Even in this age of advanced technology, I find papers can build up quickly on people's desktops.  Printouts from the internet, multiple versions of documents and reports, projects that are easier to work on hard copy, meeting notes, business cards, the list is endless.  A disorganized desk is intimidating, and steals energy and focus.  Take quick control of your piles with the following tips.  

An archeological dig of the piles on most people's desks and counters would reveal that the stacks can easily be divided into thirds: 1/3 is stuff waiting to be filed, 1/3 is stuff you should toss, 1/3 is stuff to-do.  With the right approach, you can increase the amount of stuff to toss, and seriously reduce those stacks.  

FILE:  Most of us only refer to 20% of the information we save....so think hard before keeping things in paper or digital versions.  Keep as much as possible on the computer, and file only what is absolutely irreplaceable in your hard copy file folders.  Here are 10 questions to ask yourself to determine if something is worth filing:

1.      Are there tax/legal reasons to keep it?

2.      Do I refer often to this piece of paper?

3.      Will it help me complete a project I am working on right now?

4.      Do I have time to do anything with this piece of paper?

5.      Does it tie in with the core activities of my job?

6.      If I ever needed it again, could I easily get it from someone else?

7.      Do I trust that the information is up to date?

8.      Does it represent a viable business opportunity?

9.      Will it help me make money?

10.  Would my work suffer if I didn’t have it?

If you answer yes to any of the previous questions, it’s fair to keep it. If no, let it go.

TOSS:  Now that you’ve determined what to keep,  turn your attention to the pile of items to toss. Get a shredder, if you don’t have one; the Staples 12-sheet High-Speed Cross-Cut shredder shreds two times faster than any other shredder Staples has.  Their Minimate Cross-Cut Shredder is tiny enough to fit right on the desktop--making it easy to shred as you go, so you avoid a buildup of paper.  Nothing is more cleansing then getting caught up in the feeding frenzy of eliminating the stacks of unnecessary paper. There is little more satisfying that the sound of the shredder and watching surfaces reemerge on your desk. Keep in mind that identity theft is a real problem when you have too many papers lying around. Do they have your credit card info on them? Social security or account numbers?  Shredders should be cross-cut or micro-cut shredder to minimize risk.

TO-DO:  One third of the papers on most people's desks  and counters is items waiting to be done.  If those piles never move, it's time for a better reminder system.  Invest in a single, consistent planning tool to capture all of your to-do's, and then file the papers (in your hard copy or digital files), and simply write a reminder of the task that needs to be done, on the day you intend to get the project done.   Look for a planner that works the way you do, whether digital or paper based system, which provides space for tasks, appointments and notes. 

Banishing excess paper from your desk will re-energize your space, boost your productivity, and protect your most important information.  Let me know what tricks you use to decide what to keep and what to toss.

·        Don’t make organizing punitive By and large, kids like organized spaces and have no trouble cleaning up at school, or at their friend’s houses. So why are they so messy at home?  Because parents (especially working parents) feel guilty and ambivalent about asking their kids to clean up.    State simply—“Pick up your toys”. Don’t ask, beg or speak in anger, “Would you please pick up your toys??!!!” 

·        Be patient. Organizing and time management are life skills (not talents) that can be learned. You can facilitate your child’s mastery of these life skills, but don’t expect instant results – becoming organized is a process, mastered and refined over a lifetime.     

·        Discover their motivation.  Children must get organized for their own reasons, not just to please you.  What are they trying to get out of it?  What’s the payoff for them? What are their frustrations? (i.e. losing favorite toys, jeans, homework, etc.)

·        Teach by example.  If you don’t have organizing skills of your own, try applying the principals to a common area like the front hall closet, kitchen or bathroom.  Let your child experience the freedom and ease that organizing brings. Then offer to help them in their room.

·        Organize together. As tempted as you may be to sneak into their rooms with a dumpster to clear out all the “junk,” long range success comes only through allowing your child to participate in the design, transformation, and maintenance of his or her own space. Kids love to solve problems –- which is what organizing is all about. And provided you stay calm and supportive, rather than judgmental, your child will enjoy the special attention and time together with you.

·         Don’t “label” your child as disorganized.  Eliminate the phrases “You’re so disorganized!”, “You are such a slob”, “This room is a pigsty!”, “You are such a procrastinator!”.  Build your child’s confidence by recognizing the areas where they are organized. (and every kid is organized somewhere-their stuffed animals, their collections,  their ipod)

·        Avoid pre-judgements.  You can’t tell just by looking at their space or notebook whether or not your child is organized.  Ask what works for them and what doesn’t.  You may be surprised what you learn.

·         Respect your child’s own way of thinking, goals and attachments.  Maybe you’d group shirts by short and long sleeve—but your child prefers to group by color or style.  As long as their system works for them, support it.

·         Make the project easier on them physically.  Gather containers, tie up filled trash bags, help with labeling, transport giveaways, return objects that belong in other rooms back to their original homes.

