This is PART ONE of an all new Five Part series by CataUniversity’s own Alice Anderson. Check back each day this week for a new part.January 1st is a great day to make a clean start. Be it in your career, writing, personal life, or health goals.

Start by giving your work area a good early spring cleaning. I don’t know about you but I feel tons better when my environment is clean and orderly. It doesn’t stay that way, I’ll admit, but it feels good when it is.

Take everything off your desk or work area. Give it a good cleaning. You want to get rid of all those dust bunnies. Go ahead, I’ll wait for you to finish.

Got that done? Good. Now… wipe down your computer, monitor and/or laptop. Follow manufacturers instructions for cleaning but again, get rid of the dust bunnies and make it sparkle. Is your keyboard a trap for hair, dust and other things that don’t belong? This is the perfect time to clean it too. I like to turn my computer off while I do this or unplug the keyboard. You should be about to use a damp cloth to clean it up, but there are special wipes and other great tools that will do the job too. Get a can of compressed air to clean between the keys. And you might want to clean out your computer tower while you’ve got the canned air.

With all that done, you deserve a pat o­n the back. Tomorrow we’ll talk about making your space really work for you. So stay tuned.

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