Get organized: clean desk

School has been in session for several weeks, and I feel like I am doing the organization piece differently (and better!) this year.  I know I need structure and routines in my life.  I also need less visual clutter.  If you had seen my classroom last year, you would know that I haven't been able to maintain a sense of visual calm at all in the past.  I resolved to make changes this year that would help keep the space more neat and tidy.

Change 1: move my desk from the back of the classroom to the front.  It's right up front, where everyone can see it daily.  If it becomes an unsightly wreck, I will be more embarrassed; thus, I have more incentive to keep it clutter-free.  (I have found this method effective in the past: leverage your environment to make it help you get to where you want to be.)

What my students see looking forward toward my desk.

Flylady recommends you keep your sink shiny and clean (in your house), knowing that this oasis of cleanliness and calm will carry forward your efforts to keep your house tidy and organized.  I'm sure that my desk at school is the equivalent of a shiny sink.

Look at that desktop: it feels so clean!!!

In-box: a slight paperwork buildup

I have resisted taking these photos for the past week, since my desk and credenza aren't pristine.  You can see piles of papers and notebooks.  My inbox is growing taller (the goal was to keep it 1" or less in height).  I haven't attained perfection.  But it is working for me.  It *is* cleaner, and I feel a definite psychic difference when I work at my desk.  And I am practicing being nice to myself: things don't have to be "perfect" (that unattainable super-human level of perfection that keeps me paralyzed) before I can celebrate what's good enough.