When the boss suggests it might be a good idea to attend a Time Management and Organization Seminarâespecially in these times of tight professional development budgetsâit’s probably a good idea to say not just “OK” but “SURE!”
I believe that a clean desk is a sign of an empty mind. Â Now I won’t say my desk looks as bad as the photo above… but… I can relate. Â Even tho >>I<< know what’s in each pile, it’s like Metadata for GIS projects: Â If I get hit by a bus, nobody else would be able to tell what’s what.
The Seminar folks, tho, believe in neat and tidy.  It dawned on me that this personal productivity concept is very strongly related to the growing Living Simple movement (often related to Sustainable Living).  The idea is that all this clutter is distracting us from the important things in our lives. That might be piles of paperwork hiding the next big deal in the office, or the plethora of strip malls blighting our communities.
(That’s the link to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of really cool places to live.)
I did take away an interesting meme from the Seminar folks, from a different session they do called Secrets to De-Junking Your Life.
Peggy Doolittleâs Laws of Stuff
- Stuff breeds.
- Useless Stuff crowds out Good Stuff
- Dust loves Stuff
- Stuff loves to stay where it lands
- Over time, Stuff becomes invisible
- Stuff will expand to fit the space available
- Stuff affects your mind
- Stuff doesnât make you happy
- Over time, Stuff can make you unhappy
Something to think about while I figure out where to put this stuff I brought back from the seminar.
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There must be something in the water! I’ve been de-junking my studio for two days. And still working on it. I’ll keep everyone posted on my blog. Hope you’ll find the energy and strength to attack your office! Good luck with it! I love the law of stuff. Think I’ll put it in my blog on my studio somewhere too. đ