Notes
Notes on a quieter desk
I cleared my desk down to a lamp, a notebook and one pen. The work did not get easier, but starting it did.
Clara Whitfield1 min read
For most of last year my desk was a museum of good intentions. Three notebooks, a jar of pens, a stack of books I meant to read, a plant I meant to water, and a laptop surrounded by chargers. I sat down to work every morning and spent the first ten minutes deciding where to begin.
In August I cleared it completely and allowed things back one at a time, only when I actually reached for them.
What came back
- A lamp, because the light from the window is gone by four in winter.
- One notebook, open to the current page.
- One pen. When it runs out, I replace it.
- Whatever I am working on today, and nothing I am working on tomorrow.
What it changed
The work itself did not get easier. Writing is still writing. But starting got easier, and starting was always the hard part. With nothing else on the desk, the only thing to do there is the thing in front of me.
I have stopped thinking of it as minimalism. It is closer to setting the table before a meal: a small act of preparation that tells you what happens next.
