What’s weighing you and your desk down? What’s disorganization costing you?
Whether you are a business professional or a high school student, it is very important to have a work space that encourages you to be productive. Create a work space where you can find what you need, when you need it and where you can focus on priorities, free of distraction.
Here are 5 tips on how to do just that:
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1. Only keep the bare essentials on your desk top (i.e. your computer and your phone). The less you have on your desk, the better!
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Use drawer dividers. If you have a desk that has a few drawers, use drawer dividers to keep items organized. Keep paper clips in one section, pens in another, etc.
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Remove all small decorative items. Less clutter means more work space and in turn, more productivity. Unless an item really inspires you or is used many times during the day, don’t let it take up prime real estate on top of your desk, or worse, serve as a distraction.
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Remove other distractions in the room or area. If there are posters or pictures on the wall or things on the floor that distract you, remove them from your work space.
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Set up an Action and Reference Filing System. The Action Filing System will be for papers you need to take action on such as “to sign,” “to pay,” and “to call.” These files work well on or near your desktop in an organized filing system. The Reference Filing System will be for papers you need to keep for reference such as “reports,” “statements,” and “study guides.” These are best kept in a filing drawer close to your work space. By having a home for both action and reference items, you will eliminate a lot, if not all of the piles of paper that clutter-up your work space.
Hopefully, these ideas will help students be productive this school year and will help those in business to de-clutter their work space and increase productivity.
Let us know if we can answer any specific questions about your work space… or if you want some hands on help in Unearthing Your Desk. We’ll find it in no time at all and help you create systems so you can keep it up! We’d love to be a resource for you!
