Letting go of past choices to be the person you want to be
The workday is about to start. I spray my favorite relaxation mist around my desk and light a jasmine incense on my favorite backflow burner. This is how I signal to myself that it’s time to work.
My desk is clear of anything I don’t need in my current project. Only my laptop, phone, and incense stand are present. I’m an email marketer, so I only ever actually need a laptop and charger anyway, and once a week on reporting day, a paper, pen, and calculator.
The rest of the stuff that used to be present has either been relieved of its duties or is stored categorically with similar items in my drawer or on my shelf.
There is nothing to distract me, and this is a brand new feeling. I used to not be able to sit down and open my laptop without forgetting why I was opening it or having a grasp of what I actually needed to be doing for work. My desk was not messy to begin with. When I told my partner I was tidying my desk, he looked at it and asked “…what needs tidying?”
The Mental Impact of Tidying
Tidying does not just need to happen when there’s too much “stuff” everywhere. It’s an opportunity to confront and acknowledge your past choices, and use those to decide who you want to be moving forward.
My tidying, even though there wasn’t much clutter to begin with, got me to acknowledge the humility I felt for my arrogance in thinking I could learn one of the world’s hardest languages six months ago — Arabic. The materials I had gathered were just sitting there, mocking me anytime I glanced in their direction. An empty notebook with “Arabic” written on the front (in English, no less), two stacks of flashcards still in their shrink wrap, and an Amazon box of eight highlighters, for all that highlighting I planned to do.
I came across ripped up, scribbled on, and formerly “lost” to-do lists and work notes that gave me great joy to trash (you know, with gratitude and all).
It’s a freeing sensation, sitting down at a desk that doesn’t feel overwhelming and only has the things in/on it that I actually love or need on a daily basis. There’s nothing to distract me or buried scraps to make me feel like I’m forgetting something.
Motivation to Be Better
My cleaned desktop, inbox, and work calendar helped me create new processes for my work self too. As a freelancer, keeping clients’ asks straight can be a challenge, especially when multiple communication platforms are used. This was a great chance for me to streamline all of it into a Trello board. I’ve used Trello at previous companies but never considered using it for my own personal benefit. The ripple effect of tidying is just immense.
Attempting to work in an environment that not only doesn’t motivate you but actually unmotivates you is incredibly hindering. And it doesn’t even feel like that was ever the case until after you’ve tidied. Your brain is so busy trying to register everything in your field of vision that it takes away from your mental capacity to focus on the task at hand.
Tidying my own home and workspace has proved to me that giving yourself a proper place to do your best work is an amazing gift. No one else can (or gets to) do it for you. Only you inherently know in your bones what gives you joy and what will help you put your best work out there every day. You get to decide which of your things will help you achieve your goals and be the person you want to be, and which are hindering progress.
Taking Responsibility for Past and Future Choices
Part of the reason there’s humility and gratitude in tidying is because, as in my language example, we are not always still in agreement with the choices we’ve made in the past. But we keep relics from those choices which we are met with and subconsciously take their toll on our self-confidence and motivation. The gratitude comes in once you’ve accepted that choice is a part of your history and now you can finally let it go.
I do keep the things that support the person I want to be moving forward—like forgotten incense, now that I use them to signal the start of my workday.
My favorite piece of advice from Marie Kondo’s books (I’ll admit, I’ve read all three) that help me start is imagining my exact ideal workday down to the last detail.
My desk still isn’t fully put together. I have a few pictures that didn’t inspire me when they were free-standing, but now I know to get those framed and hung so I can appreciate them.
There is liberation is tidying. Removing excess to only keep what you truly love feels like a weight is lifted from your shoulders. You can laugh at yourself, forgive yourself, and move on with a literal clean slate.
The Mental Benefits of a Tidied Workspace was originally published in The Ascent on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
Author: Melissa Berdine
Date : 2020-08-31T17:01:02.000Z