Messy Desk = Messy Mind

Mindy Merritt's grandmother always said, "A messy drawer means a messy mind!" Well, that sentiment certainly applied to the state of Mindy's desktop, her mind, and her business. Mindy owned a gift store called Make Mine Magic! And she and her staff practiced plenty of magic, stocking wonderful merchandise that was displayed, sold, and wrapped with exquisite care. Every customer that walked out of the store with one of MMM's silver tote bags felt like they'd just bought a magical gift.

Mindy's desktop, however, lacked magic. A tangled mound of stray papers, broken items, and unopened mail, the mess became impossible to ignore one morning when Mindy couldn't find her glasses, the phone number for a fabulous product source she'd found last week, or her notes for the lady who cleaned the store. Everything was lost! Mindy remembered that she'd written the source on something, but had forgotten what that something was. Not only that, the electricity bill (which was somewhere in the pile) was due to be paid. Mindy began to consider the wisdom of grandmothers.

She was unsure just how and when her desk had become the main dumping ground for her store. But then again, she also couldn't remember the last time she'd cleaned up her desk. Now, Mindy was frazzled and very unhappy. But somewhere, deep within her, her grandmother's words could be heard. Mindy decided to … Organize.

First, Mindy put all the papers from her desk into a big box on the floor. Then she dragged out another box and filled it with everything from her desk that was not a flat piece of paper. She put all the photographs, mementos, supplies, books, and manuals together on the floor. She threw away the broken Rolodex and put the calculator aside so she could (finally) get new batteries.

Life had already improved by the time Mindy wiped the top of the desk with a clean cloth and contemplated her shining, empty desktop. She also cleaned her computer and the filthy keyboard, and wiped the grunge off of her telephone, clock, answering machine, lamp, card scanner, and label printer. Her grandmother's voice definitely piped up when she took the rest of her mementos and put them in a box to take home to her attic.

Mindy now had enough space to put the necessary tools on her desk: a stapler, a tape dispenser (newly filled), a paperclip dispenser (cleaned and refilled), one cup to hold pens and another to hold scissors, letter opener, and ruler. She put eight assorted glue sticks in a container in the top drawer, and 15 rubber bands in another box. Then she put one large memo pad on the desk next to the eyeglass holder. Unfortunately, her glasses were still among the missing items.

Next, Mindy placed the dictionary, thesaurus, and Chamber of Commerce directory on the bookshelf behind her desk. Then she stacked the most recent editions of her show directories next to them, conscientiously tossing the older ones in the wastebasket.

Finally, Mindy was ready to attack the box of miscellaneous stuff she'd removed from what she now thought of as the "old desk." First she dumped the broken Christmas ornaments (no, they could not be repaired and sold) into the wastebasket, along with bits of ribbon that had previously seemed too long to throw away and too short to use. But now it was time for them to go. She also decided which of the three calendars she would use and got rid of the other two.

Mindy put all of her 18 paperweights in a row, chose five favorites, and gave away the rest. Her pen collection consisted of six giveaways, four dry roller balls, three scrubby ballpoints, eight blunt fiber tips, two fountain pens, and, of course, the one she used all the time. She saved that and dumped the rest.

Mindy's next project was to do something with her box of papers. First, she had to separate them. She made little piles of unopened mail, unpaid bills, notes, and bits and pieces of paper — receipts, business cards, and pages torn from old issues of Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine. What a mess!

She put all of her receipts in an envelope, separating charge slips from cash slips for the benefit of her bookkeeper. Then she began dealing with the unopened mail, and gave the stack of business cards to an assistant to scan and file. Mindy threw out scraps of paper that were out of date and filed the ones that had information that was still valuable, including the pages of Gifts & Dec that she wanted to look at later.

She had just finished this project when her dear friend Martine arrived. Martine was an organizational whirlwind. Fortunately, Mindy's office already looked a lot better, and Martine stifled the urge to say "It's about time!"

Instead, she offered help. Martine talked for an hour, and then left Mindy with a list of organizational tips that were guaranteed to make her life easier. The best part of Martine's visit: As she was going out the door, she told Mindy where her glasses were.

"Look in the mirror," said Martine. Mindy looked in the mirror and there, on top of her head, were her glasses. And somewhere, faintly discernable in the back of the mirror, was the smiling face of Mindy's grandmother.

We'll write more about Martine's list in our next column. It's guaranteed to make your life easier too!