ants in your (yoga) pants?

So I was wondering why I felt so "antsy" today.

I couldn't sit still, couldn't focus on any one thing for more than a few minutes. I had so many things to think about and do for the next few days.

Then I realized that the problem was right in front of me:

Exhibit A

To make matters worse:

Exhibit B

See my issue?

CLUTTERED DESKTOP.

Not just the physical desktop (oh yeah, that is cluttered too by the way -- files and folders and notepads and books), but my computer desktop. All those Firefox tabs, open documents, etc etc. And I'm totally giving myself away with the Exhibit A image above: out of the 8 visible open tabs, 1 is for email (thank goodness for automatic email forwarding, so I only have one main account to check!), 2 are recipe searches, 2 are for teaching, and 2 are yoga related. And 1 tab is on the weather channel because I tend to obsess about it (the island girl is STILL not used to winter).

And worse, I have not one, but TWO cluttered computer desktops because I use both Mac and Windows on my Mac (sounds geeky, I know...). So I have files open on Windows too because some of my shared virtual workspaces are only Windows-friendly.

Aaaah. The nature of the multi-tasking beast.

I don't think multi-tasking is wrong necessarily. It's what helps me cook soup, clean the apartment, design my online course space, and listen to a podcast at the same time. But at what point does multi-tasking make work ineffective? At what point does it slow you down?

The thing is, there's physical clutter and mental clutter and "electronic clutter". It's all the same. Clutter is CLUTTER. 

Clutter gives me the "ants in your pants" feeling.

Meanwhile, I am making the decision to take a half hour break, turn my laptop to "sleep" mode, and practice some pranayama and meditation. Turning off my electronic clutter.

I remember one of my 2011 words: BALANCE. Working on it...

What do you think about physical/mental/electronic clutter? How do you manage it?