One might have thought that a professor of management and marketing would be a master manager of her time and space. However, only in hindsight did she realize that 鈥渟cheduled maintenance鈥� would have saved her time, grief, stress and countless wasted hours.
鈥淭he 鈥榩urge and organize鈥� mentality morphed into a lifestyle which has spilled over into how I maintain my home, possessions and my personal life,鈥� Gilbert said. 鈥淕etting rid of everything unwanted has now become a daily task on my mental to-do list.鈥�
After obtaining the rank of full professor in the summer of 2008 at MTSU, Gilbert felt the need to purge her office of papers, folders, books, computer files and artifacts that she had been collecting since she started working on her doctorate several years ago. It was a liberating experience, she discovered.
鈥淲hen you start as a new faculty on a tenure track, you hit the ground running,鈥� she noted. 鈥淎nd you really don鈥檛 have time to put a system in place. But taking the time to put a system in place would have saved me so much in headaches and stress and lost items. That鈥檚 what you don鈥檛 realize.
鈥淚t took me about a month, working a few hours every day. When the job was complete, what struck me was how much more I enjoyed being in my office. I knew instantly where I could locate my belongings because I was no longer bogged down by unnecessary items.鈥�
Her newly cleared-out office motivated her to look for 鈥渉idden treasures鈥� at home with which to decorate her office in her 鈥渘ewly simplified space,鈥� as she called it.鈥淚 went through everything. I donated items to other people or to colleagues or to the library. I threw away things. After the initial purging, I knew what I had, and I could very easily get my hands on it.鈥�
People should keep only what鈥檚 essential to them, Gilbert said.
鈥淭he problem is that we accumulate so much stuff, we don鈥檛 even know how to begin the initial sorting and purging process. It can be a painful process.
鈥淚 think we hoard because we feel overwhelmed by the process of getting started with the purging,鈥� Gilbert suggested. 鈥淚 knew I had so much junk tucked in my drawers that it would take me a long time to go through it. But once you do it, there鈥檚 no going back. I can鈥檛 imagine having that clutter around again.
鈥淲ith junk mail, instead of tossing it, I call the vendor and ask that they not send me anything again. I block [unwanted] email. I do this at work and at home. In my office I have places to display my things that were hidden away in boxes in my house. I get all my journals online now. I organize all my course notes into two binders.
Clearing the clutter makes you more efficient,鈥� she said.鈥淗ow much time do we waste because we can鈥檛 find something? How much stress does that cause? It鈥檚 a process of creating mental clarity. You have space to concentrate on what鈥檚 important instead of worrying about where something is. How can you possibly know everything you have in a messy office environment? When you have the bare minimum, you can see it and say, 鈥業 don鈥檛 want it.鈥�
鈥淗aving fewer things and fewer places to look for them speeds 鈥榝ind time鈥� and facilitates the maximum usage of your possessions,鈥� she explained. 鈥淚t goes without saying that information is of no value if it鈥檚 unreachable. Havoc induces a lackadaisical attitude. Slovenliness on the job can slowly result in missed meetings, late arrivals, projects left unfinished and lost opportunities. The end result can be a tarnished image.
鈥淢y advice is to exercise diligence daily in terms of streamlining your office space and setting aside time for housecleaning chores,鈥� she advised. 鈥淭he subsequent clarity of 鈥榣ess is more鈥� and 鈥榚verything in its place鈥� will infiltrate through your very thought process.鈥�
Last year, Gilbert launched a blog titled 鈥淥rganized for Efficiency: Finding the Transformative Power of Decorum,鈥� representing two years of research. It can found at .
Gilbert acknowledged that she is a happier person.鈥淚 love being in my space here,鈥� she noted as she looked around her sparsely furnished office.
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