Desk Test
The title of the book is The Office Clutter Cure by Don Aslett, 2nd edition. One of the things he says is that your desk says a lot about you to anyone who sees it. I think most of the time when I go home my desk looks pretty good. Everything is nicely and neatly piled and put somewhere. I have a lot of desk drawers, ten big ones, in my office not to mention the eight cabinets above my desk. I like to put things in the drawer so it’s out of the way and people can’t see it. I got to thinking…that could really say something about me: I do like to keep my crap out of eyesight and essentially, out of mind.
There is also a “Desk Test” you can give yourself and some of the questions cause a humorous response. The first phrase you must rate yourself on is “my desk is always clear and unobstructed.” Well yes…it is when I’m not here. When I’m here, on the other hand, it sometimes – usually – looks like a hurricane just came through. And on very special days…I can even get it to look like a hurricane threw up on it! But when I leave I try to neaten things up so it looks nice, clean, and organized…even when really it’s not. I think the second phrase is probably one of the two I like the best.
“I can find anything I need on it, in seconds.” Well yes…I can. I can rummage through the crap I have, sending some pages to the floor, if I have to in order to find something quickly. It may – or sometimes may not – look worse after I’m done but I could find it…hopefully. But I also say you should enjoy life without getting in much of a hurry so I try not to find anything in “seconds,” but that’s really beside the point right now. So yes, I can find things on my desk…that is if you are talking about the normally clear surface of my desk not including the files and other organization helpers that are atop my desk. And no…I don’t have a clue what is in most of those things. I “inherited” a lot of that stuff and I’m keeping it “just in case.”
And since I’m not going to talk about the files, I’m not going to think about the filing cabinets I have that I really don’t know what half of that stuff is for. I could probably get rid of most of it but it’s too daunting and I don’t know where to start…so I haven’t started on that yet. The third phrase is “others can find what they need there, in my absence.” Hell no! But it’s not because of the mess…it’s because most of my employees are fucking stupid!
“All fileables are filed.” Yes…in my own unique way that only I really understand…when I’m doing it but by the next day I’ve either forgotten a) where I put it or b) why I put it where ever I did put it. “There’s plenty of room in my workspace for new projects.” Yes…I have plenty of floor space if needed.
The list goes on but those were my favorites…maybe I’ll start doing something with them. Or I could just file the book away in the “do tomorrow” file that’s somewhere on my desk but I can’t quite find right now but I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.
