Cleaning my desks

Sitting down at my desk I notice my workspace is not worth a picture. It’s looking pathetic. Empty cans, papers all over the place, and old hardware of which some do not even work. And yes, it’s been on my todo list for ages to clean it.

tl;dr Today I am going to be proactive and clean one of my desks. My workspace is shameful and I need to purge, organise, and rethink how I am using it.

once clean desk

(once it was nice and tidy)

Stuff like todo items, creative stuff like drawings, cards, and inbox items are just scattered all over the place. I have to file those, and keep filing those. I also have to figure out what’s just info and can be thrown out, store the personal things like a card in an appropriate spot, as well as my drawings. I have no idea why they’re just all over the place.

Trash like cans and (I honestly have no idea how it got here) this bag of tasteful snacks that’s now empty. They have to go, and that reminds me, I have to go buy a little trash thingy to put besides the table. Stuff lingers too long.

My desk represents me, messy, unorganised, etc. And it has to change. I rather be organised, productive, and optimised. We can dream. Without me taking any action nothing will obviously change. Today I want to take the first step and start cleaning up the best I can.

In order to rethink how I want things to be on the desk, the modem and router there, the old iMac over here, my drawing pad there, and my mobile stuff over there… I have to de-clutter and find a spot for things. I want to start by just throwing out things, putting some obvious items in their obvious spots and then rethink what to do with the rest.

messy workspace
By the way, there’s dust, everywhere. Just … ew.

Part of the revise is to mentally assign areas like a work zone. Creativity on the left, I am left-handed, and it’s logical. And storing things that need to get put in their place on the right, as well as gadgets and accessories.

I am not one to have boxes with stuff in it. Like a thingy for inbox and one for storing or a response folder. I rather just have a mental note it’s on the desk and deal with it. I just have to be more direct and address inbox items like a bill, administration, etc. Follow up and maybe make better notes to follow up. Got some strange bill on Friday? Check if I can contact them through their online help-desk, Facebook/Twitter or via email. But make a note to check on Monday, in case it’s not resolved and requires a phone call.

I have some hardware that works but I no longer use. Maybe I can eBay this stuff and get a few bucks which helps me save up for my next iMac. But I also have some old hardware that’s broken. They simply have to be thrown out. Why do they keep lingering around?

It’s possible I will not finish cleaning the desk today, or perhaps I even make a poor start. But I will certainly put time into rethinking my workspace, and it motivates me to continue this. I have more than one desk, and more days in this month to tidy, clean, organise.

Maybe, if my workspace is more tidy, I am less scatterbrained. If my desks are clean and less messy, I am more organised, and I feel more positive.

once old desk

(once upon a time, in a PC era)


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