Jan

An office clear out – or a clear out between the ears?

I thought I would stray away from blogging about writing directly today in favour of blogging about my office. I’m lucky enough to have a dedicated room for writing in, although I have still been known to write in bed and even in the bath from time to time. Yep it has happened.

But I think I must have that New Year clear out bug – you know, the one that strikes just after New Year’s Day and (hopefully) lasts long enough to help you spring clean your entire home a few months early. Last week it was the bedroom, this week it’s the office that has borne the full brunt of my determination to get things sorted out. I’ve been toying with putting up a picture of my work desk but I fear you’d disappear or report me to the Untidy Police. I’m one of those creative types that has to have a messy desk so they know where everything is. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Anyway I’ve had a pile of shredding to do for months and while I know I should shred stuff as I go along, this rarely happens (even though I sit right next to the shredder). But since I got back into the office after the festive break I have been ploughing through the shredding like a woman possessed. And now I have but a mere couple of inches of paperwork left to go.

Working in here has been a challenge in the last couple of weeks because we had a leak in our office ceiling on January 3rd (yep the day my business partner and I we went back to work). We have a loft conversion, a leaky dormer window (now fixed) but we need a new roof. Trouble is until it is done we can’t quite be sure whether the leak will happen again. So as I sit and type this I have two buckets beside me (just in case) and a couple of towels. Also just in case. It only seems to leak when the rain is pouring down and the wind blows in the wrong direction. But since we have computer equipment around we take extra steps to keep it all safe and covered during the night and during cloudy weather.

So this desire to tidy and streamline the clutter in the office is doubly impressive when you think about it. I think a declutter is good from time to time, and it has one other major effect as well. It tends to clear out the space between my ears – clears the mind and makes it easier to get stuff done. I’ve already found two new clients this week and there is a third one potentially in the offing too. Maybe it’s all the shredding that’s making it happen?