Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Messy? Moi?

Today I cleaned my office. A better word might be purge. I was ruthless, throwing out a bunch of junk, tossing old journals and magazines into the recycling, scrapping goo off my desk, etc.

For those who know me know that I have trouble keeping my work space tidy. Unfortunately, people often confuse untidiness with being disorganized. I’m actually quite organized. In my job I have to juggle quite a few tasks at once and, for the most part, I pull it off. I rarely lose things (although I can be forgetful), am rarely late for meetings or appointments, and have a detailed "to-do" list that is constantly being updated. So don't confuse messiness with sloth.

It’s not that I’m a slob. I shower regularly and wear clean clothes. I chew with my mouth closed and try to say “please” and “thank you.”

Nor am I a pack-rat. I feel no displeasure in throwing things out. In fact, I love it when my shelves are bare.

I simply don’t see mess. Mess doesn’t register with me. I don’t recognize it as chaos the way most people do.

But now my desk is clean and I have newly emptied shelves. My files are in order and my Kleenex box is full. We’ll see how long this lasts.

I’m guessing 2 days.

No comments: