On Sunday, after the routine of The New York Times and a cinnamon roll (oh, what a treat!), I walked past my office. With no plans for the day, I felt compelled to clean up my desk. I figured this would take about 15 minutes to get organized.

I emerged from the office five hours later.

I went through every drawer. I went through every file. I threw away stacks of ideas that I'd tucked away, no matter how brilliant I thought they were (I'll birth new ones).

I kept re-arranging the furniture until the flow of the room felt right (I've been working on this for several years now, and I think I finally got it right). When it was all over, I must've carried out a couple hundred pounds of papers, furniture, and um, shit. I'm a fairly tidy person — I've never been super-organized, but I'm no slob either.

ta da!

I think most people can relate to the power of getting organized and the feeling of freedom that arises from a good purge. (If you're not, try it! The energy in my office is completely different now — peaceful, open, welcoming, zen. I find myself excited to walk into the space in the morning and begin writing.)

What really surprises me is how blind I had become to my office situation. Again, it wasn't a disaster area, but ever so slowly, the chaos grew. And it all became my new normal.

I notice this same phenomenon, this desensitization that takes over, as I listen to people outside of my work. They talk about the parts of their lives that they do not like, but more often than not, they do nothing to change their situation. They seek no help. They try nothing new. Making a meaningful change does not seem to register as a possibility. They're the fish in water who can no longer see their world with a clear eye… It's not good, but it's "normal".

But the greater truth is that with intention, awareness, and a willingness to show up, it's possible to clean anything up…

Anything.

I'm in the midst of packing for a trip. I've got lots of little tasks before I board the plane tomorrow… Clean the house, prepare dog food, load my iPod, um, pack… So naturally I am fitting in time for a post.

Was thinking of which bag to pack. There will be some formal engagements, so I have to bring a suit. I have a nice little "suiter" bag designed for carry-on. Of course, this would allow me to just have everything with me at all times, but I cannot figure out how to pack it without compromising my newly pressed suit.

The alternative is for me to take the bigger bag which is great for suits, but a little too big for the overhead compartment. At first I was reluctant to give up the efficiency of traveling without checking a bag. But then I remembered the words of Jay, a man I've met on some ski trips.

In Jay's hotel room lay a bag the size of an adult hippo. You could have fit a couple of bodies in the thing if need be. As we we razzing him about Bagzilla, Jay came back with a powerful retort:

"Man, I check everything. I don't need to be worrying about bags when I travel…"

If you're not feeling the power of that statement, well, I promise you it had more weight when delivered by a man propped up in his hotel bed by five pillows, margarita in hand. That gave Jay more of an air of authority on relaxation techniques.

So Jay popped into my mind and I'm taking the bigger bag. Yes, I'll have to check in. Yes, I'll probably have to wait 15 minutes to collect my bag. Yes, there's a risk that my bag will go on some adventure without me.

But to be honest, when I'm waiting to board a plane and have to find a spot for my bag, I feel a bit anxious. I feel like I cannot totally relax until my bag is stuffed somewhere above me. I see the same frantic energy in others, some pound pound pounding to make their bags yield to the cramped confines of the compartment.

Sure it sounds like a little thing. And it is. But if you can always sensitize yourself to your personal preferences of what feels better — and choose that — the more ease you'll experience. While operating this way goes against "time management", it's helpful to remember that there's never a rush in life if you're happy right where you are.

Happy Trails,

d

PS — Not bringing a computer, either. (I find that moment in the security line where I'm juggling shoes and a laptop to be both silly and stressful). Don't need the computer either. Using Google Apps, I can access all my files, e-mails, websites, etc from any computer. Freedom! Okay, now I really gotta get my ass in gear…

Spent entirely too much time last week working.

Needed to get out.

Headed north, to a beautiful little lake that I like for a day trip with the kayak.

They do not allow motors on the lake — I really like that — and I had a day of quiet in a really beautiful place.

I didn't trust myself with my good camera near the water, but my old Canon Elph still takes decent shots…

Here are a few:

calm waters, no company

this was harder to take than it looks.

read the paper, had a Vitamin water on a soft, lichen covered rock here.

solitude and a nice swim.

just a shot from the little island I was on

A quick word about kayaks: you should get one.

If there's no water close to where you live, you should move.

