If 2018 ended with a bang for you, there’s a high probability that you’ve returned to work to be greeted by a chaotic desk. Files everywhere, last year’s coffee cup and a plant in desperate need of water. Obviously this is not an ideal situation for a productive start to the year, unless you thrive in clutter (but who does, really?). To help you get sorted for the New Year and revive your work-space we’ve put together our top five tips for organising a desk.
Clean it up
It’s amazing how much garbage we collect at our desks. Take a moment to ditch any rubbish on your desk top, but don’t stop there. Have a dig around in your drawers and toss any wrappers, blunt scissors, old pens and full notebooks. By keeping things clean and tidy you’ll feel less cluttered mentally and as an added bonus, you’ll easily be able to put your hands on the things you need.
While you’re at it, grab the spray or disinfectant wipes and give your desk a good clean. Once you’ve put in the effort to give your desk a thorough clean and tidy why not keep it up and make it a habit? At the end of every day clear away any dirty coffee cups and plates, as well as any wrappers and unneeded paperwork or notes. Set your desk up for a fresh start to a new day.
File and Label
While we’re all living with less paper at work, it’s inevitable that you have documents that will need to be filed. Keeping on top of your filing is a tricky one, we all know it needs to be done but we’re often too busy to do it properly. Take this moment, before you jump in to your new year of work, to catch up on filing so that you can start the year fresh.
We all have our own favourite method of filing, so choose yours and get going. One thing you’ll definitely need when filing is labels, take those few extra minutes to properly label your files, future you will thank you.
Proper Drawer Organisation
One of the most useful, and most commonly overlooked office accessories is the humble drawer organiser, a vital piece of equipment to keep your stationery in order and at easy reach. Handy dividers create designated spots for your essentials like paperclips, staples and thumb tacks as well as sticky notes and your all-important calculator.
Organise Those Emails
When cleaning and clearing your physical surroundings it’s important to remember your digital workspace too. Start with deleting junk mail, it’ll feel so good to see that number of unopened emails going down and this is an easy place to start. Next it’s time to get filing, anything you need to keep, file it away in an appropriately labelled file. Then…delete the rest, there’s no point going in to 2019 with old, no longer relevant emails from the past. Let it all go.
Reduce Distractions
The modern office is full of obvious distractions, annoyances like ringing phones and chatty co-workers are impossible to avoid, but there are some distractions you can take control of. Take a quick look around your desk, are there any tempting distractions that are detrimental to your productivity? Your mobile phone could be a culprit, as could any magazines you might have lying around.
Try keeping your phone on silent, or tucked away in your bag or drawer to give you some uninterrupted time, and tuck any magazines away in a drawer. As for those chatty co-workers, try popping on some headphones and see if that keeps them away, headphones should let your co-workers know that you’re focused and don’t want to be disturbed right now.
Start 2019 on the right foot and give yourself the best chance to stay focused and organised with the right tools within reach. You’ll save yourself a tonne of time and your productivity will soar, just what you need to shake off the back-to-work blues.
No products were found with the applied settings
