Cut the Clutter!
Despite your best efforts, you may find a lot of clutter in your work area. This is usually due to a large workload, busy schedules or simply having too many items in the space which lead to distractions and lower productivity and work quality.
You’re definitely not alone in this and we will cover a couple of workspace cleaning tips that will help you to have a better work environment. All you need to do is put in the effort and you’ll enjoy a cleaner work area that will not only make you feel great, but you’ll also be more productive.
Get Rid of Old Stuff
Organizing your work area is extremely important and the very first thing you need to do. It doesn’t matter whether you do this on a daily or monthly basis, you need to create time to pay attention to your work area and ensure it is clean and well organized.
When you make this a part of your routine, you should always make it a habit to throw away any items that you don’t need or aren’t useful in any way.
When you’re organizing your work area, you should also organize your drawers, binders, and all areas in and around your workspace.
A clean work area will make you feel more organized in general and will help you to remain focused. Your daily work tasks won’t feel as overwhelming, and you’ll be more at peace.
Go Paperless
If you have lots of paper-based documents, then this can be preventing you from having a more functional and clean work area. Also, you need to consider that it has a negative impact on the environment.
There are many tools that you can use such as scanning applications and file syncing that can help you to digitally store all of your paperwork.
Even though change is uncomfortable, you will definitely soon enjoy going paperless and you won’t want to return to the old ways.
Use A Desk Organizer
Professional organizers generally believe that every single item should have a particular home. So, if you usually have issues finding the things you need in your office, then ensuring each item has its own home can help to eradicate this problem. If you absolutely need to have paper documents, then you should store them in a file organizer.
If you’re disorganized, this will cost you a lot of money over time. You will waste a lot of time trying to find the documents you need which can result in mistakes, losing important paperwork and it makes you look unprofessional.
You should definitely use a desk organizer in order to store your office supplies such as pencils, pens, paperclips, staples etc. If you have paper documents, then you should get an organizer that also has its own file holder which will allow you to store everything in one area.
Don’t Eat Where You Work
You should definitely avoid eating in your office, especially at your desk. Of course, it is easy for work to get quite stressful, and it may be easy to simply have lunch or snacks at your desk while you continue to work.
However, when you eat in your work area, this takes away from the joy of eating. It is also very difficult to keep your work area clean of crumbs and even the smell of food. Also, when you eat at your desk, it may invite various pests to come into your work area such as insects, mice etc.
Additionally, it is very important for you to have lunch away from your desk for self care. Even if you take a short 15 or 20 minute break away from your desk, it can greatly improve your overall energy levels for the rest of the day.
Digital Files Should Also Be Organized
Even if you’ve gotten rid of all the paper in your workspace and are fully digital, that doesn’t mean that your digital files are properly organized. It is important that you actually take the time to organize your digital files by making folders and placing files in their respective folders. This will go a long way in preventing you from having an unorganized desktop.
According to your particular industry, it would be possible to create folders based on clients, assignments, years or even by project. You should essentially work on this while you’re using them. Make sure that you create time to get rid of files that you don’t need and review your desktop. This is important because a messy desktop is just as bad as a messy desk.
Best Organization Tip
At the end of the week on Friday, you should take a couple of minutes before you finish work to place the things on your desk in their appropriate places. This will help you to prepare your desk for the next week. Make sure that you get rid of any trash and file away all papers. This will make your following Monday a lot easier.
It is extremely important to have an organized desk since it will help you to save time and it will make you a good professional. It will also help to lower stress, increase productivity, and make you more creative.
