One-Hour Projects: Part 2

The desk set-up I want.
Photo: ricardorv30 via Pixabay

I am suffering from an overload of projects and a dearth of clear spaces. One of my one hour projects was reconfiguring my office to make an L-shaped work space possible. Related projects included sorting through existing storage space in the living room (next to the office) to see if I could create space (and get rid of clutter) with an end goal of creating more wiggle room in the tiny office and de-cluttering other spaces.

It's fair to say I bit off more than I could chew. 

On the plus side, I got rid of a lot of old papers. On the minus side, some of the ones that still need homes have taken up residence in places that were previously clear.

On the plus side, I reconfigured storage in the office to free up floor space and the new system for my day-to-day organizing is working. On the minus side, that was only step one. Not bad for a one-hour project, except that I let related projects lure me away.

Still, I'm making progress. And the idea of the one hour project was to make a dent -- to take a small step -- not to cross the finish line. And I achieved that.

Part of the problem is that I wasn't clear with regard to my primary project. Was it the office? The sorting? The creating of clear space? If I don't know where I'm going, how will I know when I've arrived? Add to that the inevitable "it gets worse before it gets better" stage that accompanies big ideas and I was bound to feel frustrated, despite making progress.

What's an organizer to do?

Set the timer for an hour, then dig in again.

Only this time, I need to be clear about my desired short-term end result -- the one I'll assess when the timer goes off -- before I start. One hour projects may be optimistic, but they also need a good, strong dose of reality.

Organizers, set your timers.