Lose the Clutter, Lose the Weight (59 page)

Task 1:

DEVELOP A VISION FOR YOUR OFFICE SPACE

As always, your first task is to establish your vision for what you want this space to do for you. This will vary based on how much work you do from here. If you live in an apartment and work outside the home, you probably won't use this space as much as if you run a business from your home office.

Do you often talk to clients or colleagues via video conferencing? If so, you might want your office to look professional (at least within the spot
behind you that the camera sees). Do you want to spend as little time as possible dealing with the details of running a household? If so, you might want to make a priority of keeping this space highly efficient so you can do your work quickly.

I would recommend that your vision include:

Keeping this area
extremely
well organized in order to quickly get your hands on any information you need without wasting time searching

Setting up easy-to-maintain systems in your home office in order to pay all your bills, taxes, and other charges promptly so you don't generate late fees

Dedicating a self-contained space for your office if it's currently just a free-floating pile of papers and checkbooks without a home

Jot down your thoughts on paper to these prompts:

OFFICE VISION

This is what I want
from
my office space:

How I want to
feel
in this space:

Task 2:

SORT OUT YOUR MALIGNANT ITEMS

For a space that tends to be relatively small, your office area may have a
lot
of malignant materials. That's because finances can be stressful and upsetting, and you may have stashed away paperwork from numerous unpleasant life events in this area.

Go through your office area and collect paperwork and other reminders of stressful times. These may include:

Bankruptcy filings

Divorce decrees

Paperwork from legal proceedings

Medical bills

Paperwork or inventory from a failed business

Statements from investments that lost money

Exit materials from a job you lost

You may need to keep some of this stuff in your files, but you don't have to see it every day. It's important to put any paperwork that reminds you of a loss or makes you feel like you've failed someplace where it's not in your face.

If any of this stuff summarizes ancient history and you're sure you'll never need it, then pitch it. But if there's a chance you might need it someday, or your heirs might need or want it, then put it into deep storage, such as in secure bins in your attic or basement.