Does your desk look like a tornado?  Mine usually does because I am a paper pusher.  I take papers and then I process them and they leave my desk, but in the meantime my desk looks unorganized.  I have tried many different ways to keep my desk cleaned off of the paper because the as the saying goes… ‘a messy desk means a messy mind’.  I am normally a very organized person and I can put my hands on the item that I am looking for on my desk within about 20 seconds.  But…

As I get older, it is driving me crazy.  I made a deal with my brain.  I would try to keep my desk mess to a minimum.   I knew that I had to create a habit of cleaning my desk and that it would take me 21 days.  After 23 days, I have done a pretty good job of keeping the paperwork to a minimum.  I have created a one touch policy – only touch the paper once and don’t put it in a pile (this has helped the most).  I have also started sending people to the correct person instead of work flowing through me.  The one thing that has stood out in this process is how impressed everyone has been on my progress and that they noticed.  So I ask myself, "Why didn’t I do this years ago?"

What about you?  Is your desk neat and tidy, or full of piles of paper?   Share your greatest tip for keeping a clean desk in the comment section below.

Sabrina Heard, CDFA, is Office Manager with Randall-Paulson Architects in Roswell, Georgia. She currently serves as the SDA National Treasurer.