A little every day goes a long way
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
A couple of weeks ago I upgraded my computer screens to a triple 4k setup. When I was working with CAD drawings on my old lo-res (1680*1050) screens, it felt like looking at the world through a telescope, and my productivity suffered. The new screens are wonderful. I can now fit my entire old triple monitor screen real estate on just one screen! But anyone who has ever considered a triple monitor setup should also consider cable management. LOTS of cable management. Every screen requires a displayport cable and a power cable, so that’s six cables right there just to turn them on. I did some other upgrades as well. Let’s throw in a couple of active loudspeakers, camera, sound card, USB hub, conference speaker, mouse, keyboard, mic, Stream deck… the list goes on. And all this should be mounted on a sit/stand desk with a flexible length. This weekend I spent several hours doing cable management. And oh boy, did it turn out great! I was also reminded of a crucial life lesson.
I had my old screens mounted on a triple gas arm, which is a must-have because it saves a ton of desk space. However, my old screens used another power connector and cheaper cables so I could not use them for 4k resolution. And when I got the screens, I was in a hurry, so I just replaced the panels and left the old cables mounted on the arm and routed new cables on the floor below my desk. It was a horrible solution, but I got back to work quickly. I had also added active loudspeakers on desk stands. The speakers require XLR and power input to each speaker. These cables were also routed on the floor, together with a significant amount of used packaging material. And when my whole office is cluttered it is also a perfect representation of my mind. But the worst thing about a cluttered room, is that cleaning becomes nearly impossible! And then the cluttering accelerates. Saturday and Sunday, I took everything apart. Every little cable and gadget, and then I cleaned the desk. I routed the cables perfectly on the monitor arm and on a shelf that I have mounted beneath my desk, to truly minimize cable clutter. And then I cleaned the floor and got rid of all the clutter.
The feeling when I got back to the now clean and decluttered office was amazing. The first thing that hit my mind was that it always has to get worse before it can get better. It is the conservation of energy principle. If an astronaut throws a wrench while on a spacewalk, they will start moving in the opposite direction to the throw. This principle is valid for everything in life. Every action creates a reaction. There was a lot of friction work involved in my office project, many hours of work. And still, the end result is such a no-brainer. How could I wait so many days before cleaning this up? How much productivity was lost because of the clutter during these days? You can’t escape the friction and reaction. Even if you love cleaning and decluttering, you need a dirty place to take care of first. And then you will suffer when letting the place get dirty. Either way you look at it, things always tend to become worse before they can get better.
The critical aspect that this little story reminded me of, is that the longer you procrastinate and let something deteriorate, the more work will be needed to set things straight again. And it is not a linear process, it is an exponential process. If you wait twice as long before taking action, maybe you will need 10X the amount of accumulated work? There is also a point of no return. If you procrastinate beyond this point, you won’t be able to redeem it. You can make this analogy with relationships as well. If a married couple have unsettled issues with each other, that they don’t act upon, the dirt and clutter will accumulate over the years until a divorce is the only way out. But in most cases, there was probably a better option available: Clean and declutter more often. Don’t let the dirt accumulate until you are unable to fix it. A little every day goes a long way.