Conditioning your work environment.

To the frontier man, life was a rifle. Today, especially to entrepreneurs, life is a desk. Your desk has to be a comfortable place for you. What does it say if your desk is continually a mess?

The quality and ambience of your work space works best when it demonstrates the quality and ambience of your life, or how you would like your life to be. What do you want and need on your desk, in it and near it? It varies for each of US.

Suggesred for the top ofyour desk:

-- EDP equipment -- Clear, open space -- Telephone or communication device -- Items used frequently

Periodically assess different items that support your desktop arrangement, such as Computer trays, hanging lamps, and swivel mechanisms and conveniently move equipment as needed.

To create more surface space, you could use a mechanical arm that hoists your PC monitor over the desk. lt swings forward and back, and left and right. Now that 1 have one, 1 don't know how 1 lived without it.

One of the benefits of product overload is that you can find exactly the item you need to make you feel more comfortable and be more productive at your desk. As you begin reaping the benefits, you will quickly forget the cost. Would you give up your fax machine to get the money back?

Joe Sugarman, in his book, Success Forces, explains that by clearing your desk every evening, you automatically have to choose what to work on die next day. Though such reasoning is contrary to die advice of "time management" experts, 1 wholeheartedly endorse it. It is a discipline that yields a marvelous sense of breathing space with which to start each day.

Every evening after you've cleared your desk, congratulate yourself for what you accomplished that day. Don't beat yourself up for what you didn't do. You're doing the best you can. If you can do better, you will, maybe not at once, but soon enough.

Use the end of the day, slow periods, or periods of low personal energy to revamp your files, keep your desk orderly, and better prepare yourself for high octane output when you're ready to get started again.

What Else do You Need?

1 keep a pitcher of water nearby. For me, dehydration is a major reason for low productivity. Often, when you think you're tired, you're really only thirsty. To create my own workout, I keep some items on the far end of my desk so that I have to reach to use them.