Whether it’s an executive desk you use at work or a designer desk, there is no excuse not to keep it organised & clutter-free at all times. After all, office desks are one of the most important types of office furniture you can have in any workplace so it’s essential to get the maintenance of these right.
Having your office space clean, where you spend majority of your time is just as crucial to keep tidy as it is to keep your personal space at home tidy. During the times when you think you’re too busy to tidy up after yourself in the office, you should always remind yourself, will I do this at home? Below are a few useful methods to guide you on how to organise your desk effectively at work.
Method one: limit the amount of personal possessions at your desk
Although we often get tempted to fill our desks with various types of personal possessions that are dear to us, it still can be one of the biggest reasons behind a greatly messy office desk. A sensible idea would be just stick to one or two personal items at your desk. It usually doesn’t matter what you pick but try to be practical with the size of the items. There is no point having two large objects that will be taking up most of your desk either.
Another suggestion would be to ensure your daily possessions like a handbag or even your umbrella for the winter are not taking up all the space on your desk. This will not only make your desk look messy but it will also leave you with very little room to do your work, so it is best to just put them away in a safe place. Needless to say, having food lying around your desk isn’t a great idea either so make every effort not to do it.
Method two: get in the habit of always cleaning up after yourself
One of the obvious ways to keep your desk organised is to start cleaning up after yourself every day. It’s true when they say a tidy desk creates a tidy mind, which in turn, is likely to boost an employee’s productivity levels too. It doesn’t matter what time of day you choose to give your desk a spring clean as long as you get it done at some point of the day.
As mentioned earlier, leaving food lying around is always a bad idea and is one of the prime reasons why some organisations have mice running around the office. In fact, many motivational theories in the past have pointed out that poor working conditions and hygiene levels can lead to a great amount of job dissatisfaction for thousands of colleagues.
On a separate note, by making an effort to keep your office space spotless is a form of showing respect for your place of work. You should essentially treat your office the same way you treat your home. By making an effort to maintain your office space will also be perceived positively by your employer, which is always a plus.
Method three: make use of the available office storage space at your workplace
It’s quite common for us to unintentionally build a huge pile of paperwork on our desk without even realizing that we have. For this reason, it would be advisable to start making the most of our office storage solutions. This can be achieved by getting in the habit of neatly filing all of our work in relevant folders and then placing them in our designated office cupboards and cabinets. This will ultimately allow us to only have files and documents that we need in sight as and when we need to acess them.
Method 4: limit your office supplies
Many of us will no doubt be stationary lovers from a young age. It’s easy to fall in the trap of owning a lot more stationary then is needed, which usually adds to the mess at our desk. For this reason, therefore, we should avoid going over the top with stationary and in effect only have a limited amount of office supplies present at our desk. Perhaps a monthly assessment of your office supplies would urge you to give away your additional office stationary to your colleagues or back to the stationary cupboard, if you don’t already do so.
It could also be a great idea for you to enforce this newly formed habit of yours with your fellow work associates once you get into the practice of being more sensible with stationary yourself. After all, it’s always beneficial for firms to have staff members getting along and sharing ideas with one another on how to perform better even if it is just talking about office cleanliness.
Method 5: make a conscious effort to change your attitude for the better towards your work environment
We should ideally try our level best to change our mind-set and attitude towards our work environment for the better if we’re not already doing so. The key is to take pride in your workplace and develop a willingness to make the office look cleaner and clutter-free by starting with the organisation of your own desk first.
In fact, it might be worthwhile to write down some inspirational positive quotes about tidiness in your main work notebook and refer to them as and when we feel necessary. By following this unique and creative procedure of always being tidy it will eventually become second nature to you.
Alternatively, if you find this method doesn’t work for you then you can always team up with one of your close friends at work and motivate one another to have an uncluttered desk. Perhaps it might be useful for you both to make a conscious effort to occasionally monitor each other’s desk and subtly point out any untidy areas, if any without making it an embarrassing experience for the other.
To sum up:
Overall, by putting all the factors mentioned above into practice and actually committing to them, you will ensure your office desk always remains organised and in top form. For some people it might be harder to adapt to this new way of thinking than others, but always reassure yourself that it is achievable and will make your office a more desirable place to be for everyone.