Brooklyn Office, originally uploaded by rephlektiv
My wife came to visit me at the office, so that everyone could see the baby and eat cake and give us presents. That was a fun time. Then I gave her a tour, since she had never seen where I work before, and she asked me a hard question.
"Why is your cubicle cleaner than your desk at home?"
I always maintain a clear desk at work (as recommended by Zen Habits). It eliminates visual distractions and helps me to be more focused and productive. By contrast, there's so much clutter in our home office that it stresses me out. I don't even like to spend time in that room, which means that junk keeps piling up, which causes even more anxiety.
It was clearly past time for me to do something about it, so I cleared out over half the stuff and and reorganized the room. Once that was done, I thought, "why not do this with the entire house?" And now the room is cluttered again... with piles of things to give away.