back on track

What a whirlwind last weekend was! With the best friend's wedding finally over, life seems to have space again to get back on track with some of my spring cleaning activities. My inner office looks somewhat better though it's not completely done yet.

It's amazing how much paperwork
can pile up in a few months!

Today, I tried to tackle this stack (almost 4 months worth of receipts and some other random stuff!) and it was such a struggle to get through it. I don't know about you, but I seem to have a tendency to not be able to complete tasks. Somehow, when I get to something like 80% completion, I'll just...give up on the task. Or shove the last 20% somewhere for an indefinite "later".

I was so frustrated that I decided to google "Inability to finish tasks" and I was surprised that one of the links led to "symptoms of bipolar disorder". Believe it or not, I was so shocked that I took a couple of minutes out to try to verify the possibility that I might just have bipolar disorder. Soon enough though, I realized how ridiculous my concerns were (not to mention that I rarely, if ever at all, display spurts of grandiosity), and that it was more likely that I was trying to procrastinate the last 20% away. What it really came down to was telling myself "FINISH IT. No excuses.". And so I did. It took quite a bit of self-disciplining, and I was really proud of myself after. Perhaps it's a fear of failure - something like how people get a runner's wall in a marathon. But I suppose it's these small victories that will make the springcleaning easier and easier (and life will get better and better! :D).

The last 20% that I struggled with!
FINISH IT!

I've decided to try to tackle some other parts of the office today too..and it's amazing how we're keeping a lot of rubbish! I mean, look at this!

Why in the world are we keeping this?!!

 Today's task: Clear out this area!

I don't know about you, but seeing so much unorganized paper stresses me out.

My father actually wanted to put a daily "empty in-tray" policy for our office - which I thought was a good idea. I'm going to try to follow that and encourage the other staff to do the same. I'm also going to try to declutter the stationery cabinet and the space around it. It's high time to get some "Zen" into the office.

Last week, I paid the library a visit and picked up some books on financial organizing too and I've started on one called "One Year to An Organized Financial Life" by Regina Leeds. I intend to finish the book (and accomplish the tasks) in a month or two. In an hour, I pretty much got through 3 weeks of material and it's looking pretty good (As in inspiring-good.). Whilst I have my "Act, Forward, Delete, or Archive" Method for paperwork, the book has a broader "Eliminate, Categorize, Organize" method which is more generic - and similar to what I use when I springclean rooms. Here's a review of the book from The Simple Dollar, another organizing blog specific to finances. Perhaps I'll do a little review on it when I'm through with it.

I'm also still in the midst of clearing out the emails. I'll have to do an update report on that soon. It's a daily battle.

Glad the springcleaning is back on track.