My life can get pretty hectic balancing projects, deadlines, photo shoots and the day to day paper trail that goes along with them. There is one habit I've adopted that keeps all of this just a little more manageable and keeps me just a little more sane.
I clear the table at the end of the day, every day. Whether this is literally my kitchen table where projects tend to physically pile up or in a more figurative sense, I take just fifteen minutes or so at the end of the day to file, organize and otherwise put away everything work related. This allows me to relax, put it out of my mind for the evening, and most importantly gives me a clean slate for the start of the next day.
Do you have a routine like this?
(Image: Bethany Nauert/Emily Schuman's Modern Rustic Home)
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well...our kitchen table also serves as desk, it's bad to eat between paperwork....I try to keep it clean though.
I was just wondering today about paperless office , but so many companies want you to fillout forms ect enough!
Where is that desk from?
Looks like a standard parsons desk.
After 20 years of messy desks, last year I decided to enact a "clean desk at the end of the day" policy. So nice to start the next morning without an obvious reminder that I have a pile of work.
All I know is that I feel a lot calmer, at least at the start and end of each day.
I'm trying to adopt this at home, but I do clear my desk at work every day before I go home. I make a prioritized to-do list for the next day, make sure all pertinent info I need to complete the tasks is organized, and go through my In box to make sure there's nothing in there that's already done and just needs to be filed away. It makes coming in the next day so much nicer and I can get started on the day's tasks without having to slog through old stuff (and possibly miss deadlines!)
What a great reminder. Whenever I clean off my desk at home, the room immediately feels roomier and cleaner.
I have an "immediately clean the dishes" policy. I hate having dishes pile up, but if you don't do them immediately they always seem to stay for days. So I will clean pots and pans as I cook so that I don't have to worry about scraping and adding 15 extra minutes onto my washing because I kept neglecting it.
In the past I've been an executive assistant, freelance writer and editor. I've always had a clean desk policy, and it has always resulted in more efficiency. My husband, on the other hand, flies by the seat of his pants and leaves piles of paper wherever he goes. And he is perpetually going in circles and grinding his wheels. Taking time to plan, prioritize and file pays for itself over and over. It's one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Oh, mais oui! Without a daily tidying goal, I can get into some pretty deep clutter. Daily messes are far easier to clean up than weekly or (heaven forbid) monthly messes.
I always clear off the kitchen table & my work desk (which is in the kitchen) so that I have a fresh start the next day. Feels like things have gotten accomplished. However, my sewing & craft tables ALWAYS have projects going on. So to clean them off at the end of each day would mean lugging everything back the next day. Though I DO clean up threads, fabric scraps, & other random flotsam jetsam.
But what I want to know is what on earth are those freaky things handing on the string in that foto?!
I live in dorm room suite right now and I've started adopting a clean desk policy- so 1, I walk in and feel very calmed immediately, and 2, so I can use it as a make-shift vanity in the morning, without having to shuffle around piles of homework and books.
I do this and I try very hard to do this in my living room as well...