I will get my finances, my office, my life, my papers (add your own…) organized must be part of the Top 5 in people’s New Year’s Resolutions.
Is it driven by a desire to reassert control over things.
Getting a clear picture of where you stand can be valuable. It will only give you a snapshot though. Where you want to go from there is up to you.
For some people, controlling things can become compulsive.
Many years ago, I knew someone who could not resist clipping loose carpet threads with scissors.
It was a public space so she drew stares.
That person got branded as ‘anal retentive’.
Going against the grain, David H. Freedman and Eric Abrahamson wrote A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder (Little, Brown).
They do not advocate a complete mess but rather that being a compulsive neat freak does not allow one to be creative and entrepreneurial as so much time and energy is spent on being organized.
To get a better sense of what the book is about, Read Chapter One which starts with the following quote: "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what then, is an empty desk?
– Albert Einstein"
I have not read the book yet. I am still waiting for Little, Brown to send me a copy.
David H. Freedman contributed Go Ahead, Make a Mess in INC Magazine (December 2006).
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Hello my name is Bert and I am a recovering compulsive talker