Cluttered Office, Cluttered Mind? Say It Isn't So.

Q: Show us where you work! Please share a photo of your work/writing space, and tell us why it looks the way it does!

-from Susan

I have two options. I can stand in the doorway and show you the good side. It might – although it shouldn’t – impress you. Bookshelves on three walls, floor to ceiling, reading chair, desk, lateral file cabinets. Dedicated to writing, thinking, research. Here’s that:

The other option strips away the façade. Piles of crap (mostly work related) on every surface, papers all over the desk, held down (sometimes) by coffee cups or plates from croissant-eating, necessary for writing. When not held down, they often slide into the wastebasket that sits, helpfully, right next to the edge of the desk. I once lost a check for $155.20 that way. Dust everywhere, although that’s hard to photograph. Indentations on the upholstered chair that are filled with cat hair. Boxes sitting just out of camera view filled with things I can’t figure out where to store, much less if I should store them at all. I think I won’t post pictures, but you get the idea. 

I find it depressing some days. When I had jobs away from home, I really, truly knew where everything was in my cluttered office. Plus I had assistants and staff who saved me from my worst habits with their sense of order and knowledge. Plus, they had the power to shame me into staying on top of everything. Here, not so much. 

The determination to conquer the mess seizes me now and then. I clean off the desk, throw massive amounts of paper away. Dust the newly visible surfaces, and pat myself on the back. Within a week, ten days at the most, you wouldn’t know I’d done a thing. How can this be? Does clutter reproduce like rabbits at night? 

Maybe photos of my fellow Minds’ work space this week with inspire or shame me into a frenzy of office cleaning. Or maybe not.