A psychological block to cleaning up your desk?

Are you someone who only gets their desk cleared on special occasions?

Do you ever feel annoyed with yourself about having an untidy desk and wondered why it takes a vacation or an overseas work trip to get motivated to get on top of all the paperwork, the reading and things to do?

I love the feeling of a clean desk, in-trays clear, tasks under control. Yet somehow after every clean up, I slide back and over a few days or sometimes weeks, the clutter builds again.

So let’s work together to change that – with these four steps:

Step 1 – Set the goal

Set a goal to have a tidy desk and tidy desktop on your computer too, all the time… well at least at the end of each day. This means having things filed appropriately, tasks entered into an up-to-date to do list, and a clean desktop surrounding your computer.

So you want that great fresh feeling – all new contacts and business cards entered into the contacts – daily. You want to have the good feeling walking away from your workspace that everything is under control.

You know you will be more efficient and less time will be wasted. You know you will feel good.

So with all these great intentions why the paralysis?

Step 2 – Audit your scripts

Analyse your “thinking scripts”, and recognise the negative scripts. Think of all the scripts to do with tidying the desk and getting organised, and work out what paralyses you.

It’s easy to think of all the negative ones — the ones that hold you back:

My desk is a mess — I wish it was tidy, but I can’t do it now.
It’s going to take too long to really do a good job of the desk.
I’ve got much more important things to do with my time than organise my desk.
I have to keep a lot of things out until they are taken care of.
If I put these things out of sight they will never get done.
I haven’t got time to file every little thing.
Before I do the desk I should clear my email inbox.

But list the positive ones too:

I feel good when the desk is tidy.
I love seeing everything organised.
It puts me in a good mood when I have everything filed and tasks prioritised.

The positive scripts lead to a fantastic feeling yet it’s the negative ones that operate most of the time and seem to be more powerful in impacting behaviour.

What are the main themes of these scripts? What are the strongest script messages?

I haven’t got the time!
It’s not that important!
It’s too hard!

Step 3 – Edit your scripts

This task is to focus on positive scripts. Remove or replace all those paralysis scripts and create positive scripts that will help you achieve your goals.

Step 4 – Make it a habit

Commit and tell someone you are planning a change. Share your goal.

Once started the rewards are there. See the tidy desk and it motivates you. Enjoy being in control and being more efficient. Get over those paralysing scripts and celebrate!

Read more about how to make your scripts into a habit in Eve’s book Rewrite Your Life! by Penguin Books and see the DVD Successful Thinking Habits or the wide range of DVD resources available at www.7dimensions.com.au.