Early in my career I heard the phrase, "A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind." It resonated with me as I've always messy - not unsanitary, just disorganized with all the paper in my life. Luckily, the paper in my life has basically decreased to zero (except for my own seminar handouts). This remaining paper isn't necessarily strewn everywhere. But neat, organized & filed? Let's just say, "It's there when I need it; I print only what I have to."

You may not be so lucky: I'm sure you're still drowning in the day-to-day paper of your business. How do you handle all of that? Are you a natural filer? Do you have an executive assistant? Have you fiddled with any of the scanning doc management options? Even today, the thought of having to "keep printed records" or to print, sign & mail it curdles my mind.

Alas, what may have been paper a decade ago has turned to digital clutter for me. There is a movement known as "Inbox Zero." It's the enviable notion that my Inbox would not read 16,386 emails (which is down by half, after a recent & necessary purge). Most of that email I don't need... but well, "you never know!" (the battle-cry of the hoarder, I know.) Any of you practice Inbox Zero? Those folks wield filters, archiving & deleting like pros. I remember going into the Inbox of my right-hand assistant before she had to take a job at 3x pay: I saw the promised land. And agreed with what her new boss was paying her.

But then I ran back to my familiar digital nest. Even with all this digital clutter, I don't know if my mind is necessarily cluttered. Luckily, I have a team to deal with all of this. Without our process checklists & my task lists, I'd surely drown & stuff would slip through the cracks. I've learned to ignore & delay what's not urgent or important. Plus I have a great team to remind me of what else ought to be on my plate, or taken off of it.

I see patterns: Behind every (every) high-achieving & visionary professional is someone else (who maybe manage others) picking up the pieces, attending to the details, filing & reminding what needs to be done. I have found this Dynamic Duo combo quite useful in my life. How about you?

When everything is put away, I feel less creative. When it's out of sight and out of mind, I feel empty. I like being able to swim through stuff. Yet I'm extremely grateful to the dynamic team that supports me. I suppose I'm able to rest my "monkey mind" knowing that I'm surrounded by great people, by my side, on my side. Maybe that's the trick to having a cluttered desk & not a cluttered mind. I guess that's what I'm most thankful for this year.

Ok, I have like a million things on my desk today. What about you?