Contrary to popular opinion, there was a desk under all that mess.
By DW Davis
@DWDavis (25797)
United States
June 30, 2016 3:37pm CST
As time passed the pile of papers, junk mail, and other assorted things piled up to the right of my computer workstation until it all reached the point where I had no idea what in the pile might be important and what could be disposed of.
Today, in preparation for getting serious about beginning to work on my lesson plans for next year, I took it upon myself to sort out the pile.
Two hours later, I found out there was a desktop under all that stuff. Very little of the assorted bits and pieces needed to be kept. A full trash bag testified to the amount of stuff that should have been thrown out all along.
I would pledge to do a better job of keeping the desktop clear, but it would be a pledge I probably wouldn't keep, so I won't make it. What I do hope is the uncluttered workspace will be more conducive to getting work done and give me one less excuse for procrastinating.
Procrastination being one of the bad habits teachers tend to take up over the summer. Read more about teachers bad summer habits on my blog post for today at
www.talesoftheexhaustededucator.com.
10 people like this
12 responses
@JudyEv (382542)
• Rockingham, Australia
1 Jul 16
When Vince retired they were taking bets on the colour of the top of his desk - no-one had seen it for so long! It seems there are those who work with a messy desk and those who don't. Vince always knew exactly where things were on his desk. The headmaster had a very neat desk and was just as efficient. To each his own I guess.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
1 Jul 16
I usually knew where things were, or at least which stack of stuff to look in. I had a co-worker who had the uncanny ability to know where on MY desk to find something. She always said it was because we'd known each other so long she knew me better than I did.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43663)
• Denver, Colorado
1 Jul 16
I've found that I can toss probably 99% of my mail. So I toss it in a drawer until it overflows.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
1 Jul 16
My wife sorts our mail. I tell her if it's not a bill, check, tax document, or legal notice, it can hit the shredder. Instead, she keeps giving me all this junk mail she thinks I might want to take a look at. Once a year or so, I go through it and throw it out. Found some old magazine offers from 2012 in the stack today.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22923)
• India
1 Jul 16
I totally get your point. I cleared up the desk in my department yesterday.
I liked the write up too.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (53005)
• Mojave, California
30 Jun 16
I could never be anything that involves a lot of paper work.I think I would bury myself alive.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25797)
• United States
30 Jun 16
Most of the stuff was papers my wife put on my desk for me to look at and see if I needed to do anything with. I glanced at it to see if it was important and if not, just left it. Now she's put a trash can close to my desk so I can throw it away without having to go into the kitchen to use the trash can out there.
1 person likes this
@koopharper (7599)
• Canada
30 Jun 16
I had an English teacher in highschool who had roughly a foot of miscellaneous papers carpeting the top of her desk in the classroom. It was so bad it was legendary.
1 person likes this
@PatZAnthony (14749)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
1 Jul 16
It is funny how much we manage to accumulate in a short time. Why do we all keep so many things? Could not get your link to work-will try again later.
@Poppylicious (11134)
• United Kingdom
1 Jul 16
Procrastination in the summer is not a bad habit. It is a necessary habit. *smile*
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
2 Jan 18
It helps when you need to work to have a clean area to work in. I spend a lot of time at the computer so needed to clean my messy area and it looks so much better now and have plenty of room to work. I see part of the desk in the picture.
