Organizing Your Life - Clearing Up the Paper Mess

A few days ago I had to stop by my local college's library for a research book for a project I have at work. I needed to talk to a librarian who was not on the main floor of the library, but who had an office on the 3rd floor. When I rounded the corner to enter her office, I was sort of stunned. All I could see of her from behind her desk was her head and shoulders. The rest of her was blocked by the huge piles of paper covering her entire desk. There was not one inch of desktop visible.

How could she ever find anything, I wondered. And I also thought to myself - at least my desk isn't that bad. But truthfully, my desk isn't all that good either lately. Right now I can only see about 50% of my desktop.

Do I want it that way? No. Am I currently working with every piece of paper sitting on my desk? No. So why is it so cluttered? I know the answer - habit and resistance. The habit is putting down what I've finished working with and then leaving it there. The resistance is to taking the time to clean it all up. I'm sure this is what the librarian is suffering from too. And I would imagine that it is very mentally draining for her to enter her office everyday and be confronted by that mess.

For most people, the resistance portion of the problem is easier to tackle. When you find yourself with a pile of papers or other items that you're not currently using covering your desk or your kitchen counter at home, and that pile stays there for a few days, then you're probably resisting cleaning it up because: you don't think you have time, you don't know what to do with it, you just don't feel like cleaning it up, etc...

An easy way to break this resistance and start to organize your space is to give yourself a time limit - a short time limit so it won't seem overwhelming. What about 10 minutes? Politely ask yourself to take 10 minutes of uninterrupted time to work on the pile on your desk or counter or even the pile of papers that you moved off the desk last month and put on the floor. Asking yourself, rather then telling yourself you have to or you should, opens the way for you to feel less resistance. And then if some of the mess is still there when your 10 minutes is up, ask yourself to take another 10 minutes tomorrow. At some point the pile is going to disappear - unless you keep adding to it out of habit.

For me, the habit part of this problem is harder to solve because it takes being consciously aware of what I do right after I finish with a piece of paper, when I bring in the mail, when I pay the bills and then need to do something with the statement, or when I finish any activity. Anywhere that I see clutter or mess accumulating in my home or office is a place where I have not paid full attention at the time that the item passed through my hand.

Breaking the habit requires 3 things: setting an intention in your mind of how you want things to be (I want to have a clean desk.); staying consciously aware every time you are in that area (Make sure I put away the papers I finish with rather than piling them on the desk.); and time. Most sources say it takes about a month to create a new successful habit in place of the old unwanted habit, but if you've been creating a messy desk for 30 years it might take longer to break that habit.

So if you find yourself faced with a mess of papers covering your desk and you need some motivation to help clear it up, take the following steps:

• First ask yourself to take 10 minutes to work on clearing some of them up, and only use the 10 minutes.

• Praise yourself for any progress you make rather than condemning yourself as a slob. Being nice to yourself will make it that much easier to take 10 more minutes tomorrow.

• Then set an intention that you want to keep your desk clean.

• For a month, try to stay as aware as possible of what you do with every paper that touches your desktop. Make an absolute effort to put away a paper or a file when you finish with it. Or commit to setting aside 5 minutes at the end of every work day to clear away the papers.

Once you start to consciously pay attention to your actions in your desk space, you'll find that not as much paper mess accumulates and you'll be able to see the desktop again. Organizing your desk, or any other area where papers accumulate, can seem to be an overwhelming task. But with a few simple steps and a willingness to form a new habit, you can have a clear space in no time. Now as for those kitchen counters...