Cup of Inspiration

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated “Improve Your Office Day,” a day where we take another look at our workspace and see what we can do to help us be more efficient. Today, October 16^th, we bring that thinking into our virtual workspace as we celebrate “National Clean Your Virtual Desktop Day.”

Many of us spend much of our day looking at our computer screen. As we move from task to task, juggling several documents at a time in a never-ending multitasking work mode, it can be very easy to save much of our work on our desktop. Perhaps you have some documents you’re reviewing saved on your desktop while you fine tune it before sending to your boss. You might be saving some quick links in a virtual post-it on your desktop, along with a few short cuts to applications that you use regularly throughout the day.

When you pull up your desktop, do you have a hard time seeing the picture you saved as part of your computer wallpaper? When you open your computer, do you first see that picture of your child, or your loving pet, or that serene scene you saved to give you a brief mental break in your day? Or do you first see column after column of icons?

There is a lot of chaos in the world over which we have no control. Take advantage of having control over this one small area of your life. Take another look at that computer desktop and start filing or deleting each icon. As you remove each column of icons, organizing the work in a way that will make it easier for you to find what you need at a minute’s notice, perhaps this will be a small step toward organizing other areas, such as your broader workspace. Less clutter on the computer screen, less clutter on your physical desk, and then less clutter in the overall workspace can provide a little calmer area to work.

Sometimes, taking control of a small area of our day can help us move forward. It can help us feel a sense of accomplishment. With that one small achievement, we may feel inspired to tackle another small area, and another small area. After a while, we can look back and see how all those small achievements add up. It’s just a matter of starting with one small step.