I’m currently surrounded by piles and piles of mess.
Well… mess is what it looks like to the casual observer.
I normally like to have things super-tidy on my desk because I find less clutter means less distractions.
But even my desk has stuff piled high on it.
Hang on… let’s be real for a moment…
That’s just a mind game I play with myself
Because, while my desk may be minimal… and winning a Marie Kondo thumbs-up… my computer screen opens me up to a world of distractions.
So the benefits of a clean desk to my distractionability (hehe)… is next to zero in comparison.
So I’m OK with the potentially distracting mess that’s sitting on my desk at the moment.
Plus: It’s a controlled mess.
No, I’m not just making myself feel better by giving my mess by a special name.
You see…
Each of the piles has a special purpose… and I know they won’t be there forever.
One is tech stuff that needs a box to go in. Another is resources I found from my previous job that they might still find useful. Another is some notebooks and stuff I’ll go through to harvest historical bits from… then bin it.
So: controlled mess.
And that’s just my desk.
There’s a huge pile of stuff to the left and right of me. From all the bits I emptied out of cupboards and random boxes. It’s stuff that sat around from previous years… a lot of it from my last job… that — until now — I didn’t have the mental strength to process.
But I always knew the day would come. Plus now I could really do with the cupboard space for new business things.
So… the real reason I’m ok with all this mess?
I’ve started to see just how my inner state of anxiety so easily looks for any which way to ease things up.
And telling myself I needed a Zen workspace with my desk… my office… and my front lawn… was a convenient escape when anxious about the new, the scary, and the complex stuff that I now have to do.
It was just another outlet for procrastination
“If I get this tidy then I’ll feel more relaxed.”
Familiar?
Now, don’t get me wrong…
I’ve even written about how doing stuff like chores can be a welcome break and give your brain some room to breathe and be creative…
But in that case you’re not doing the thing to feel virtuous — pretending like you’ve done a good lot of work because you’ve worked hard at it …
When the the thing you REALLY should be doing is sitting alone and rejected in the corner — just craving the attention from you that it deserves.
So…
I’ve made peace with my mess
It soon will pass.
And I can sit here today among the piles of paper, books and matchbox cars (where did they come from? 🤷♂️)… and feel relaxed.
Relaxed… even with my egg timer ticking away beside me to make sure I don’t start editing this email as I go.
Anti clean desks I am not… it’s totally OK to like having a clean desk and enjoying that.
I’m just learning that, for me…
What’s important is not the clean desk… but the actions I take despite it not being clean
I will tidy it up. Things will end up in their homes. But not today.
Today I’m writing 5 emails. 3 of mine. 2 for a client.
And my egg-timer is gonna be working overtime. ⏰
Speaking of working overtime…
I hate working long, unnecessary hours and wasting time… when there’s a simple, time-saving option.
For my websites I use Systeme to avoid all this. Saves me time and frustration. All the details are here (affiliate link): https://milham.me/systeme
How’s your mess going?
Ready to build your email list? Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham