From the Desk of Janet Barclay

Professional Organizers Monica Ricci and Ariane Benefit have recently posted pictures of their desks on their blogs and challenged her readers to do the same, so here are mine.

The one on the left is obviously my computer workstation, and there’s rarely anything on it other than a cup of coffee or a piece of paper or two related to what I’m working on at the moment, because there just isn’t room for anything else. I realize a bigger workstation might have been more efficient, but I had the big desk on the right long before I even thought of starting my own business, and I can’t bear to part with it.

Other than the phone/fax machine and two-tier tray in the corner (top is my inbox, bottom is stuff to be filed), nearly everything on my desk was a gift, or contained a gift at one time. For example:

• small wooden chest - came with small jars of jam in it - now holds small items such as stamps, tape, white-out, and so on - from a friend
• coffee mug with picture of a cat on it holds pens, pencils, scissors, etc. - from my husband (there is a crack in it, so can’t be used for beverages any more)
• leather file holder came with chocolate and other goodies and was a gift on my recent birthday from my nephew and his wife

I tidied up a little bit before taking the pictures, but not much. This is pretty typical for me. During the day whatever file I am working on will be on my desk, but when I’m done with it, it will either go back in the file holder (if there is still work to be done on that project), in my desk drawer (if I expect to work on that file again in the near future), or in my filing cabinet (if I don’t expect to work on it again any time soon).

I developed the habit of clearing off my desk at the end of each day nearly 20 years ago, when I worked for Effem Foods (Mars Candy Company), and it’s a strategy I often recommend to my organizing clients and in my organizing presentations.