Saints Helping Us at Work...To Get Rid of Clutter

It's one of those times when clutter threatens to take over my workspace. I clean up and that lasts a while. But somehow things build up again. If that's happened or is happening to you, here's something we posted in January of 2012. We've got not one, but two saints to help us here.

Clutter here, clutter there, clutter everywhere. For most of us, it's hard to fulfill our duties at work surrounded by clutter. You can't find things when you need them; you get distracted from what you're supposed to be working on with all that other stuff all around you.

Two things usually conspire to create clutter: first, you don't throw useless stuff out; second, you don't keep things organized.

Back in the 5th century, St Benedict addressed this in his Rule. He's encouraging the Abbot of a monastery to keep his focus on his people by not letting too much stuff build up:

…that the Abbot may not neglect or undervalue the welfare of the souls entrusted to him, let him not have too great a concern about fleeting, earthly, perishable things; but let him always consider that he hath undertaken the government of souls, of which he must give an account. And that he may not perhaps complain of the want of earthly means, let him remember what is written: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Get it? Even an Abbot back in a monastery back in the 5^th century could become encumbered by or attached to “stuff.” All it does is take you away from your real responsibilities, really from life – real life – and therefore from growing closer to God. Pretty good advice, no?

Listen, we don't need all that stuff that surrounds us - either at work or at home. And if you're afraid to throw things out because somehow you might "need" them someday, just relax. (If you always feel that way when you go to throw stuff out, you're probably a "pack rat" and should confront the fact and do something to change your thinking.)

Don't be afraid. Maybe this from St Francis de Sales will help:

“Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His Love, the future to His Providence.” 

(Okay, so maybe you're one of those rare people who somehow know where everything is in all those piles. Maybe you're even one of those who thinks that a desk or other work environment that's too clean denotes an obsessive personality. Fine, stick with your clutter. I still think you'd be better of with less of it.)