May 10, 2017
Are you attacked by claustrophobia or drained emotionally when you walk into your home office? An invisible monster sucks away your energy and joy as soon as you take the first step through the door. If this happens to you, clutter could be the culprit. Clutter, or excessive “stuff” arranged in an un-organized manner, can affect you physically, emotionally, mentally and psychologically. Physically, you cannot move about freely. You may also experience writer’s block and other emotions that hinder your ability to think clearly and creatively, which decreases your productivity. When you are mentally and emotionally unbalanced, you tend to question your abilities, which wreaks havoc on your psyche. What can you do? Declutter all areas in your house where you work that interferes with your thinking, creativity and productivity.
Plan for Decluttering
- Take a good look around your desk, office and even your house and visualize a clean, productive work space.
- Ask yourself: What do I use frequently to complete my writing projects? What do I need for work? Is there anything I’m not using or have not used in the past few months?
- Think about things you’ll need to store, organize, remove and dispose stuff.
- Have an accountability partner to reason you out of keeping things you don’t need and don’t use while helping you to move them out.
- Start cleaning ASAP.
Home Decluttering Tips
Following are tips for decluttering your desk, office and house, which will help you think clearly and increase your creativity and productivity.
Your Desk
Remove papers, office supplies, mail and other things you don’t need and use. Organize and hide adapters and cords for your computer, laptop, mobile devices and other electronics. Store papers in folders and create filing systems to make them easy to locate when you need them.
Your Office
Your office could be a source of stress even if your desk is clean. To reduce this stress, create space so you can move freely around your office. This can be done by rearranging or removing furniture; moving obstructions from the floor; and clearing all areas around your desk. Cleaning desk drawers, file cabinets and storage spaces also reduces clutter. For book lovers, arrange and discard books from bookshelves.
Your House
Your home is truly your castle and you need to clean it as such. Sweep and mop floors; dust tables and shelves; and shampoo rugs and furniture. Clean glasses in picture frames, mirrors and windows. Also, give rooms a different look and feel by reorganizing and removing furniture, cleaning window dressings and adding greenery. Depending on the size of your house, you may need a house cleaning service for assistance. Decluttering your desk, home office and house is critical to your physical, emotional, mental and psychological health. In addition to having more physical space to write and move, you will think more clearly and creativity, which will ultimately improve your productivity and psyche.
How about you?
How do you declutter your work space?
Image credit: Pixabay