Kayaks are great for lots of reasons.

• They're easy to use and hard to tip
• You can go solo
• They require zero gas and zero maintenance
• Like having a dog, kayaks get you outside and exploring
• You can go where motorized boats cannot
• It's good exercise for the upper body
• You'll be able to get close to lots of wildlife — beavers, loons, herons, turtles, ducks, geese…
• Paddling is a meditative motion
• Water heals
• In a few moments with a kayak, you can be in a whole different world

So, I'll be back on the water soon as the leaves begin to change…

The phone rang as I was in the middle of writing. I looked at the called ID, and it was my old buddy "Unknown".

Ninety five times out of one hundred, these are telemarketing calls. Even though I'm registered with the "do not call" list, I get one a day or so. About fifty percent of the time, I do not answer the phone and let the call go to voicemail (call spammers rarely leave messages).

A fair question would be why I bother to pick up half the time…?

Part of the fun of my life is that I never know what's coming into my life on a given day. I could get invited to speak somewhere, an interesting person may contact me for some coaching work, an HR person from a big company may need some DISC Reports — ya never know.

And every once in a while, those calls come in under the caller ID label, "Unknown".

So yesterday, when the phone rang with the "Unknown" label, I picked up. I heard the rustling on the other end, the other operators in the background — the tell-tale signs of a telemarketer. Even so, my curiosity got the better of me and I said hello…

"Mr. Rozell?"

"Yes…"

"This is so and so from the policeman's association. Did you hear about the officers who were killed…"

Click.

I did it. I hung up on the man. The man with the compelling story. The man doing "the good work" for the police. The man wanting me to give him some money. I hung up on him. Click. No goodbye. Not a word. No justification.  No apology.

Just a click of the button.

I usually listen to the spiel. I don't want to be rude. I let 'em down easy. Polite. Nice. But I don't really want to be in this conversation. I took measures to stop these calls. I really don't want to speak to you.

A simple truth. So I followed it.

And I must say, it felt great.

I think I'll try it again.

GOOGLE APPS & G-MAIL

(not exciting, but important)

Okay, there's this edgy little start-up company… They go by the name of Google. I know it sounds funny, but they do some cool stuff. In fact, they have a really good e-mail program.

What? You already know this? Well, I'll share my experiences anyway, just in case…

Here's where I'm coming from… Outlook served me pretty well for a while. I mean, it was just the easiest thing to use for e-mail. The default. But there were some annoyances.

Old e-mails would get archived somewhere where I couldn't seem to access them. I could not easily check all of my e-mail accounts (I have several) easily without having my computer with me. And the camel that broke the straw's back? The ridiculous and depressing amount of SPAM that I had to delete.

I flirted with a G-mail account, just like I had with a Yahoo account. Never really used it for anything but storage though. But like $4 gas, the pain of deleting SPAM was enough for me to change my behavior.

I signed up for a Google Premier account for $50 a year. I now receive all my e-mails to one central G-mail account. I get maybe one SPAM message in my inbox a day. And best of all, I can access my e-mail from whatever computer I'm using — Mac or PC, mine or a friend's.

Plus with Google Doc (like Microsoft Word), I can keep all my writings in an online, decentralized location for easy access and no fear of hard drive failure.

What makes this cool? The FREEDOM it allows me.

If you've got one e-mail address and nothing terribly important comes into your life via e-mail (like money!), you're probably fine with Outlook or whatever if you can handle the SPAM.

But if you want to upgrade, and simplify your life, I recommend the Google Apps package.

Google Apps

Also, I am a big fan of Google Desktop. This program has saved my ass many, many times. Let me briefly elaborate… Google Desktop is a search engine for everything on your computer. Believe it or don't, I am not the most organized guy with my computer files. Google Desktop allows me to find anything I misplace — documents, photos, e-mails, websites I've visited — instantly (none of that chug, chug, chugging with an Outlook search or an XP search).

Finally, Google Desktop makes a cache of your files. Why is this important? Everyone has had the experience of losing an important document just as you are a few keystrokes away from being done. Many, many times, Google Desktop has saved me from saying bad words at a loud volume by having a copy of my file.

Check it out. Again, I know this isn't the most exciting topic — but infrastructure is important and paying attention to it has the power to improve the quality of your life. Plus, I needed to post something…

d