My place was a mess.
My junkiness was a sticking point with me. My apartment would be a wonderland of junk, with shoes, clothes, and books strewn about. You would have thought several people of the same shape lived in every room, because you could be that a few pants, shirts and some shoes that would or would not match would be there, waiting.
As my physical life went, so did my creative life. I didn’t write anything down in a calendar. The things I did write were everywhere. Crumples of paper would be next to the books. It would never be the notes to that book though, so imagine the fun I would have trying to match the notes from one book to the next book, next to jokes, next to business ideas. This type of cross-pollination could be big, but I am sure it doesn’t work when the jokes, business ideas, and notes all come from a different place.
My desk would be in even worse shape. Some books, a mouse pad, a two monitors, a food wrapper, some notes, a tablet, and a fresh sheet of paper. Nothing made sense, nothing had a place, and I thought all of this would help spur my genius. I didn’t need to have a system in place, I was too smart for those. I lived my way, with my rules, and I could do it my way, however I wanted to do it.
In order to keep my place in any livable fashion, I had to get a maid, once a month, and she had to spend all day to clean a one bedroom apartment. I see signs on the subway that say they would do 2 hour cleanups… that may have been just enough time to do the living room. I always tipped for the work done – not out of some sort of benevolence, but out of sheer pity. I had a maid work from 9 – 6 once. A full scheduled day.
One day, the maid company sent over two maids, it was a wakeup call. I never really thought my place was that bad – it wasn’t an episode of “Hoarders” by any means, but it was enough for them to say we need extra help. I started to engage in Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits website. I started to pick up the concept of one little cleanup supports a big one.
After the maids came, I set up a system. I promised myself I would clean up 5 minutes everyday. I started small, with my floor in my bedroom. Made a checklist, and started going through it before bed everyday. Slowly, the habit started to develop, my floor is always clean before bed, and it has expanded in other ways and places. The best part is it never seems to take me more than 15 minutes to bring the place back to homeostasis.
My desk is never dirty anymore. My kitchen is sterile. My living room…still a work in progress but it is getting there. But through this, it has allowed me to see the power of systems and habits and where to add them in my life. There been steady improvement, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
From the desk of Adam Thomas 