Yesterday I started re-organizing my office. Yes, even organizers need to get organized. In fact it’s a principle of organizing that every so often you need to go back and re-organize what you’ve already organized because life has a way of getting messy. I’m not one of those people that lives a perfectly organized life. Not even close. What I do understand is that getting organized is a set of tools and techniques but staying organized is a practice – both internal and external.
So right now my office looks like it was hit by a hurricane. There are files strewn all over the floor, small slips of paper and other supplies piled haphazardly on my desk. There are boxes more than half-filled with paper to be shredded and recycled and a smaller container of trash. There is a shelf half-filled with books (the rest are on the floor) and a bulletin board half empty with images that inspire me awaiting others that I find in the future.
On the floor sits a brand new all-in-one printer/scanner/fax that I just purchased and admittedly the culprit in this whole project.
You see, when I brought home the printer, I realized it belonged on the shelf next to my desk. But the shelf was already being used by my business files. I knew my business files belonged in my file drawers. The drawers, of course, were filled with my personal files and several other files that needed purging and archiving. I decided they were going to live in the closet but the closet was filled with old clothes and the clothes needed to be sorted and bagged up for donating. And so it goes as it does with anyone who simply wants to live their lives and next thing they know they’re arguing with their husband about why he needs to keep his 17 year old karate outfit that’s gathering dust on the closet’s top shelf. (It’s great for a Halloween costume, he tells me, defiantly.)
Years ago I would have been glued to my chair until the wee hours just to make sure every last piece of paper was filed, every thumbtack and paper clip in it’s rightful place. Tonight I still heard the small voice in my head that said, “You mean you’re going to leave it like that overnight?” Yes, now go to bed.
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