Your office, 8:47 a.m.... your cell phone rings and you're absolutely sure it's somewhere on your desk, by the way: you hear it. However, he playfully plays hide-and-seek behind and under a stack of papers, files, folders, to-do lists, your lunch box with this morning's crumbs and the urgent mail that the chef dropped by. The moment you find and record him, it's too late: the answering machine was too quick for you! That was before.

Today: you've been at work for a while. A lot of emails, tasks, programs and files opened. Your two physical screens are full of icons and flickering notifications, with up to ten digital screens waiting for instructions in the background. Fortunately, you've ever noticed somewhere that you can scroll through those screens with alt+tab. But then you've been just a little too fast and screen 3 you need has just passed. Like a pinball machine crazy, now push the alt+tab until you get back to your desired screen. A colleague you heard and saw rattling on your keyboard gives you the tip to press the left arrow at the same time as alt+tab from now on, this will take you back to the previous screen. After the brief embarrassment, you're still glad you've discovered something new that helps you in a practical way.

Recognisable?

Not really a conducive situation though: working too much at the same time is not only bad for productive focus - you lose the overview - but also not recommended in terms of speed. Feel free to compare your brain to your computer: the more Windows programs & other applications are open, the slower your computer works and the risk of literally freezing increases. By analogy with yourself and that cauliflower of yours under your brain. For the same reason, not okay for the brain, heart and blood vessels, and plus: how would you feel if you came to an operating theatre for an important procedure where everything is lying around everywhere and the surgeon raves like crazy on a keyboard?

Let's see if and how that can be done differently.

Clean up tens!

When do people usually clean up? At least once a year, when they go on vacation. Right before. So how does this feel? How did you feel the last time you, for example, cleaned up your garage, basement or attic - or had to clean up from your partner -?

Perhaps a very spacious feeling? Unless, of course, corpses fall out: oh, this should have happened yet, that's over time, project Fluim expires in

my vacation...

The risk of a heart attack apparently rises towards your vacation period: you still want/need to finish everything and pack your bags while stressing about nothing. Fortunately, it also appears that this is less the case with people who go on vacation more often, so pretend to go on leave every day: clean up!

By the way, it doesn't always have to be so dramatic: instead of getting it to your heart, it can also just be an unpleasant feeling of stress that overtakes you. It doesn't always have to take place just before your vacation either: you can experience that annoying feeling of stress several times a day, even unconsciously, by the way. Not so good for your cholesterol. So also clean up several times a day, keep your operating theatre tidy and clean. Keep it tidy!

You will feel better about yourself after a while, as on the one hand it gives you a feeling of satisfaction, a shot of endorphins, and on the other hand an overview and a greater illusion of control over your workplace.

And of course, the same applies to your desk from above. Or not? Not a tidy desk? Indeed, not everyone needs a clean desk.

For example,

I once cleaned up my father's workshop: all the keys to the keys, the tournavies, everything neatly put together, neatly organized, including against a special homemade overview toolboard, it was a pleasure to see... I thought so. After his own observations: I can't find anything! & my need for stimulating inspiration through cozy chaos is gone! -our father was an artist-, the next day everything was back in order, disorderly,

to stimulate creative stimulation.

And... action!

Create good habits:

clear up several times during the day - e.g. just after finishing a task, just before a break - several times: close a number of screens and files, clean up and create an overview again, view
reserve a maximum of fifteen minutes at the end of the day to do the same.

You as a manager?

are you a cleaner yourself or rather a creative mind?
if you see this swish & wave phenomenon among your team members, check - before intervening - to what extent it is actually counterproductive for that person in question. If not: let it be...

Want to know more?

How do you keep focus?

How do you end your day productively and with a good feeling?

work: K.A.P. with it!