I got chastisted for my orderliness for a long time, until I was given an astrological reading. I still don’t pretend to understand all the houses and risings and such, but I did get a few gems that helped me realize that I see beauty in orderliness. Or, that orderliness is beauty, to me.

Embracing that has helped me realize why I’m attracted to Japanese design, why certain spiritual teachings resonate with me, why some blog designs I love (like yours), and some I can’t stand (too busy).

It has brought me to peace with my nature, essentially. Rather than label myself as “obsessive” when I want to clean my office before I get to work in the morning (my wife is not a Virgo-ish lass, and likes to leave piles on my desk now and again), I embrace my desire to “keep it Zen-like”, and revel in the peacefulness I feel when all things are in their place.

Just my $.02. :-)

(Oh, and by the way, folks, Ben at Instigator Blog, who started the Productivity kick, is compiling all the tips, as long as people link back to him so he can find them. He talks about the project at this post, here.)

You must have been asleep a very, very long time then ;-)
(Only organised my desk – for the time being – please don’t look at it now!)

And . . . you can peruse the list from the group writing project to find ideas that might work for you. Perfect!

Keeping things tidy. I’m a Virgo- but I’m also a piler… meaning I leave piles on my desk. It’s something I struggle with, but something in what you wrote ‘pinged’ for me. Thanks!

I hope someone is collecting all of these tips in one place…

Don’t sleep.

Pretty shitty tip, no?

Because while I have a buttload of ideas about what makes me as productive as I am (doing what I love 95% of the time, doing what I dislike but have to do only 5% of the time; finding inspiration to ACT on ideas before the monkey mind comes in and distracts me or tries to talk me out of acting; writing quickly, editing slowly; using color-coded transparent pockets to organize papers, using color-coded Entourage rules to organize emails; going radio silence for blocks of time in order to recharge and reconnect with Self; cubbies, glorious cubbies; intern days once a week; holding my feet to the fire with regard to my deadlines–both for getting work done and stopping the work; doing as much of my living in public as possible, so that I don’t have to answer as many individual questions as the inefficient public would like to have me do; trusting that I am valued not for what I do, but for the very fact that I simply AM; and playing as hard as I work, just not as often), it’s the lack of sleep that *really* allows me to be as PRODUCTIVE as I am.

And how can you turn that into a tip? It’s a disorder!

Ah well, maybe THAT’s my tip.

Turn your disorders into tools to help you ROCK.

Ooh, much better.

There you have it!

Thanks for the tag. This’ll be cross-posted to my blog(s) shortly.

Happy weekend!
XO
-Bon.

Karin – so while I was asleep, you organized your whole life? Impressive. I don’t think I could organize mine in the entire time I was awake.

Dawud – you’re right, of course. And I think another key to productivity is learning to state things as succinctly as you & Adam. Ah, well. Excelsior!, and all that.

Adam – I resist my Virgo nature, but there it always is again, staring up at me in neatly labeled rows in my matching file cabs. And you’re right–that internal order is at least as important as the other.