I did something yesterday that a lot of business gurus would say is counter-productive and a way of avoiding real work. And I’m going to encourage you to do the same thing.

Let me ask you, how many action-items do you have cluttering up your head and how much stuff is cluttering up your desk?

For me, the answer was, “A lot.”

So I took time to do a brain dump of all of the stuff I needed to do in my business and my personal life. After writing it down in my journal, I had a list of 35 things. Some  were simple tasks and some were complicated projects.

Doing this cleared my mind. Now, I don’t have those nagging “to-do” thoughts popping up into my mind and interrupting me. It’s all down on paper.

Second, I cleared up my working space. I work from home and quite frankly the office was a disaster.

Folders everywhere, notes scattered about, information to read pile up for literally months, my desk organizer overflowing and not organized and on and on.

I shredded and threw away a lot stuff. Hey, am I really going to read that newsletter that I’ve had in a pile since March? Probably not so in the trash it went.

I organized my reference materials so I could easily access them when needed and put away other materials that I rarely use.

My desk organizer is once again organized. I have a folder for “reading stuff” -things I’m actually  going to read, a folder for the book I’m writing, and folders for other projects I’m working on.

This morning when I walked into the office, my desk was neat, clean and organized with just my journal, pen, computer and Kindle on it (for my morning reading.)

I felt calmer. I was clear in my thoughts, in my work environment and ready to have a great day.

Of course, there are two sides to every coin. Some productivity gurus claim that having a messy workspace ads to your creativity. Maybe that works for some folks but my guess is the gurus who preach that are somewhat justifying their behavior.

I am hard-pressed to come up with any important activity that is enhanced by mental and physical chaos.

Keep in mind that my mental and physical decluttering exercise was done with intention and by deliberate plan. I did not shuffle paper mindlessly or clean up my desk to avoid work. I did it to become more productive and have less stress.

I suggest you go and do likewise.

Kick butt, make mucho DEEnero!

Dave “Decluttered” Dee