Notice the piles on the floor. Every evening he moves the piles onto the desk so the cleaning ladies don’t throw it all away.

Anyway, I try not to tease him too much about his messy desk but the other guys have no such qualms. In fact, his line manager regularly asks me to help him “sort it all out”. To which I reply, “sorry, I only work with people who want to change”

So in typical guy fashion, they bet him that he wouldn’t be able to sort it all out in a week. And in typical guy fashion, he rose to the occasion and did it.

It looks a MILLION times better and I’m so proud of him. It really made my heart proud and he did it within the deadline (I think my camera said 3.22 pm on a Friday afternoon). Just goes to show what you can do when you put your mind to it because he did it in about 2 hours.

As promised, here are some pictures of my desk at work. Looking at the pictures it actually looks a lot more cluttered than it feels…

Anyway, some things I want to point out to you:

1. the wall of inspiration on the right under my name (pictures of my hubby, inspirational quotes, scriptures from the Bible, pictures of friends and some SARK cards – my favourite is “you are a delicious, succulent human bean”, which fits into my Big, Juicy goals theme)
2. my glass of water
3. my office control journal (in that vertical organiser)
4. minimal paper – only have 3 files and I’m actually cheating because one of them contains my performance appraisals, certificates, etc.

Now let’s look at my desk head-on:

• computer with picture of Wicklow, Ireland as a screensaver
• in the top left corner, I have my “only four things to do with paper and email” from Help! I need more time
• radio and mirror (essentials!)
• to the left of the computer, my “things to do today” papers
• right in front of the keyboard, my master to-do list of all my projects and where they’re all at, on top of the notebook where I write my 6 (or less) Eat the Frog items every day, and other assorted notes

For the most part, the desk works for me (although that vertical organiser is taking up too much space – I think I’ll “release” it) because it’s empty of stuff while still being inspiring to me. I can’t work in a cold work space so I like to be surrounded by things that are “me”.

If you have any questions about some things in the pics or how I do certain things, put them in the comments so everyone else can also benefit when I answer them. Thanks.

Now for the fun part, show me your desk (please link to a post with a pic of your desk, not to your entire blog)

Share in the comments - does this kind of work environment make you do the happy dance, or is it too minimalistic?

I love it! But mine is a LOT more colourful and happy.

• Do you find yourself wasting time looking for files on your computer?
• Do you get frustrated because you just don’t know where to start?
• Do you know when and how often to do a back up?
• Has your computer ever crashed and you lost everything?
• Do you know how to organise and contain all those free things you keep downloading off the internet?
• Do you know how to name and store files so they’re easy to find?

Join me as I host the Everything you EVER wanted to know about organising your computer teleclass with Computer Whiz Janet Barclay.

Janet and I have a combined total of over 30 years’ experience, organising individuals, groups and organisations.

Our systems, tips and tricks will help you have an organised computer in no time at all.

On this 75-minute teleclass, you’ll learn:

• Where to start organising your computer
• My DREAM method of organising your computer
• How to keep control of all the audios, PDFs and ebooks you get for free off the internet and how NOT to let it clutter up your hard drive
• Exactly how to label and store your documents and files so you can find them
• 3 little-known filing tricks
• How to organise your contacts and all those business cards
• How to cut your computer time in half
• How to organise tasks and projects
• How and when to do a proper, thorough back up of your files and how to know when to do it so you don’t lose your work
• And much, much more

Join us on…

Date: Tuesday 23 September
Time: 12 – 1:15 EST
How: Simulcast! (Attend via Phone or Webcast — it’s your choice)
Cost: F-r-e-e for all Gold VIP Inner Circle members. Not a member? Join here

If you’re not a member, your investment for this valuable teleclass is only $37

You’ll receive:

1. The live call – training and live coaching in the question and answer section
2. Recording as an MP3 audio download
3. Comprehensive handout
4. Janet’s “Maximising your time with Outlook” ebook (sells for $9,99)
5. Marcia’s DREAM method of organising your computer report (worth $9,99)

If you can’t make the call “live”, you can catch up by listening to the recording within 24 hours.

If you’re ever going to keep up with all the paper in your life, you have to decide on a system and keep tweaking it.

You can read about how to deal with mail clutter and decide if that system will work for you, or if you need to make slight adjustments.

I’ll talk more about actual filing in later posts but before I do, I like to go back a step.

1. Examine the sources of all the paper in your life. Write them all down.

• Magazines
• Mail
• Printing emails
• Notes from school
• _________
• _________
• _________

2. See where you can eliminate or reduce the flow of paper into your life.

• If you get accounts by email and in the mail, email the company and stop the mail.
• If you and two friends read the same magazine, buy one every 3 months and pass it around.
• Sign notes from school immediately and send back the next day. Don’t leavethem on your counter a minute longer than you have to.

