Organize and declutter everything. You read that right. Drawers? Dump them. Emails? Delete them and go the extra step to unsubscribe. Dusty knickknacks downstairs collecting dust? Sell them. Apply this to your desk, your home and ultimately your career.
Feel less stressed about your home, in your relationship and transfer that over to your career. Ever have a morning when you snooze too many times, your up late rushing to take a shower, you ran out of shampoo, all your towels are dirty, you find yourself scrumming through clean clothes piled on the floor for matching socks, you misplaced your keys and now there is no time for a double shot espresso from the local café? That horrible and rushed morning can carry on to your mood at work and throughout the day. However, if you were prepared, this may have been avoided.
I may not be Marie Kondo when it comes to organization, and if you haven't heard of that name, and this topic interest you, she has all the books, tips, and tricks to encourage you to use the best methods. The method used here is to go through each item, what purpose does it serve, if it is a shirt, does it bring you joy? Organize the "yes" pile, find shelves, make everything have a purpose and remove those that are not worth your time, space and energy. This turns into a value-driven process. Bring that to your work life to develop the learner mindset and fine-tune your decision-making skills.
It sounds terrifying to most, so start small. Plan to donate five shirts, two pairs of jeans and finally throw away those socks with holes. Go through your emails. Have some dated back from seven years ago? Probably time to get rid of it. Have old love letters that you hold dear to your heart? Make a folder so you have quick access. Get over 50+ junk mail a day? Unsubscribe. Delete old voicemails, throw away pens and makers that are old and dried out. Simple.
For work, you spend a lot of time there. Have it clean. You would be surprised by the peace of mind you can get from having items clean and free space available. Do you really need the 18 sauce packets leftover from takeout? If so then let's get them together in a bag. Those notes from the network meeting you never use (from three years ago) those can go.
Explore your discomfort. At work you might not have a closet of your clothes that will spark your joy, so how do you organize that place. Your computer, the most used item in the office. Clean it up. And I don't mean disinfecting the keyboard (which please do anyways because gross) but clear the desktop. Make sure your documents have good titles so you can get to them effectively. Delete the first and second and third drafts of your memo. Bookmark your top five websites and delete the ones you never visit. Finally visit the ones you booked mark for that one recipe you have yet to make, write it down and enjoy your sweet tooth once and for all.
Like I mentioned earlier, give your kept items a place. One useable for you, whether it's fun folders or crafty cabinets. Make it easy and accessible so you are more likely to put it back in its place. Keep like items near each other. Place the extra paper with the ink in a drawer next to the printer. Get a pencil holder and keep those that you get the most out of. Put the rest in a holder placed away with other office supplies. These simple tasks ultimately save you time and frustration on your day to day tasks.
Find what works for you and figure out the intention behind it. Give it a purpose to keep you motivated and keep up with it. It can help you be accountable for your employees to finally finish that report or spark and interest in a new project. Clean up your calendar, keep it organized and cut the things that aren't bringing you success.
This then leads us to: What parts of my job spark joy? How can I incorporate them more, and get rid of the things that don’t? That leads us to understand where our goals are and how to get there—whether that’s toward a specific project, a new role, or a completely different industry.
