Desk Mess...and Keeping Productive

It's a fall morning and I love how the crisp air feels with an open window as I get to work...

My desk gets pretty crowded, so this pic doesn't show the way it normally looks! No matter how hard I would try, I just couldn't file every day. Let's face it, there is too much to do sometimes and I choose to let it go. I'm a recovering perfectionist!

BUT every two weeks, I set a timer for 25 minutes and gather all the piles on my desk. Then I go through them and put them in certain piles:

• Filing
• Need to do this week
• Need to do next week
• Future projects

Then, I file all the papers that need to be filed.

I leave the papers out for "Need to do this week" and I when I'm done with the 4 categories, I will enter in my journal the items I need to do so I put my attention on them!

I put my "Need to do next week" in a folder so next week I'll pull that out and work on those items. Caveat-if there is something leftover from this week that I don't get done, I move it over to this file.

And, lastly, I put the Future Projects items in a different folder marked "Future Projects" and put it away. These can be time-suck items that end up having me going down a rabbit hole, so I want to file it away until I'm ready to look at the "next" project.

Viola! A clean desk again :) And boy, does that makes me happy. 🤩

Do you have some DESK MESS tackle hacks? Please share them!

Photo: @aliraehaney