Picture the scene. Its Friday afternoon and you're about 2 minutes away from the weekend. You grab your cell phone, turn the monitor off, and head for a weekend of fun! The next two days are spent relaxing and having fun, but not thinking of work. At the beginning of the next week, and back at work, you hope to pick-up where you left off. Immediately, though, you regret dashing out the door on Friday, since nothing can be found and and now it will take at least twenty minutes just to get settled in. Sound familiar? Then let's get that desk organized!
Here are some key desk organization tips to bring order back to the office:
Planning Desk Organization
Take a step back from the daily rush of business and think of how the office is organized, and more specifically, how the desk is used. Then think of how you would like it to work. Take a minute or two and write down all of the things that you use while at the desk. This includes the computer, stapler, hole puncher, calculator etc. Then list them in order by how often they are used.
- The top half of the list should be easily accessible from your seat.
- The lower half of the list can be put in lower drawers and higher shelves.
Just taking 10 minutes to plan a space will make it work far more efficiently in the long-run! Read Organization for the Office for more information.
Desk Organizing Tips
By making the desk a work-focused area, your productivity will increase. Therefore, the desk needs to be set-up for you, and organized for you. (if you share a desk, try to create boundaries and dedicated spaces, as to not have another person infringe on your own productivity).
Here are some desk organizing tips for desk organization:
- After it is determined what is used most often, choose the areas to place the items, by priority. The more often it is used, the less movement you should do to retrieve it.
- Get office organizing items to make the chosen storage areas more efficient. Find a good selection at a home organization store.
- Only keep, on the desk, what is needed during the current project. Since everything else will be stored by priority, there will not be much movement to get something else that is needed.
- Have a set space for everything.
Keep a Desk Organizing Routine
Making sure that you tidy your desk each evening to ensure that it doesn't get into a mess again -- and to maintain desk organization, this is mandatory. Take about ten minutes prior to finishing up for the day to put everything back where it belongs. This is very important, so make this a habitual routine.
Final Desk Organization Tip
Take a little bit of time to put everything into a box (or several) and slowly, but surely, put it in its permanent place when it is needed. Anything that is not used in thirty days, make a candidate for removal, donation, or the trash. Remember to be ruthless and throw away anything that you don't need or haven't used in a long time. If you can't bring yourself to throw things away, then give them to a colleague -- just get them off your desk!
Remember that a clear desk is a clear mind, and you will be surprised how well you work with a tidy desk.
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