Power Cleaning: Tips for sanity in the home office

"Out of sight, out of mind." Perhaps this is the adage that makes or breaks it for anyone daring enough to work from home. (Yes, I know you out-of-home workers are cringing, saying how jealous you are, that you wish you could roll out of bed in your pajamas and crawl to your desk with your cup of coffee and begin work without a commute. But in truth, working from home, like everything in life, has it's own unique pro's and con's.) Those who commute to the office each day leave their chores behind. I've never read a study that compares the productivity of an office worker versus a home office worker, but my guess is our productivity is, if not less altogether, at least less consistent. Why? The answer just might lurk somewhere within those nasty window smudges that glare at us all day long, because whose responsibility is it to wipe them away? Ours. This morning, my cluttered apartment was mocking me as I attempted to compile a list of research questions for an interview I had scheduled at 11:30. I thought to myself, as I think every...single...glaringly cluttered and smudged day: "How can I focus in this place?" Today, instead of spinning in circles--literally or figuratively--I performed an experiment. "Fifteen minutes," I said. I walked to the kitchen and set the timer on the oven for twelve minutes, knowing I would need about a three-minute warning, that I could not just drop my mop and my can of Lysol as soon as the timer beeped. I'm no stranger to power yoga, or power walking, but power cleaning is a new concept for me. I set that timer, and quickly tackled the messes that were the most nagging, the most immediate, the most obvious. In twelve quick minutes, I managed to put away my daughter's Barbies and morning craft projects, run the trash out to the dumpster, wash our breakfast dishes, Windex my bathroom mirrors, and disinfect the kitchen counter tops. At that point, the beeping ensued. I rushed to the bedroom and put away half of the folded laundry, saving the rest for another day's fifteen minutes of power cleaning. And then I sat down on the couch and wrote this sloppy blog post, which I refuse to proofread; that might take another twelve to fifteen minutes. If you've done any power cleaning today, please don't blog about it. For life's sake, get on with your life. :)