Delicious is taking quite some time for me to get my head around. When I looked at the page with the Best Websites my first thought was "too much information!" I felt like I was drowning in virtual "white noise" - a massive jumble of words on a screen with no clear direction on where to start or what to do.
Author Richard Wurman says in his book Information Anxiety, that a weekday edition of the New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime back in 17th Century England. I think that the term "information anxiety" is a very apt description of what I am currently feeling. I think a good dose of Spring Cleaning and De-Cluttering would be good therapy. This reminds me of a speech I gave at my Toastmasters club a few years ago on that topic. I have included it here for your reading pleasure :-)
From Abba to Ultravox … the Art of Organizing
It’s nearly spring! I am painting and decorating my house, and I am excited to clean things up and clear out the junk. I started with my records. Who has heard of Abba? Most of you. They’re a pretty easy-listening type of group. I still like Abba, so I’m not getting rid of those records yet. Who has heard of Ultravox? Not so many. They’re not really of the easy-listening genre – but I still like them, so I’m not decluttering those records yet either.
Clutter is big business – there are scores of professional organisers, specialty storage products to purchase, articles in magazines and newspapers; HGTV even has a show dedicated to the cause.
Type “organizing” into the library catalog, and it will list more than 150 titles, Google the term “organizing clutter” - it will generate over 670,000 hits. Feng Shui, will get you well over 6 million
There are clubs for disorganised people to join and learn to become more orderly. There are even clutter therapists. And this isn’t a cute term for a professional organizer, who will come over and colour code your closet and straighten your undies, these are “lie-on-the-couch-and-tell-me-your-problems” types of therapists who are trying to do good in the world by helping the clutter afflicted.
At this time of the year we are bombarded with advertising urging us to spring clean and tidy up. Although the ad that reads “Cut the Clutter – our website has printable articles, checklists, calendars and tips!” is something of an oxymoron, one wonders if there is something in this latest “craze”. Why should we care if our living space or office resembles a war zone? Will our life and health improve with only 2 shades of lipstick?
The Wall Street Journal has reported that the average U.S. business person loses six weeks each year retrieving misplaced information from messy desks and files. At a salary of $75,000, that equals over $8,500 worth of time wasted, or 12.3% of total earnings. Another source put that loss in terms of the entire USA looking for lost articles and pegged it at about 9 million hours, and $150 million dollars - a day.
Research has shown that the number one irritant of American homes is clutter and a big contributor to the mess in our homes and offices is paper.
We all receive about 50K pieces of mail in our lifetime; one third of it is junk mail.
Author of the book “Information Anxiety”, Richard Wurman states that a week day edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime, back in 17th century England.
According to researcher and author Susan Hubbard, more new information has been produced within the last 30 years than in the previous 5,000.
Feng shui practitioners say clutter can make us physically and mentally sick. Medical experts agree that clutter can harbour dust, thus aggravating allergies, asthma and other respiratory ailments.
Not to mention the very real stress, frustration, confusion and discouragement involved with constantly tripping over “stuff”, running out of storage for our “stuff”, and not being able to find the “stuff” we need, when we need it.
Have I convinced you to clean up your act and hang up your coat? Where does a person start?
Remember earlier when I mentioned all the websites, books, products and professionals? They’re all different. There are similar recurring themes, but each one has tried to find it’s own tidy pigeon hole.
A few examples:
There is Flylady, a website that helps you split your big messy home into small manageable areas. You join this group for free and receive daily affirming emails – “yes, you CAN do it and have a better life, you just have to keep your sink shiny”.
There are more specialised websites such as “Organized Christmas.com”. Just print off the mountain of calendars and charts and you can have fun organising for Christmas. All year long.
There are books on office clutter, clothes and closet clutter, paper clutter, and children’s clutter. No, that’s not children themselves AS clutter, but more their acoutrements.
There is a public radio series about hoarding and clutter. You can pay and instantly download it in CD or MP3 formats, or, wait for it, order a paper transcript. Guests on the show include a specialist in the field of clinical hoarding and a neurobiologist who’s trying to pinpoint where in the brain this problem originates. Just as an aside, along that same train of thought is an entire website dedicated to the Psychological Profile Of Clutterers:
People who don’t pick up after themselves aren’t slobs, packrats or clutterbugs, they merely have psychological reasons for their cluttering, including depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive or attention deficit disorders. You can find out all you need to know by attending one of their Clutterless Recovery Groups.
No matter what type of person you are, or how you learn, you too, can be calm, serene and stress-free, living in a picture perfect home with a few artfully arranged accessories.
If you’re a book lover, head to the library or the book shop
If you’re a list maker and a “checker-offer”, find a website and, shudder, print off a checklist
If you can afford it, hire a professional.
You can also turn on the television or radio, plug in the mp3 player, subscribe to a website or publication, join a group or go see your doctor.
So whether your taste runs to Abba, or to Ultravox, or something in between, there is an organizing strategy that will fit you and your new, tidy life.
So, to answer the reflection question of the week "How comfortable are you using Best Websites, after this practice?"
I'm really not comfortable at all, and may have missed the point (is there anything I can't find on Google?) but I am determined to keep playing and learning - and Spring Cleaning
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