Here are some honest admission by a hopelessly disorganised person:
From my previous posts written about being organised, I have again regressed into being a total disorganised person.
At work, my desk is full of papers- most of them could be recycled or thrown away (without confidential information) -well, they’re just- rubbish. Then, I am having email management problem … again. I receive lots of emails daily which I need to clear and organised.
One thing bout email- what begins as an accumulation of a few days (nearing a hundred) emails quickly become a few thousand within a month. I am so used to receive warning message that I am exceeding the size allocated by Outlook everyday I turn on my PC. Yet, I do nothing about it until Outlook bars incoming emails- then I will spend more than half a day going through mails and deciding which emails to permanently delete.
Strangely, with all the disorganised desk, emails and drawers- you would know me as someone who is productive at work. When people say my desk is messy, I told them “wait till you check out my drawers”. I scribbled important things to do on irregularly shaped sized papers that I cut out from the recycled printouts. I clipped these little pieces of papers together and put them near my keyboard. I find that they are better reminders than writing it down into organisers or planners, which I never learnt to read. I am able to function and think well in a totally messy environment- unlike some who cannot think on a messy desk.
Most of my colleagues are very organised people with no litter lying around their desk. My ex-boss came over to my place recently and she commented:
My ex-boss: Why do you stuff little plastic bags inside you desk calendar?
Me: You know, the desk calendar has a hollow column that you can stuff small things inside- well, little plastic bags are good to wrap things, especially half finished food like cookies and sweet stuff to prevent ants from crawling to it. Sometimes I take leftover food to feed to stray dogs- so small plastic bags are very handy.
My ex-boss: Gosh, that is an empty plastic bag (previously used to fill up some fruits that I brought from lunch). Why don’t you just throw it away?
Me: Those clear plastic bags are quite clean. Instead of throwing it to the bin (plastic bags take long time to decompose and there are dangerous to sea animals that mistaken it for food), I take back and recycle it. It’s practical to put sandwiches and other food that you take to work. Just that I did not have time to put it away into my bag….so it’s still left lying on my desk…
My ex-boss: You have so much of paper on your desk (flicking through the papers)- and these are not relevant anymore.
Me: Yeah, meant to deal with it but have no time.
Wake up call
It never occurred to me that this habit can be so detrimental. Sometimes, I forget to pay utilities bills because I thought I had paid them a few weeks ago. As the result, when the bill arrived, there always seemed to be an overdue amount. Sometimes, I had paid for a bill and forgotten, then pay again- causing excess payments. So, I sometimes have some overpaid bills and overdue bills. Funny huh?
The wake up call came when recently my fixed line got disconnected and I received a warning from the electricity company that my bills were 2 months overdue. Honestly, I really thought I had paid for them. It’s pathetic. No one from my family scolded me because they knew it’s not because I purposely did not pay. But I really felt so guilty.
I want to try to take baby steps again towards the path of being more organised- at least at crucial expect of my life such as getting bills paid on time, learning to put things back from where I took them, learning to keep place as tidy as I can. Sometimes, I admit that I get very frustrated when I cannot find a certain piece of clothing or some document because I cannot remember where I put it. Sigh…
I must try to control clutter before it controls my life.
