Cleaning My Desk so I can Do My Work — Part 453...

Saying that you need to clean your desk so you can do your work is often double-speak for procrastinating what you really need to be doing.

But not always.

This morning, I settled in at the computer, and immediately discovered that I was about to get "update fücked," as we like to call it, around here. Multiple updates, restarts and what have you ahead... and don't lecture me about the glory of Macs, thank you!

One of the things I have learned about myself in my 59 years on this planet is that I tend to get easily derailed by what I perceive to be "setbacks."

Forest waterfall

Today, Not So Much (or: "The Therapy Must Be Working!")

Expecting that my computer would be out of commission for about an hour, I decided to clean up the small desk in the corner that I use as my "shipping table" for my eBay businesses. This may not sound like much of anything... but for someone who would not-so-long-ago have used this kind of interruption to either pace angrily or do something perfectly useless like watch TV... this was a step forward.

Of course, once I get started on something, I tend to keep going!

Even though my computer had long since completed its update routine, I actually ended up spending the rest of the day giving my entire work space a pretty thorough cleaning and tidying up. And I have to admit that it was a much needed thing, since I had a number of "piles" that had been allowed to just sit for as much as a couple of years.

Calendula

A Clean Desk is a Sign Of....?

I'm actually not sure what a clean desk signifies, but I am pretty sure my messy desk was largely the result of having closed a business back in June, and then running a couple of eBay ventures, and having very little time to stay tide.

And now I'm about to embark on a new career direction that involves providing a very "accurate" service to my clients, so it seemed like the right thing to do to clean my desk so I can do my work.

Even though — as it turned out — I ended up actually cleaning my entire home office. Which was actually a good thing, as it hadn't really been done since our fluffy white cat BeBe ("the hairy") died, back in September. Amazing how much hair that cat shed everywhere!

So whereas I effectively avoided doing most of my other work today "due to cleaning," it was a much overdue cleaning session,and I even managed to unpack one of the numerous moving boxes still in the walk-in closet here. Which gave me quite a few more new things to put on eBay and sell!

So that was pretty much a win-win.

Close-up of orchids

Tidiness... and the Black Hole Clock

At one of the last places I worked, we had something fondly known as "The Black Hole Clock."

The Black Hole Clock was an imaginary device that would start counting off time whenever we had to stop everything and start searching for a specific needed item... which appeared lost due to the surrounding mess.

Now, I'm not suggesting that there is such a thing as a perfectly tidy work space... but when you waste time looking for the things you need to do your work, simply because your surroundings are messy... then something is pretty wrong!

Whether or not my cleaning efforts today were truly useful, at least I feel a little more confident that we can pack up the Black Hole Clock... at least for a while!

Thanks for reading!

(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)

What does YOUR workspace look like? Is it always tidy? Or always messy? Do you have something like a "Black Hole Clock" in your life? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 191115 00:38 PDT
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