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Clear the Clutter: Dirt, Dust & Grime · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're continuing our Clear the Clutter series, and we'll begin with a step that might seem unnecessary or maybe even a little bit juvenile, but it's vital if you're going to have a neat workspace.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this really begins by facing the truth that your office or work area is probably a lot dirtier than you realize.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: All you've got to do is take a close look at your computer keyboard or run your finger over a bookshelf to get a first-hand glimpse of the dust and the dirt and the grime that covers nearly every surface of your office or your work area.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm no cleaning expert, but I recommend taking a few minutes to tackle these three areas to get you a solid start in cleaning.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is clean the floor and the walls.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to break out the vacuum, the broom, or the mop for according to whatever your floor is like.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure and wipe down the baseboards and the walls, and make sure to get the dirt, grime, and cobwebs off the walls and the ceiling as well.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, clean your desk area and your shelves.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Take the items off your desk and wipe down every square inch of your desk surface area if possible.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Wash your desk mats if you use those.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now I actually have two desk mats.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have a larger one that I have a little bit of a smaller one that sits on top of that.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you follow me on Instagram, either me at Kent Sanders or the Daily Writer at Daily Rider Life, sometimes you'll see in the background of photos that I post my Daily Rider logo, and that is actually a picture of my desk mat.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, that sits on my desk.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure why I felt the need to point that out.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, a desk mat goes on top of a desk.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: But oftentimes you'll see that in the background.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: That is actually my smaller desk mat.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I have a bigger one that sits actually underneath that.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: And a couple of weeks ago, I was actually doing this exact cleaning that I'm talking about in this episode.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing that here in my home office and I was looking at my desk mats and I thought, man, these things are absolutely filthy.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: There was actually like coffee stains on them and um who knows what else.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just ran those through the washer with a load of laundry, and voila, they came out looking brand new.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So if you use desk mats, I definitely encourage you to uh wipe those off or just run them through the laundry if those are the kind that you can run through the laundry.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, along with cleaning your desk area and your shelves, I recommend cleaning your computer keyboard and your mouse as well.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about your computer keyboard.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: You're typing on it all day long, you know, and I mean, my goodness, think about all the places that your hands go during the day.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: And unless you just constantly are washing your hands, your hands are actually accumulating a lot of dirt and grime and germs and who knows what else.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And all that stuff gets transferred to your mouse and your computer keyboard and really whatever else you touch.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So grab some Q-tips and some alcohol or Windex or whatever you want to use.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm not a cleaning expert, but this is what I use on mine.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I get some Q-tips and alcohol, and I make sure and get in between all the keys of the computer keyboard.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's kind of amazing when you do that.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: You just feel sort of refreshed.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: You feel like you're using almost a new computer.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of cool.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Do the same thing for your mouse.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Your mouse gets crammy and dirty, so clean all those things uh as well.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number three, clean the windows, doors, dry erase boards in your office, or other hard surfaces.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really surprising to me how dirty these things can get, especially the doors.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've ever looked at your door, have you ever noticed that if you go a while in between door cleanings, your door sort of gets grimy around the handle because you're opening and you're closing and you're touching your door all the time.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's funny how oftentimes we just let things get dirty over time and we don't even really notice it.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I want you to, after listening to this episode, take a look around your workspace and notice how dirty stuff probably is.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So just take a few minutes and uh start to clean up these things, and I promise it's gonna make you feel a lot better.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that some people believe that the process of cleaning windows and doors and cleaning up your home or your workspace, I know a lot of people believe that that brings in a renewed sense of spiritual energy into your life.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Have to be honest with you, I don't know exactly how that works, but I do know that whenever I clean, I feel new.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I feel clean, you know, uh kind of spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it just makes me feel better.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So even if, you know, at the very least, if there's nothing actually going on spiritually with that, at the very least it makes me feel better, which does make me more productive and energized and puts me in a better mood.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And who knows?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe there is all kinds of things going on spiritually with the cleaning process.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really know at the end of the day.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: All I know is that it does work.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's the kind of thing where if you believe that it's bringing new energy into your life, then it probably is.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So even if you do nothing else after listening to this podcast episode, I want you to just take a couple minutes and at least clean off your desk.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: That act alone is going to really have a good impact on your productivity and upon your mindset.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Probably what's going to happen is when you just do that one very simple thing, that's going to extend to other areas of your workspace and maybe of your home as well.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope this is helpful to you.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's challenge before we wrap this up.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Before you go to bed today, again, take just a couple minutes and clean off your desk.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're feeling a little bit more motivated, take 10 minutes to clean those areas that we talked about.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: The windows, the doors, the floor, ceiling, shelves, all those kinds of things.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it really is going to help you feel better and make you more productive.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this stuff isn't exactly all about writing.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: This isn't about plot points and book publishing and um, you know, making money from your writing and all the things that we normally talk about on this podcast, but it's actually intimately tied to that because all this cleaning stuff affects your mindset.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It affects how you feel about your work area.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: It also affects how you feel about yourself.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're content working in a messy, dirty, grimy environment, that means you're settling.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want you to settle.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to reach higher and reach for excellence in whatever it is that you do.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: So do this one simple thing, and I promise this this will extend into other areas of your writing in your life.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for listening, and I'll see you tomorrow.