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You’ve no doubt heard the saying ‘a tidy home equals a tidy mind’. There are many variations on the saying, but they all add up to the same thing – organised, decluttered surroundings help you to think more clearly.
The same thought process can be used when thinking about your workplace and in particular, your office desk.
Are you guilty of allowing your desk to become cluttered? Is it a situation in which nobody else can find anything on your desk, but you know where things are? Being surrounded by files you don’t need, post it notes, pens, endless photographs, and a lot of other clutter that serves no actual purpose could be damaging your productivity.
It’s time to spring clean a little ahead of time and declutter your desk!
Not only does a cluttered desk make it easy for you to lose things and make mistakes, but it’s also a recipe for stress. It just feels so much better when you have a streamlined, tidy, and sleek workspace. It helps you to think more clearly, get more done, avoid mistakes, and just feel like you’re actually getting somewhere. As a result, it’s not so easy to become stressed over the small things. Paying attention to your mental health at work is vital, and that means knowing how to reduce stress wherever possible.
Another way which your desk could be contributing towards stress is how it’s positioned and its general design. Is your desk too small for the work you need to do? Trying to squeeze everything onto a ‘too small’ desk can be extremely annoying and it wouldn’t be surprising if you felt stressed out during the day! You could also have your desk placed somewhere which puts you in the path of everything passing by. That makes your workspace super-noisy – another recipe for stress.
In terms of workplace health and safety, your desk needs to be large enough for what you need it to do, it needs to be suitable for your needs, e.g. height and comfort, and it also needs to be positioned somewhere that’s not cramped, not situated close to a busy walkway in the office, and not next to a noisy and hot printer.
There are many reasons why your desk could be stressful, so it’s a good idea to sit down and really think about your working situation. Do you feel like you’re getting the most done during a day, or do you feel like you’re being hindered all the time? If so, what could that be down to?
Workplace stress is something we need to work towards reducing wherever possible, and the good news is that your office desk can easily be moved, changed, or tidied up, therefore reducing the stress it causes.