Decluttering: When less is really more

Is the place where you work one horrific mess, full of junk and disorder (it pathetically looks like a dumpsite)? Well, it’s 2002 and time to put some order in your work space, as well as in your life (which you probably promise yourself New Year after New Year).

Clearing your clutter equals clearing your mind. "A clear desk does help you keep a clear mind," asserts Jane Alexander in the lean but mean book The Five-Minute Healer (available at Goodwill Bookstore). "Psychologically, clutter irritates the mind. It makes us feel depressed with all the things that need doing, fixing, finishing. On an energetic level, mess pulls our energy levels down – it creates stagnant chi, or vital energy. So clear your desk and re-energize your mind."

The book has some clear-cut suggestions on how to decrease your clutter and increase your energy, creativity and productivity, as well as improve or brighten your mood:

• Keep your desk as clear as possible. Keep only what you are working with on it so you can concentrate on the task at hand.

• File papers away once you have finished working with them. Don’t let them pile up on the floor.

• When papers arrive on your desk, decide right away what to do with them. Act on them now; file them for future use; or throw them away.

• Keep your waste bin by your desk. Anything you don’t need can go straight into the bin (or what is euphemistically called the round file).

• Make time to go through your filed documents and papers regularly. Throw away any that are out of date or no longer needed.

"When you’re organized, you don’t have to waste time looking for things, and you generally do a better job," says Dr. Janet O’Mahony in the book Energy Boosters by the editors of Prevention health books (available at National Book Store).

Think of how much precious time you would have saved if you didn’t have to wade through a sorry heap of mess masquerading as your work desk, just to look for a stapler or paper clip.

The editors urge: "Maintain an alphabetized filing cabinet, put your scattered desk papers into piles so your disorganization doesn’t stare you in the face, and periodically dust off your work space so you work on a clean slate."

Clearly, the focus is on keeping your mind focused. Here are more mind-decluttering tips:

• Make an appointment with yourself – and treat it as a very important appointment that you just can’t break. Use the time for creative work or ideas, for piquing your brain, or simply for sitting quietly and refueling. Don’t let anything or anyone interrupt this silence.

• Be proactive rather than reactive. Plan what you will do and when you will do it – then stick to your plan.

• Take a break. Walk around for a few minutes or if you can’t leave your work area, do a few stretches and some deep breathing to refresh yourself and replenish your concentration.

• Schedule your day according to your energy. Are you an early bird or a night owl? When are you most creative, most organized? When are you the least alert that you’re only half-awake and half in dreamland? Use this time only to make calls or catch up with small routine tasks.

Fact is, says Alexander, by rearranging and re-energizing your desk, you can rearrange and boost your career as well.

To inject some energy into your waning career, Alexander gives these tiptop tips, according to the revered Chinese art of feng shui:

• Place your desk so you sit with your back to a solid wall with a good view of the door and the window.

• A desk lamp on one side helps focus your attention – in the top left-hand corner to improve your finances.

• Fresh cut flowers stimulate mental activity and cleanse the atmosphere.

• Keep essential reference books on your left-hand side – the knowledge area.

• If your work is creative, have a rounded desk. If your work involves figures or is very precise, a rectangular desk is better but ideally still with rounded corners.

• Try to use a rectangular briefcase or handbag to make you more inclined to finish projects.

• Your computer should be centered at the back of your desk. This area governs fame and recognition. Behind it, put something on the wall to remind you of what you want to achieve – a photograph, newspaper clipping, or a collage of work goals.

• Don’t overload your desk with pictures of family lest you get distracted. A couple of pictures sitting in the middle and top right-hand corner will do.

The book also has tips on how to create a "salary-raising desk," a "creative powerhouse desk," a "fame-enhancing desk," or the "get-on-with-people desk" (but you really wouldn’t go that far, would you?).

Make your working environment work for you. Happy, clutter-free working everyone!