Clutter and Productivity: Introduction

Posted on May 28, 2007 by LJ

I am beginning to believe that clutter often stands in the way of productivity.

Physical clutter gets in our way and also weighs us down mentally when we see it, knowing that we will have to do something about it. If we hide it from sight, we will remember we have to do something with it when we go to the place we have stored it (a closet, drawer, etc).

Mental clutter gets in our way when we keep having the same thoughts about the same things repeatedly. We may try all sort of memory tricks to get it out of our minds, but eventually it will come back.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (aff) is an excellent system for controlling the mental clutter. It advocates getting everything out of your head and into a trusted system that is regularly reviewed.

But what about physical clutter?

Many times we don’t see physical clutter around us, particularly if it’s ours. For some reason, I never have trouble seeing other people’s junk lying around

In this series of articles, I’m going to give you some concrete steps to declutter around the very spot where you read this blog…your computer and your desk.

Articles In This Series:

• Clutter and Productivity: Introduction
• Clutter and Productivity: Your Desktop
• Clutter and Productivity: Purging Reference Files
• Clutter and Productivity: Your Computer Desktop
• Clutter and Productivity: Decluttering Email

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Related posts:

1. Using Bonsai With Getting Things Done: Introduction and Assumptions
2. The One Thing Everyone Should Know About Productivity Systems
3. A Better Way to Handle Online Reading?
4. 7 Ways to Increase Productivity…By Moving Stuff

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