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5 Steps to Declutter Your Workspace · The Daily Writer

• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome everybody to the Born to Create podcast.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders, and I'm your host.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an author, musician, and teacher, but most importantly, I'm a husband and a dad.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Here on the show we talk about practices, habits, and strategies that help us live out our creative calling.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is episode 17, and today we're going to be talking about five steps to declutter your workspace.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can find the post that accompanies this episode, as well as all the links at KentSanders.net slash declutter.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Time for a confession.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Our basement used to be an absolute disaster area.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Over the years we had let boxes, odds and ends, and even unused furniture accumulate to the point where it was hard to even get to our washer and dryer.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Every time I went into the basement, which was several times a day, I felt a tinge of stress because of the clutter.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was disappointed because my son and I couldn't even use our pool table because it was overflowing with boxes.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that cleaning it would be a big project, and I'd been putting it off for several years.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of months ago I decided that enough was enough.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: I was tired of the clutter and mess.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I went to the basement on a Saturday morning, turned on some music, and by the afternoon it was clean and organized.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It looked like a totally different place, and I now felt a sense of peace every time I went into the basement.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: This principle applies to any area of a house or a building, including your work area, maybe especially your work area.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the time we don't give a lot of attention to organizing our workspace, but since this is where you create your art and you do your work, it's worth setting it up for maximum efficiency.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: There is an intimate link between your physical environment and your mind.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: When you work in an uncluttered environment, your mind is free to focus and to be creative.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have less stress and anxiety because the clutter is not there to distract you.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dig in.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Here are five steps to clearing the clutter from your workspace.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, focus on decluttering one area at a time.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a messy workspace or an office, take it one area at a time.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy to get overwhelmed with things and to get really stressed out about it.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So just start with one box or start with your desk or start with maybe just a drawer in your desk.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Once you have that area organized, then move on to the next one.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Doing it this way will give you some positive momentum and reduce your stress at feeling like you have to do it all at once.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: The important thing here is just to get started.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's intimidating to stand in the middle of a messy area, and it's much easier to just walk away from it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Just get started, and soon you'll feel the momentum you need to keep going.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, get rid of things you don't use.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: All of us have certain things we hang on to longer than we should.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's technology.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm that guy who still has cassettes from 1985 in his closet, and I may or may not have the Walkman to play them, and I may or may not have working batteries in that Walkman, but that's another topic.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of years ago I moved into a new office at my college and I gave away several boxes of books.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: My rule was that if I hadn't used a book in 10 years, I probably wasn't going to use it ever again.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Magazines are also notorious for producing clutter.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let the guilt of having paid for a magazine subscription but not reading the actual magazines keep you from tossing it out.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't already read it, you probably never will.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: Just throw it away and consider canceling the subscription.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, free up the real estate on your desk.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Your desk becomes a catch-all for all kinds of things like mail, paper notes, trinkets, pens, and all kinds of other stuff.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Get everything off your desk except what you actually use.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: A messy desk doesn't mean you're creative, it just means you're messy.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: A while back I was visiting a friend and I walked into his work office.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't believe what I saw.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: There were books piled all over the floor.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: His desk looked like somebody had literally taken a box of papers and dumped them all over the place.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I felt incredibly stressed out just being in that environment.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's really easy to get accustomed to having a messy desk or a messy work area.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: But if you don't feel productive, try cleaning it off and experiencing the ah factor when all that clutter isn't stressing you out.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, get rid of as much paper as possible and go digital.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Over the past couple of years, I've been going through as many paper files as possible and scanning the items that I want to keep.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: This includes receipts, tax information, of course, notes from college and grad school, appliance manuals, and a lot of other stuff.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: This frees up space in your filing cabinet as well as space in your mind.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: When it comes right down to it, there's only four things that you can do with paper.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You can file it physically in a file cabinet or a drawer or even a box.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: You can file it digitally, for instance in Evernote.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can discard it or you can shred it.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: When you handle paper, make a decision about it as soon as possible, then take action on it.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: What I tend to do, and maybe you do this as well, is I tend to just like pile papers in one place and then think, well, I'll go through them at some point in the future, and then we never do.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: When we put off taking action on paper items, we end up with huge piles of paper and it causes stress.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when we feel stressed, we can't do our best creative work.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: If I need to scan a single piece of paper, I take a picture of it with my phone and I usually store it in Evernote.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: If I need to scan multiple pieces of paper, I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap 1300 when I'm at home, or I use the scannable app on my phone, or I use the Canon copier when I'm at work.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I have all these systems set up to send a PDF of the scanned papers directly to my Evernote email address for convenience.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I also have a shredder by my desk at home whenever I need to discard anything with personal information on it.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, and finally, don't try to be perfect.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you're like me, meaning a perfectionist, sometimes you put off doing work until you can do it absolutely perfectly.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're not careful, you can procrastinate on getting work done.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Things are rarely perfect in real life, and when they are, it doesn't last very long.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let your desire for a perfectly clean environment be an excuse for putting it off.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: When you clear the clutter from your work environment, you have more peace of mind, more focus, and more momentum.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Set up your workspace so that it fosters peace and harmony instead of stress and anxiety.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, what can you do today to create a neater workspace?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: What are some tips that you would offer for creating a clutter free environment?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear your thoughts.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can join the conversation and find the post and the links that accompany this episode at KentSanders.net slash declutter.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: When you visit my site, you'll find all kinds of great resources to inspire your creativity.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'd also love to share a gift with you when you subscribe to my newsletter.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out and learn more about my books, writing, and services at KentSanders.net.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to connect with you and you can tweet me at Kent Sanders, and you can find me on Facebook and Instagram as Kent Sanders.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you'll also check out our Born to Create Facebook group by visiting Kent Sanders.net slash Facebook group.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: What will you do with the time you have left?