59. Clean as you go

For all the effort I put in organizing my life, my room, desk, inbox, and desktop are a mess. I have the bad habit of dreading cleaning up until the last minute. When it gets to the unbearable point, it was a paint in the ass to sort out the piling mess.

Lately, I was inspired by Zen Habit’s clean-as-you-go practice. That means rather than waiting for everything to pile up, I declutter the moment I’m done with the thing. I clean the greasy boat a little bit of the time instead of swabbing the mess of a shipwreck.

For me, that includes doing dishes right after I’m done with a meal, cleaning my inbox the moment I open it, putting an item to where it belongs right after using it.

It’s not easy. I’m still in the middle of practicing this and there are still random things flying everywhere in my room. But even doing a little bit of this has helped to give me a lot of headspace. I feel a lot more centered and I’m no longer perpetually distracted by the “oh should I clean this up but I’m so lazy” battle.

Sure this requires discipline. But do it on the regular basis and I’m certain that this principle will help me to live a less messy and stressful life in the long run.