I am supposed to write something about GTD for Black Belt Productivity. In the meantime, a picture is worth a thousand words, and me actually posting it is worth you questioning my sanity.
Remember the Sisyphean Task? Max telling me that she envisioned me and my desk to be like “that Greek guy rolling the boulder up the mountain?” Well, I’d clean it off, then stack stuff up again, or toss stuff on there so I could file it later, or open the door to the office, fling things in the general direction of the desk and slam the door shut before any monsters could escape.
After GTD, in a land where “things” have “places” where they “belong:”
I said I’d tell you if the book was any good. Well, yes, the book is good:
But you have to take the first step, and the first step is:
Empty your office.
And start over.
Um, I’m supposed to be writing about this for the guys at Black Belt. Guess I’d better stop writing about this here and start writing about it there.
Chow, y’all.
May 20, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Um, wow. Seriously, wow. I knew it had been bad before, but… wow.
May 20, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Now see here, missy.
You are supposed to say “wow” at how wonderful it looks NOW, not at how awful it looked before.
Really! Harrumph.
May 20, 2006 at 8:35 pm
You did it! You actually posted the before pic!
Oh, great job, btw.
May 20, 2006 at 8:37 pm
Give that dog a bone!
May 20, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Oh, admit it. The burglars cleaned you out. This feeble attempt at a cover up isn’t fooling anyone.
Read my interview with producer Holly Mosher and writer/director Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau when you need a break (from hunting down the perps).
May 20, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Oh. See. I didn’t get to the next photo. I sort of fainted. But now that I’m seeing that one, wow. Great job! Really looks good.
(heh. I cannot help the snark. The snark is in charge.)
May 21, 2006 at 2:35 am
Yikes! That is an awesome change!! Ha! For me the inside of my brain sort of did that.
Seriously impressed, Pooks!
May 21, 2006 at 2:37 am
Hey, you mention Franklin planner in that link… did you read 7Habits and try Covey’s system? Interesting! I did! It sort of worked, but didn’t take… but the book and some of his concepts are awesome. [Just the actual planning/doing bit was very difficult/nonexistent.]
May 21, 2006 at 7:59 am
SQV — if any burglars will steal only the clutter and leave the good stuff behind, I will leave my door unlocked for them any day next week!
toni — you just wait.
a11en — my brain isn’t there yet. Lucky for the world we don’t have a pic of the inside of my brain. I read Hyrum Smith’s book, 10 Natural Laws of Successful Life and Time Management.
May 21, 2006 at 9:13 am
I see my dog’s already been here. I think it was the mention of “Chow.”
Anyway, that is so awesome, Pooks! And now I won’t feel so guilty about posting a picture of a picture of your desk. Am I forgiven now?
May 21, 2006 at 11:23 am
Wow wow wow! Your posts about GTD have inspired me to read the book. I’m a few chapters in. My “before desk” is neat and tidy, like your “after” desk. The thing that hasn’t been working for me is trying to manage multiple lists and calendars. So even though I look organized on the outside, my RAM works overtime trying to remember what’s on the agenda for the day/week spread across my various endeavors. Now I can adopt a system that will give me a way to track all this stuff and get it out my head so it’s clear for writing!!! Thank you for the posts.
May 21, 2006 at 8:34 pm
I screwed up the URL for the interview. It’s http://www.studiostar.ca/sideeffects.html
You should see the inside of MY brain (not).
May 21, 2006 at 11:03 pm
hey, pooks, trying to send you an email, but I don’t see a link on your site. Give me an email at adamrenfro@gmail.com and I’ll send you my character thingy.
May 22, 2006 at 1:01 am
Wow! What’s in that book to do such a thing like that?
I think I’m broken. I can’t work at a clean desk. So I have a small desk and a small mess, oh and tend to do little work there.
May 22, 2006 at 7:06 am
cg — I wasn’t using the desk at all — I was using my laptop everywhere else! that’s how the desk and office got so bad. I just kept stashing stuff in there because I wasn’t using it, anyway.
adam — done.
May 22, 2006 at 8:17 am
WOW, what an amazing change. I would imagine that a writer like yourself would crave the cleaness and openess of your ‘after’ picture desk. I guess that is why I am not a writer cause I live in more of the ‘before’ picture.
May 22, 2006 at 9:55 am
Michael — I need some clutter. That’s why the perimeter of my desk has photos and knick-knacks all around — a pristine desk with nothing but my laptop and current papers would send me into a straight-jacket. Right now my desk has a makeup bag, hair dryer, camera and few other things on it. The difference between now and “before” is that now I can clean it off in a couple of minutes and put everything where it goes. I’m still not all that inclined to do it as I go (witness the stuff on it this morning) but I’m also not letting it pile up to disastrous heights, simply because it’s pretty easy to clear it. In fact, I’m about to clear it and pull out my hPDA and do a weekly review!
May 22, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Well you know what I did after leaving that comment last night? Cleaned that little mess on that little desk. Then I went in another room and wrote one of my best scenes ever. It must have freed me up somehow.
May 24, 2006 at 10:53 pm
First, I like the before pic – esp. the can of silly string/hair spray/air freshener (maybe all 3?) Second, I thought about doing before/after pics with clients, but realized that what would really make an impact is before, after, after after, … In other words, a one-time cleanup is cool, but sustainability is the cat’s meow. Finally, I’d love to hear what you thought about Smith’s book. It’s on my shelf, but not read yet.
Enjoying the blog!
May 25, 2006 at 9:44 am
Well, my after and after and after ….
Having a place to put things makes all the diff. In fact, I’ve always known that, and I have that prob in other areas of my house, too. Live someplace 20 years and the closets and drawers get full. I need to move on to other areas … on the other hand, I still have messy bookshelves in here. (Messy, but organized — that’s the difference between them and my “before” desk.)
May 25, 2006 at 12:35 pm
[...] As matt so wisely pointed out in comments, before & after pictures are one thing, but what about “… and after and after and afters?” [...]
September 10, 2006 at 10:52 am
[...] Like it or not, my struggles with my desk are always somehow entwined with her voice in my ear. [...]
November 29, 2006 at 6:28 pm
[...] O primeiro passo, a organização física, não foi tão revolucionária quanto algumas que já postaram por aí. Apenas comprei alguns materiais de escritório que não havia na minha estação de trabalho em casa e dei uma limpada geral em papéis antigos e sem utilidade. [...]
February 16, 2007 at 2:58 pm
[...] primeiro passo, a organização física, não foi tão revolucionária quanto algumas que já postaram por aí. Apenas comprei alguns materiais de escritório que não havia na minha estação de trabalho em [...]
November 28, 2007 at 6:48 am
[...] primeiro passo, a organização física, não foi tão revolucionária quanto algumas que já postaram por aí. Apenas comprei alguns materiais de escritório que não havia na minha estação de trabalho em [...]