I've been noticing lately how, whenever I make new space, it fills right up. Whether it's in a closet, a bookshelf, or a file cabinet -- that space is back in use in no time flat.
It happens that way all the time at home, and I've seen it on the job as well. When I first started working part-time in a doctor's office, I noticed the bottom shelf of a large filing cabinet sitting empty. The shelf stood ready and waiting and, in seemingly no time, it was filled with new patient files to the point where you could barely squeeze in another one. It was a great thing for the office. Business was booming.
I can say now, from experience, that creating a physical space to support the work you want to do is incredibly motivating, and can help spur you to action. The very act of making the space has made me want to fill it. Since creating my own blog space, the ideas for posts are queuing up in my head... anxious to express... wanting to fill the space with words.
Whether your goal is to work for yourself or for someone else, try it. Clear a space on a desk or on a shelf, fill a binder with paper and dividers, start a blog or create an Excel spreadsheet to hold the fruits of your labor.
We hear, all the time, that it comes down to intention and action. If we add 'making space' to the 'action' end of things, it's a good bet that the space we create to do the work we love will be filled before we know it.
Good work until the next...
Carolyn
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It's a good metaphor, to be sure, but what happens when you have filled up your work space with crap (not on my blog, of course, but in my physical office.) I had the great good fortune to win a wonderful new, expensive, all-in-one-does-everything-but-the-dishes printer. It is sitting on the floor of my basement office. My husband says he won't set it up until I clean up and make some room.
ReplyDeleteWhat am I, five years old? I can set up my own damn printer.
The trouble is, he's right. My office is a certified disaster area and I should absolutely use this new printer as motivation to get it work worthy. Instead, here it sits in its box while I read and comment on other people's blogs.
Sigh.
Ah, yes. Summer started and I said to the kids, we're cleaning out the dining room. That's where most of the working, homework, internet-stuff gets done in our house. It always looks like at IT professional with a passion for Barbie's has set up shop in there.
ReplyDeleteWe cleaned off all the bookshelves. I assigned one shelf to each person where he/she could keep the things they had to have in the room.
Guess what? I'm now relegated to half a bookshelf, shared with our 4-year-old, while my 9-year-old has cut deals with her sisters and dad for more space.
Lesson learned: once the space is cleared, stand your ground or it will be lost!