Is your desktop or any part of your work area a mental cultivation of chaos? Or what most of us call a disaster? You probably share a personality trait with most procrastinators, you put off decisions. Breaking your procrastination habit means you are going to have to do a bit of personal digging to get to know and how to improve yourself. This can be more difficult to those with bipolar than those without, but it can be done. Planning, practice and more practice is what it takes to uncluttered your workspace.

Every time a paper or an item passes over or crosses onto your work area, a decision needs to be made. A paper requires: Read Me, File Me or Toss Me. Items need Order Me, File Me or Ship Me. Hopefully the toss me items don’t even make it to your workspace. “Clean desk” or “Clean freak” advocates insist that only your current project belongs on your work or desk top. These advocates would banish everything else to side tables, drawers or shelves. But let’s not take the extreme position, instead creating a maintainable and livable situation is what we want.

If your space currently has a mountain range or two of items, papers and stuff, it is time to take prompt action. The first question you need to answer on is not “How am I going to clean this workspace?” but “What do I need on the top surface of my work area?” Even if you have a memory with total recall, just as cleaning off your desktop or bench top into a large box could end up being less productive than doing no clean up at all. This is due to papers and items being misplaced. Setting up for a couple of hours, a temporary area away from the desk (the floor has always worked for me) as a staging area for your new desktop and current work in progress. Finish your desk top sort in a set time. Typically a mornings project and finish before lunch or my preference of starting after lunch and finishing before the day is out. As you finish your sort from the work top, etc.; start to assemble your desktop. I find a desk blotter is essential. On my bench surfaces, I like one those calendar style blotters, allows for quick note taking (notes don’t easily disappear) and small spills are easily cleaned up. One item or work project at a time on the blotter.

Here are drawer tips that can be used for desk, benches and other underneath surfaces or drawers. One drawer one purpose can be the motto. Office supplies in one, clean paper and stationery in another and of course the ever popular junk drawer. Using small boxes and plastic containers, especially colored ones can help keep items sorted. Most of all don’t be a hoarder, give away extra staplers, boxes of pens, or put it in the master office supply cabinet.

Clutter can make you feel secure and cozy, especially to the bipolar individual. Sometimes it can make you feel busy and important. Your statement to the world is , “Look at all I have to do” or “Look how overworked I am” or “Don’t give me anything else to do.” A lot of the sorting can be trivial work and may seem to be inappropriate for the amount of time spent. Given the total trivial amount of work, it does not take much to turn it into a major project. Is your desktop as clutter as your mind is? Cleaning up trade journals, news releases, old calendars and lunch bags from your favorite fast food place can help not only clean up your physical space but help in clearing your mental clutter.