By Guest Blogger Robbi Hess

I will admit to always being a bit obsessive-compulsive when it comes to organization. I am a believer in "A place for everything and everything in its place." While I am not quite certain whether my being organized makes me more prolific than someone whose desk looks like a cyclone hit, but I sometimes wonder.

I've read that office workers whose cubicles are an eyesore are looked upon by fellow employees and even the bosses as being unorganized (obviously) but even as maybe not as productive as the neatnik next door. But on the flipside, some employers think if a desk is too organized, the employee may either spend too much time organizing and not enough time working. It's a conundrum. To further complicate matters, some experts think a messy desk is the equivalent of an ordered mind.  

I admit to working with people who had desks that were stacked sky high with scraps of paper and myriad books, folders, magazine pages and post its, but they could find anything you asked for in moments. There are times, even though my desk is neat as a pin, that it takes me a few minutes to remember exactly where I filed a particular piece of information.

I'm not saying any work style is better than another but I wonder, whether the organized writer is a more productive writer. I have my calendar scheduled out for the week of who I will interview and when. Once I have an assignment I put in it my calendar along with reminders of when certain pre-prep tasks need to be completed -- I am talking down to day-to-day details. Maybe I am a bit anal AND OCD but it has worked for me.

What's your style and does it work well for you? I'm wondering if maybe I need to lighten up a bit!