3. Decide on your comfort level for accounts/ filing

• I only keep 3 months’ worth of statements except for our water and electricity bills and that’s because it is a crazy nightmare dealing with Joburg Connect to get queries sorted out. There are MANY great things about South Africa; that’s not one of them
• I have one place in my study for “things to file”. Since I don’t keep a lot of paper, my comfort level went from once a week (about 18 months ago) to once every 3 – 4 weeks. I can still get through that pile in less than 10 minutes so it does work for me.

Your turn. What are your good ideas on dealing with paper?

Resource
7 easy steps to organise your office

Kilbrittain, Ireland

Hi everybody

I don’t even live in the Northern Hemisphere but I’ve been getting SO EXCITED about summer, just from reading the blogs. As you know, I’m a winter gal (just look at those gorgeous skies in the picture above) so am in my element right now with our cold weather in Johannesburg. If I could only have an insulated house like they do in the UK, I’d be as happy as a clam (anyone know if clams are actually happy?)!

So I decided in honour of your summer and our winter, we should do something fun together.

TA DA DA DUM…

Announcing … THE HOME/ OFFICE ORGANISING CHALLENGE

Here’s how it’s going to work:

STEP 1

Decide what you want to tackle for the next 10 weeks. It doesn’t have to take you 10 weeks but you have 10 weeks to get it all done so there’s no pressure. See? Still lots of time to laze at the pool, reading, or in my case to laze under my blanket with hot chocolate

I suggest you choose a specific room (s) in your HOME or your OFFICE. There’s enough in most offices to keep you busy for 10 weeks!

STEP 2

Set a deadline. Depending on the size of the project, choose your date of completion.

STEP 3

Decide on a reward for completing your project. Will you buy some pillows for your home? Do you want a new desk for the office?

STEP 4

Map out your “how to” steps. I suggest that you take a big piece of paper for each room and break your BIG project down into MINI projects. E.g. in the bedroom, there might be hanging clothes, shelves, bedside table, etc.

If you’re not sure about the “how to”, please get the Organise your Home system (http://www.takechargesolutions.org/?page_id=21) or 7 Easy Steps to Organise your Office (http://www.takechargesolutions.org/?page_id=17).

STEP 5

Make yourself accountable to someone. Tell your family, a friend, your coach, or better still, post it on your blog and make yourself accountable to the internet!

With any project, it’s always more fun when you do it together with other people so here’s the thing – I’m hosting TWO Question & Answer calls over the course of the ORGANISING CHALLENGE. These calls are f-r-e-e for anyone who owns ORGANISE YOUR HOME or 7 EASY STEPS (and all clients).

Call 1 Thursday 26 June 8PM South Africa time/ 2PM Eastern Standard Time
Call 2 Thursday 24 July 8PM South Africa time/ 2PM Eastern Standard Time

During this time, you get 1:1 coaching and can ask me anything that you’re battling with, tips and ideas about your organising project, etc, etc. Or you can just come listen in and get ideas from the others. Don’t worry if you can’t make the times – you can email your questions and I’ll answer them on the call. Both calls will be recorded and the links will be put up on the password-protected site for all who have registered.

SO ARE YOU UP FOR THE ORGANISING CHALLENGE?

1. Leave a comment here if you’re up for it.
2. Email me if you’re a previous purchaser of the HOME (http://www.takechargesolutions.org/?page_id=21) or OFFICE (http://www.takechargesolutions.org/?page_id=17) product.
3. When you buy the product, in the comments section, please put “organising challenge” and I’ll add you to the list for all the call-in information.

This is only going to take about 60 minutes every week.

Won’t it be WONDERFUL to have a FUNCTIONAL and ORGANISED space at the end of August?

P.S. If anyone’s a Photoshop whiz and can help out, please contact me – I need a button for this challenge to put on the blog

P.P.S. If you want to see some travel pics, check out the travel blog at http://francoisfamily.blogspot.com/

Don’t you wish you had more time to finally organise your office?

Sorry to disappoint you but opportunities rarely come along gift-wrapped in HUGE chunks of 2 or 3 hours

So what’s the next best thing?

Using up the little bits of time you do find!

What are some of the things you can do in your home or work office in 10 minutes?

1. throw away all the dry markers and pens that don’t work
2. tidy your desk
3. declutter a pile of paper
4. file a pile of paper
5. conquer your email
6. make a list of office supplies you need to buy
7. pay some bills
8. weed through a file
9. organise your library books
10. declutter your bookshelf

What other tasks can you do in your office in 10 minutes?