THEY say people with untidy, chaotic desks are more creative. Well, I must be very creative right now because I can barely see my desk beneath the piles of stuff covering it.

By ‘stuff’ I mean loose papers, several books, my diary, contacts book, folders crammed with papers, two mugs (one for tea, one for soup), a bottle of water, newspapers, a packet of Mini Cheddars, a highlighter pen, some peppermint teabags, my notebook, and a shiny crystal that I think is meant to bring me calm and order (oh the irony, as Alanis Morissette might say).

Generally, I’m quite tidy. My home has a place for everything and everything is in its place. I think it’s because we grew up in a messy house - my mum left trails of half-finished sewing and craft projects everywhere and her idea of tidying up was to shove everything on the bottom of the stairs and hope that we each scooped some of it up as we were passing - that my sister and I now keep tidy homes. But at work, no matter how much I try to clear my desk, it just accumulates more...stuff.

Then there’s email. Every morning I go through my inbox, deleting unwanted emails, filing some in a folder and dealing with the others in order of priority. Then another load of emails appears and I have 10 new ones to sort through. I get about 200 emails a day - roughly 70 per cent I don’t need - and it’s a juggling act deleting the junk and dealing with the others, while getting on with everything else.

It’s a familiar aspect of the working day, especially for those who sit at a desk all day. But the spectre of hundreds (or even thousands) of emails hanging over us can take its toll on mental health. Emails can trigger stress, which, says an HSE report, causes up to 40per cent of workplace illnesses.

Recently I read about something called ‘inbox mindfulness’. I don’t really know what mindfulness means, but it has to be worth a go. It’s not about checking emails 24/7 - it’s about putting aside a proportion of the working day to keep your emails in a healthy state.

Tip 1 for ‘inbox mindfulness’ is: Going through emails first thing. If this fills you with dread, make a relaxing playlist, brew a calming herbal tea and tackle it email by email. That’s generally how I start my working day, minus the relaxing playlist (Enya or whale music at that time? No thanks).

Tip 2: Clear out the junk. Mass delete social media notifications, retailer newsletters and, in my case, irrelevant press releases. Tip 3: Get a nice folder system going. Thing is, while this tidies up the inbox, it creates a dumping ground elsewhere. A bit like the stuff my mum used to leave on the stairs. Tip 4: Archive emails you might need later on. See above (dumping ground). Tip 5: Colour categorise. Er, what? Apparently, this is “a bit fiddly”. Sorry, but the idea of categorising emails into red for those needing a response and blue for those that are done gives me a headache.

Tip 6: Unsubscribe from annoying promotional emails. Thanks to GDPR regulations, that’s an easy one. Tip 7: Set up rules. ‘In Outlook, there’s a tool called ‘Rules’ that can make emails auto-filter into a folder. Any new messages will be taken care of as per the rules you’ve created for yourself...’ (I lost interest at this point). Tip 8: Out Of Office messages for holiday time. But the emails have already been sent, so there’s still a mountain of them to tackle that first day back in the office. I returned to 1,200 last time I had a week off.

Being inbox zen is a nice idea, but instead of one inbox you end up with five. Just thinking about mindfulness makes my temples throb. Where did I put those peppermint teabags..?

* ONE of the pleasures of watching TV's Antiques Roadshow is people's reactions when they're told the value of whatever dusty relic they've brought along. Some seem genuinely shocked if it's worth more than they expected, while others maintain a poker face, and you suspect they're a bit disappointed that Aunt Ada's ornamental owl collection isn't so rare after all. Most people on the show insist they wouldn't dream of selling their family antiques, even if they're worth thousands. Yeah, right.

According to a survey by vintage jewellery retailer William May, nearly a third of Brits would sell a family heirloom for just £400. Sentimental value is fine if you can afford it, but we live in an age of austerity, and folk need ready cash, not old paintings collecting dust in the attic.

* AS a reporter, I liked covering planning committee meetings because, although they went on into the evening, I'd usually end up with several articles, including sometimes a front page splash too.

Emotions run high at planning meetings. They are scenes of passionate pleas and bitter tears. But planning rules are there for a reason; they protect our heritage and environment. Those who don't bother with planning application procedures should face the consequences. Disturbingly, the shocking backlog of 1,800 outstanding enforcement cases in Bradford - only four prosecutions last year - suggests that doesn't always apply here.