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August 02, 2005

Productivity Tip: Throw everything on your desk in a box

From the good guys at 37signals:

Toss everything, and I mean everything on your desk in a box. If it doesn’t fit in a box, put it on the floor. Your desk should be completely cleared of everything — no monitor, keyboard, mouse, pencil, paper, stickies, gum, etc.

Next, get to work. Only remove something from the box (or the floor) when you absolutely need it. Not before. No anticipation. If you don’t need a pen now, don’t get the pen. Only place it on your desk when you need it.

Throw out the remaining items in the box in 30 days or sell the contents on Craigslist. (Edit: or give it away on Freecycle)

Disclaimer: Before you toss it, you may want to go through it and make sure you pull out the picture of the family and the legal documents, but toss everything else.

When we decided to move this spring, we started by “de-cluttering” our house (at the recommendation of our selling agent). Loads of things to criagslist, freecycle, goodwill, a 10x10 storage space, or just the dump. Made our home look much better, and certainly contributed to the quick sale.

Not to mention it made the eventual move so much easier.

Posted by jim at August 2, 2005 10:13 AM