Is there some task or call you have been meaning to take care of, but just haven’t gotten around to? Have you ever avoided doing something you know is important and used I’m too busy as your excuse? For me that was organizing the office that I use when I consult at Metropolitan Capital Bank.

I am at the bank one day a week where I have a small (very small) office.  It is basically large enough for a desk and a chair.  My files are kept in bankers-boxes on the floor and I have piles of books in the small space around my desk.  Every time I step into the office I think, “Wow, I should really straighten this up.”  Then my thinking continues, “There is no where to put anything and I’ve got more important things to take care of today.”

The other day while working on a list of books that we have read in our book club at the bank, I was looking down at the pile of books on the floor, then back at my computer, then back at the books when suddenly I was shocked into the reality that there was a dead bird on my floor (right in between the books and my binders).  How could this be?  I am working in a bank where the windows are bolted shut for security.  Was this really a bird?  Why was it on my floor?  How long had it been there?

I leaped up to find someone to help get rid of the bird (dead-bird removal was not what I signed up for).  I ran down three flights of stairs to the main lobby and found Kevin, a Private Capital manager.  “Kevin, I will buy you a car if you come help me upstairs!”  (This offer was clearly made out of hysteria.)  Kevin (now affectionately known as my wing-man) came to my office armed with a dust pan and broom and removed the bird.  I was left with what looked like a crime scene…a white outline of the bird on my floor.  I knew that the rest of the clean-up was up to me.  I not only cleaned the floor where the bird had been, but also cleaned and organized the entire office and arranged all of my files.

I can’t help but think if I hadn’t been working on the reading list that morning how long it might have taken me to find the bird.  Did someone put it there as a test?  Maybe this was a message akin to the horse’s head in the Godfather? (Actually we think the bird flew in the day before when the door to the roof was opened by the maintenance crew.)

I have vowed to never wait for this type of “sign” to clean my office. I will do a better job to walk my talk – there is an entire chapter in Great with Money:  The Women’s Guide to Prosperity on the importance of clearing clutter to bring more abundance into our lives.  I will also listen much more clearly to my inner voice that guides me so well. More importantly I know that challenges often occur to teach us lessons.  Sometimes these show up as job losses, illnesses or relationship strains.  Mine was just a dead bird.  Instead of waiting for a sign that cannot be ignored, let’s all take steps that will put us on the path to prosperity.