A Clean Desk

Today is Day 3 of my 31 Days of Happiness Hacks!

Today’s a quick one, friends.

I’ve learned through my research, reading, and personal experience that cleaning up one counter, drawer or shelf is a great little happiness boost. Gretchen Rubin (of The Happiness Project and Better Than Before – two of my favorite happiness books) writes about how outer order contributes to inner calm:

One of my great realizations about happiness (and a point oddly under-emphasized by positive psychologists) is that for most people, outer order contributes to inner calm. More, really, than it should. After all, in the context of a happy life, a crowded coat closet is trivial. And yet over and over, people tell me, and I certainly find this, myself, that creating order gives a huge boost in energy, cheer, and creativity.
-Gretchen Rubin “Do You Fall for Any of These Common Clutter-Clearing Myths?“

My desk, like my brain, is often a chaotic mess of different projects and ideas. So on this Monday morning, I decided to do a Happiness Hack that will make me feel happier all week.

I cleaned my desk.

Because this organizational project ended up taking me a lot longer than I planned (one hour and 46 minutes to be exact), I’m not going to spend as much time writing about it.

I did not follow Rubin’s (good) advice to take just a few minutes, every day, to stay organized. I’m more of an organizing binger – I get on a roll (not very often) and can’t stop myself. Now that my desk is organized, I am motivated to tackle some other disorganized spaces – one drawer or shelf at a time. But not today.

While I was organizing all the piles on my desk, I listened to some of my favorite podcasts. So that’s probably why I ended up doing such a thorough job. Not only was the end result a happiness boost, but even the process was quite fun.

Now I can get to work.

Before (Eek!):

After (Ahh….):

This post is part of my 31 Days of Happiness Hacks series for the Write 31 Days Challenge.
Thank you for reading!