This one is going to be hard for some of you to take.
Stop taking heat for your cluttered desk. Do NOT continue to spend your life organizing your desk, especially if that is how you are comfortable working. If you like to make piles, then make piles. If you are more of a floor stacker or a spreader then you need to stack and spread. Of course for those of you who like to alphabetize your socks and organize your pens by brand and color, you need to keep doing that as well and god bless you for making the effort. If it works for you then that is great, but it doesn't work for me, and I have got some plans for my time that do not involve manila folders.
Just to be clear, I am not talking about hoarders here. There is a line and if you find yourself on a TV show defending your stacks to your children, then you have crossed that line.
As those of you with cluttered desks read this, you want to believe me, because in your heart you know it is true. How many times have you had someone else "clean up" your area to "help you out" and then later find yourself spending hours trying to find those things that you had right at hand before. Trying to conform your ideal work environment to someone else's norms is going to make you crazy and may impair your ability to think clearly. You don't have to take your own gut instinct or my word for it either. Check out this article titled "Cluttered cubicle may make you more organized". Man doesn't that feel good. Feel free to share that with your sock sorting friends.
In closing, I would like to make you even more confident with what I am laying out here. Check out these google image search results for "Einstein's desk". http://goo.gl/Rtsw8. Alright now, you are set. Go be a genius, the world needs your great work.
That is my time saving tip for today.
Frank
