Clean Your Room
Years ago, I can remember sitting in my office with stacks of paper and reports all over my desk, boxes of files, more paper all over the floor, and open drawers full of more files. If you walked into my office, I sure did appear busy. In my mind, I was perfectly organized. I knew what each of the 10-20 stacks was, and I knew precisely where to find the contract, financial report, bank reconciliation, valuation report, etc. The problem was each morning, when I walked into my office, it owned me. It owned my attention. The first thing I saw was a huge pile of stuff to do, and it was extremely distracting and, on certain days, very stressful. Then one day, I decided not to have anything on my desk other than the specific thing I was working on at the time. I further decided that when I left each day, I would leave my desk empty, and nothing would be visible on the floors, cabinets, etc. I would clean my room before leaving each day. I would decide my priorities each day as I came into my office, not my desk full of yesterday’s problems and leftovers. I would stay focused on what I was doing, not be distracted by what else my office told me had to get done. That one little decision had a huge impact on my productivity, focus, and anxiety level.
That one little decision had HUGE implications like deciding not to go to work or to bed with dishes in the sink. A little extra time spent on a small task consistently, over time, often has large benefits.
Those little things... Og Mandino’s rule #12 from “A Better Way to Live”:
If you make it a habit of doing the little things consistently well, your life will be enriched in a big way. Think about the little step of saying thank you. Yes, just saying thank you. I know it seems so small and so obvious, yet so many people just don’t do it. Try it.
At work, take a little extra time to make sure your work is done right. Don’t leave a few little things undone and think, “it’s not a big deal.” Those things add up, and soon, the whole system is slow and difficult.
The little things. You are worth taking care of the little things in your life.