Comments on: Ask the cubicle expat: Can clutter and creativity co-exist? http://www.anti9to5guide.com/2008/01/18/ask-the-cubicle-expat-can-clutter-and-creativity-co-exist/ Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:13:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Michelle Goodman http://www.anti9to5guide.com/2008/01/18/ask-the-cubicle-expat-can-clutter-and-creativity-co-exist/#comment-25978 Michelle Goodman Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:20:54 +0000 http://www.anti9to5guide.com/2008/01/18/ask-the-cubicle-expat-can-clutter-and-creativity-co-exist/#comment-25978 thanks for your input, michelle. thanks for your input, michelle.

]]> By: Michelle Rafter http://www.anti9to5guide.com/2008/01/18/ask-the-cubicle-expat-can-clutter-and-creativity-co-exist/#comment-25863 Michelle Rafter Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:45:56 +0000 http://www.anti9to5guide.com/2008/01/18/ask-the-cubicle-expat-can-clutter-and-creativity-co-exist/#comment-25863 I love when people talk about their workspaces. I'm a reformed file collector. When I worked as a business reporter at a daily newspaper, I prided myself in the fact that I had an entire four-drawer metal filing cabinet in the reporters' file room for all of the story notes, SEC filings, annual reports, etc., that I'd collected over the span of the seven years I worked there. That didn't even include the two two-drawer file cabinets in my cubicle, or all of the stuff piled on top of my desk. It was a lot of stuff! I was the tech writer and when I'd go on vacation for a week there'd be an entire post office box waiting on my desktop with the accumulated mail. My treat to myself when I finished a big story was spending all of the next day purging all the crap off my desk. Fast forward. I've freelanced for a dozen years and moved a couple times in the meanwhile, had 3 kids and have to live with the messes they make. I'm a clutter convert. I am no longer attached to my piles. I still have boxes of clips in a closet, along with tax records dating back to the 80s, and one day I'll get around to dealing with them (maybe). But now I keep everything I can possibly keep filed electronically. I started writing again last fall after a long break and I can honestly say I haven't printed out notes for a single story since then, which I think has also helped me be better at organizing my stories and figuring out how to use electronic annotation features of Word. I organize everything in Word and Outlook. I even stopped handwriting my to-do lists. It felt weird at first, but I'm adjusting. And I feel good about not using so much paper. Thanks for letting me share, Michelle Rafter Contributing Writer IncTechnology.com I love when people talk about their workspaces. I’m a reformed file collector. When I worked as a business reporter at a daily newspaper, I prided myself in the fact that I had an entire four-drawer metal filing cabinet in the reporters’ file room for all of the story notes, SEC filings, annual reports, etc., that I’d collected over the span of the seven years I worked there. That didn’t even include the two two-drawer file cabinets in my cubicle, or all of the stuff piled on top of my desk. It was a lot of stuff! I was the tech writer and when I’d go on vacation for a week there’d be an entire post office box waiting on my desktop with the accumulated mail. My treat to myself when I finished a big story was spending all of the next day purging all the crap off my desk.

Fast forward. I’ve freelanced for a dozen years and moved a couple times in the meanwhile, had 3 kids and have to live with the messes they make. I’m a clutter convert. I am no longer attached to my piles. I still have boxes of clips in a closet, along with tax records dating back to the 80s, and one day I’ll get around to dealing with them (maybe). But now I keep everything I can possibly keep filed electronically. I started writing again last fall after a long break and I can honestly say I haven’t printed out notes for a single story since then, which I think has also helped me be better at organizing my stories and figuring out how to use electronic annotation features of Word. I organize everything in Word and Outlook. I even stopped handwriting my to-do lists. It felt weird at first, but I’m adjusting. And I feel good about not using so much paper.

Thanks for letting me share,

Michelle Rafter
Contributing Writer
IncTechnology.com

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