Dorie Morgan’s Rising Up

Don’t worry, my Swingline stapler is safe

November 25, 2008

Posted in: reflecting on self, work life

It’s been a work in progress for a few months but my desk finally moved. I have to admit, when they first started talking about moving my desk, I didn’t believe any of it. Neither did my cube mate who would be moving with me – too often we heard such ideas and not much ever seemed to come of them.

But now it is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I am sitting at my new desk. During the whole moving process, I kept making jokes about being able to see the squirrels and holding on to my Swingline stapler (okay, the stapler thing might not have really been a joke – I am very attached to my Swingline Optima PowerEase stapler).

Somehow, I survived the move and my Swingline stapler is in my top desk drawer, right where it belongs.

Despite the hassle of packing up my desk to move it to another desk twenty feet away, there is a lot of good that came of it.

1. Moving your desk is a great time to clear the deck. If your company is anything like my company, you probably acquire a lot of paperwork on your desk that you are 95% certain has absolutely nothing to do with you or your work. The process of packing gives you a little more freedom to take a second look at documents and figure out who they actually belonged to. When I took a few extra moments, I was able to find out why things were left for me and clear up questions about what I do and what others do as well.

2. I threw out so much junk. Clutter can seep into our professional and personal lives completely under the radar. Whether you are moving your desk or your home, moving is your chance to ask if you really need something. Do you really need to have three stock pots in your kitchen? Do you really need to have four catalogs at your desk that sell the same thing? It becomes easier to take a few minutes to ask and answer these questions because you can justify the time spent by saying it saves you energy.

3. It gives you a good break from the routine. We all have our daily rituals and routines even if the majority of our day is not routine. We get to work, we start our computers and we grab a cup of coffee. We check the schedule, answer our emails and create a game plan for the day. None of these things are bad – they can be very good methods for getting things done. And getting things done is good because it is what you are being paid to do. But the routine can get to us after awhile and sometimes we crave a break. Moving my desk was a great day to take a break. Instead of staring at a computer all day, I was up and about. I was physically doing things. And the change of pace was good – kind of like that well rested feeling that comes from taking a three day weekend.

4. You get to reclaim your space. Was your old organizational system working well for you? What were the downsides? If you could redo all of it, what would you change? Sometimes it is really hard to justify taking the time to ask yourself these questions and then follow up on the answers – or at least it can be for me. I work at a small company and because we all wear many different hats, I know I will never have a slow day. Sure, I needed to be able to move my desk quickly but I also needed to know that as soon as I was in the new desk, it would be business as usual. Part of not losing time in the days to come meant honestly asking and answering these questions.

Navigating Twenty-Something Suburban Life

Don’t worry, my Swingline stapler is safe

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