Letting Go of Clutter In Your OfficeWritten by Angie Dixon
Some people would say I’m last person in world to be writing about clearing out clutter; I seem to accumulate so much of it. But I also get rid of it, when it reaches point of bothering me. That’s first thing about clearing out clutter. Everyone has a threshold at which clutter starts to bother them. My husband’s threshold is much lower than mine, and when he starts clearing out, I jump in and help him. But in my office, things go to my threshold and no further—usually. Recognizing your threshold and working within it is first key to letting go of clutter. If it’s really not bothering you, and you can find everything you need, it’s not essential to tackle it right away. The second key to letting go of clutter is to bring recycle bin (for paper without staples) and large kitchen trash can (for everything else) into your office and put them beside desk, which is clutter central in most offices. Get a box of manila file folders, a box of hanging file folders, and a plastic file box, kind with a handle that you can get for about ten bucks at a big office supply store. And a pen. Pick up every piece of paper off your desk, one sheet or sheaf at a time. Start with paper because there’s usually more of it than anything else. Don’t touch anything twice. When you pick it up either put it in recycle bin (remove staples first), put it in trash if it can’t go in recycle, or put it in a folder, label folder, and put folder, inside a hanging folder, in plastic file box. Don’t worry about organizing files. Just get everything out of site and off your desk. Get two or three boxes if you need them. They stack nicely out of way against wall.
| | Be Grateful for GratitudeWritten by Angie Dixon
In Twelve Step meetings, it’s traditional to groan when someone says, “Let’s have a gratitude meeting.” People don’t like to talk or think about what they’re grateful for. It’s not in our nature. We’re more tuned to what’s going wrong than what’s going right. We can’t help it. The cave men who sat around and admired how white teeth on saber toothed tiger were, didn’t last long enough to reproduce. The ones who realized those teeth were a bad thing are our ancestors, so to speak.But gratitude is important. Sometimes I just sit in my office, which I painted and decorated myself after moving into a wonderful new house, and I look at all hangings on wall and things on my desk and books on my shelves and I remember growing up in a house where I couldn’t sleep in my bedroom in winter because north wind blew through window and room was uninhabitable. And I feel grateful.
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