Finally, remember that organizing together is a rare opportunity to learn how your child thinks, to share their goals and dreams, to discover what’s truly important to them.   As you observe and help your child make decisions about what to keep and what to toss, you will gain insight into how their mind works, and where their values lie.  You will learn about new interests, and what’s become passé. And together, you can create a room that is a true reflection of who they are and what is important to them.

We’ve all been there one time or another.

Often this feeling of paralysis is spurred by a natural life transition (like graduation, marriage, a new baby or a new job), an unanticipated change (the sudden loss of a loved one, a divorce, a job loss or move), or simply an inner drive for self-fulfillment and a need to shake things up.

Whatever put you in this current state of mind, you’re probably feeling a combination of three different emotions:  there is specter of some better future in your mind, you don’t know if you’ll be able to do “it”, and there is something weighing you down, preventing you from making forward progress.

When confronted with the uncertainty of a new situation, everyone has a tendency to cling to what’s familiar. We follow the old adage, “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” out of a very human desire to grab onto something new, before letting go of the old.  But if your brain is full and your hands are tied by the very thing that’s made you feel paralyzed in the first place, hanging on will only continue to bog you down and hold you back.  Getting dislodged requires you to let go just a little bit – to take a tiny leap of faith.

I wouldn’t ask you drop everything and freefall into the void, because in reality, no one lets go into a vacuum. The first step on the road to getting unstuck is to name a “theme” for your future. A “theme” in this context is a vision, a focal point or topic – it’s a simple statement summarizing the feeling you seek.  It’s the big picture view from 20,000 feet. There is a great sense of relief in knowing that you are moving in the right direction, but are not yet required to make any specific, binding decisions. A theme changes your mindset from overwhelmed to energized, defeated to excited, paralysis to motion. You’ll hold tight to that feeling until the exact details of your future fall into place.

Some readers might jump at the opportunity to develop a theme; others might not feel as confident. People less excited about the prospect of a theme might feel like they can’t want what they want, only know what they don’t want, or really want what they had.   Keep these three things in mind as you name your theme.

·        Your theme should be broad enough to impact all the different areas of your life. Ideally, it should be the lens through which you see every interaction.

·        At this point your theme should only be an expression of how you want to “feel”, not exactly what you want to “do”. Keep it simple. You can always refine the particular language of your theme, for now just pick something that makes you feel energized.

·        Give yourself permission to say what you actually want, not what you should want. Don’t self-censor and don’t impose external expectations (from friends, family, co-workers, society at-large, etc.) on what the next phase of your life should be about.

Now, how do you actually come up with your theme?  Naming a theme requires a certain spirit of open-mindedness and an effort on your part not to self-censor. These three techniques will help get you started.

Listen for the quiet knock. Choices we make over the course of a lifetime bring out certain aspects of our personalities and ignore others. We often edit ourselves as we get older, forgetting past interests in order to make easier sense of our current lives – it’s hard to develop our intellectual, social, artistic, athletic selves all at the same time. Answer the following questions and see what you come up with. What interests did you used to enjoy, but haven’t had a chance to do for years? What activities challenge you in a joyful way? What dreams have you been unable to pursue because of life choices and circumstances? Find the courage to listen to your conscience. What unexpressed aspects of your personality are you ready to give a voice?

Look to the past for clues. Steal away to your attic or basement and take a couple of hours to look through old photos, scrapbooks, your high school yearbook and college term papers. Memorabilia of any kind is a “theme” treasure-trove. What used to interest you? What clubs did you used to belong to? What aspect of your old self would like to reconnect to? What do you miss? Remember, you are looking for the “feeling”, not necessarily a specific activity (like the glee club, anthropological study of Indonesian craftswomen, etc.) Maybe in high school and college you were a star musician – first chair in the orchestra. You loved music, but really, you loved to perform. Perhaps “performance” is a missing piece of the puzzle in your current situation.

Connect the current dots.  If a search through the past doesn’t work for you (plenty of people are happy to leave high school memories in high school!), see if you can find a pattern between recent changes in your schedule (or space) and your current activities. You might be unwittingly leading yourself in a new direction.  I once had a client who worked in IT for a pharmaceutical company. For years, she did system-design and advised her company on 21^st century technology challenges.  Then, one day, she was abruptly laid off during a company-wide downsizing. Today she’ll tell you being fired was best thing that ever happened to her (even though that’s not how she felt at the time!).  After a few months of collecting her severance package, she started looking for a new job. In the interim, she’d started teaching an intro level computer science course at her local community college and had also become a certified spin (cycling) instructor at her healthclub. As she networked with her old IT colleagues, she found herself migrating away from the “research” component of systems-design and towards “training” and more personal interaction. If her old theme had been about “developing my intellect”; her new theme was all about “connecting on an intuitive level.” 

You’ll know your theme first time you hear it. It’s like hitting the sweet spot on a baseball bat, being in perfect harmony with your favorite song on the radio, or making the perfect tomato sauce. It just feels right. Exciting and a little nerve-wracking, yet undeniable in it’s ability to lend a focus to your future, your theme will help you keep the big picture in mind, but keep you tethered to your daily life, helping you decide what belongs and what doesn’t. Through this new lens, almost anything seems possible.