Who here would consider themselves a "tidy" person? You know, the kind of person that never has a messy desk.. I am not that type of person. I'd like to be, I often try to be but it seems that no matter what, I end up with clutter again. The same goes for my car. I feel like someones desk or their car is often a good metaphor for their life. When I'm at my best, both my car and my desk are in tip-top shape: clean, organized and a pleasure to be in/around. I tend to have waves of order and disorder. Right now I feel like I'm in the middle of disorder. In fact, ever since the birth of my son I feel like it's been this way. I don't attribute this to him (he's absolutely wonderful), but rather to all of the changes that have taken place in my life. I moved twice this year, had the kid, my job has changed and I took on a new side project outside of work. -Lot's of stuff all at once. Anyways, I am going to clean my office, my car and my studio this week. I need to eliminate some of the clutter.
100% agree (except for the squalor part). I continually am trying to get rid of shit. No matter how many boxes I take to goodwill or stacks of books I pawn off on unsuspecting friends, though, it never seems to make enough of an impact. speaking of hey nowaypablo I have a book you might like, I am not sure if I am going to share it with you via little bits on Hubski or mail it to you. Also I think you mailed me something but I never got it. And as another addendum, the problem with continually winnowing down my collection of books is that now it is very hard to part with any of them as I have Reasons why I've kept them so long. I want less books, but I don't want to get rid of any of the books I have. They're "essential."
Not gonna lie my package to you is still sitting on my desk with an urgent red post-it but I don't know how to use the mail. and it's so not worth the anticipation now. How do I know how many stamps to put on it help. Don't waste a book on me post it here and I'll read it on my own I promise. Best a book hoarder than anything else, really.
I have a new address now FWIW but yes, the post office will tell you. Sheesh. I'm glad I didn't miss it! it is called "Soul Pancake" and it is a book full of questions. It's based off of a website Rainn Wilson and some other dudes made. Don't use the website, it's crap and boring, but the questions compiled in the book (with lists and other activities worth ignoring) are pretty fuckin' excellent. That's because I'm sure Wilson and his pal sorted through thousands in order to find the best and more recurrent questions. Seemed like it would be good for #vaguequestionsbypablo. I'll send some samples via PM tonight maybes.
My wife is meticulously clean and as time has gone on (it will be 10 years next month) I have become neater out of necessity. However, I still have my enclaves within my life that are mine and mine alone. My office, my studio space (really one in the same) and my car. These are the areas I need to clean. My computer too. I grew up in squalor as well, in fact my parents house still drives me crazy to visit because I see in it the origins of my own shortcomings.
Entropy is inevitable. I try and do little things that help make things less messy on my desk, which is also my home. I put a trashcan right next to it at the start of the year and it makes this just so much cleaner. Instead of throwing something I don't need on the floor, I think, "can I trash this?" and the answer is yes at least 90% of the time. Moved some cabinets next to the desk too, and separated them into sections: cords, vidjagames, all of my medicine because my body rejects the outside world and I need a veritable pharmacy to function, pencils and office supplies. Made the desk much cleaner as well, and lets me fill up corners with stuff like this, which I make while idly watching episodes of Hannibal: I find I'm less stressed when my desk is clean. Not as 'overwhelmed', in a sense.
When I inherited my current desk, it came with this comic attached: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=575 I told myself I wouldn't clean it until I finished my first project. It ended up taking a lot longer than expected so I got fed up and cleaned it anyways. Now the projects done anyways and my desk is relatively orderly.
I only clean when I have something important to do. I can't be productive until after I've cleaned. It's like a ritual.