Studio and office practices

Today, the day after Labour Day, is my equivalent to New Year's Day. It's a season of fresh starts, new opportunities, and recovery from holiday busyness. Earlier this year, Claudia at Proper Tension recommended Gretchen Rubin's book about habit formation Better Than Before. I've been reading it slowly over the past two months and the lessons are sinking in. The one habit that I'm flirting with this season is to establish better office practices. This includes filing, keeping my work surfaces clear of clutter and dust, and to schedule regular office hours. When I graduated from NSCAD, I dedicated three mornings a week to office tasks and the rest to the studio. Over the past few years, my office work has become more erratic and it's time to change this. The Tom Sachs video (via Austin Kleon) coupled with Better Than Before motivated me to overhaul my office and it's now a thing of beauty.

This week I realized that I function better in a neat and tidy office but require a bit of mess in the studio (as long as my tools are put away). Fellow creatives, what works best for you? Feel free to comment.