers, notebooks with client scribbles. It was disheartening to find a $25 check from Merrill Lynch dated 11/08 that said it was invalid after 90 days, but this is just one casualty that has resulted from my lapse into clutter. I am back in control, ready to take back my life. I won't let it happen again.
I have just scratched the surface - the files need thinning and I have paid invoices to file and much more to throw away. After I've tackled the office, I will put some new systems in place, address my computer files and figure out what else needs fixing. Amazingly, there IS a desk under the clutter. Now that I've found it, I think I'll keep it that way!
I can so relate. I've been putting off cleaning my office, thereby, putting off moving my business and life forward. I'm going to turn off the computer (where I've wasted the last hour or two), and get down to business. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: Karin | July 20, 2009 at 09:09 PM