Everyone wants to make the best impression at work. You want that respect of your colleagues and boss. How clean and organized you keep your desk speaks to a level of discipline that you have in general. If your workspace is not organized, then your boss may assume that you put the same lack of effort into other aspects of your work.
You should also be thinking about your own peace of mind when you’re at work. A messy desk can also harm your ability to perform at work. Studies have shown that clutter on a desk will distract you and take your attention away from the task at hand. It might seem that everything on your desk is essential to your day to day role. The key thing here is to be as organized and efficient as possible.
Do you know how to organize your desk at work? The task itself isn’t as easy and straightforward as you might think. To help you with your desk organization, here are some great tips and tricks on how to organize your desk at work:
1. You need some personal space in your office desk
We don’t mean this in the traditional sense. Personal desk space is where you can put the things that you bring with you at all times. This can be a handbag, wallet, phone, keys, or anything else that you need to access frequently.
You should set aside a small corner of your desk, or better still a drawer, for your personal items. A drawer has the advantage of being hidden from the casual observer. Anything that you can do to keep things off your desk is a step to a clutter-free work environment.
2. Be ruthless with junk
When it comes to organizing your desk at work, you need to be ruthless when it comes to discarding clutter. If you are looking to have a more organized desk then you should begin with a good purge. As you pick up the objects on your desk you need to ask yourself, do I really need this? If the answer is no, then get rid of it. If the answer is yes, then you need a place for it to go.
3. Get the right office storage
If you have a lot of papers on your desk, you need to get some sort of file folder organizer in place. If you need some extra drawers under your desk, you should not feel shy about asking for them. This is a great way to organize your desk at work so that you are fully prepared.
Wipe your desk down every day. At the end of every day, it only takes a moment to quickly wipe down your desk. This means that you will be forced to do a quick daily office cleanup each afternoon. Another benefit is that you will be coming back into your office each morning with a spotless desk. This is a great way to start the day.
4. Eliminate paper on your desk
If you want to organize your desk at work, you should look into going paperless. This can make a world of difference to not only your desk but that of all of your colleagues too. You should look into scanning documents that you need to keep instead of hoarding them on your desk. This is a process that can take some getting used to, but it will be more than worth it in the long run. If you do decide to go for this method you should definitely make sure that your computer file system is well organized.
5. Your digital desktop needs organizing too
Nothing makes a computer savvy individual cringe more than a computer desktop that is full of files, images and random documents. When they see this, they will instantly assume that the user of the computer is not very well versed with computers and how to use them efficiently.
To help with this, you should make sure that you dedicate some time to organize the folders on your computer. This is something that you should be doing on an ongoing basis. Employing some best practices when it comes to organizing the files on your computer as you save your work will save you a great deal of time and energy.
6. Get a two-tray office organization system
If you have to use paper-based documents then having a simple two-tray system can do wonders. You have a tray that is for papers that need to be worked on, and another that is for completed work. This will not only keep your desk cleaner and more organized, it will also improve your efficiency a great deal.
7. Complete office tasks as they come in
You will no doubt have a lot of papers come through your desk on a daily basis. If you are able to complete the task associated with some papers in a few minutes, do so. You will then be free to discard or file the paper away and get back to having a clutter-free desk in no time whatsoever.
