Desk Organizing Tips That Will Make You More Productive!

Living clutter free involves decluttering every area of your life.  One area that is often overlooked is your desk.  To truly live clutter free, decluttering your desk should not be overlooked.  Many people dream of having a clutter free desk; however, the task seems overwhelming.  The simple truth is that a desk filled with clutter can actually decrease your productivity.  For most people the task of decluttering their desk or work area gets pushed aside and the piles of papers continue to get larger and more unwieldy.  Lets face it, something must be done.  This article will take you step by step through desk organizing tips that will make organizing a desk simple.

There are many desk organizing tips you can find if you search the internet.  However, good organizing tips will suggest you start out by breaking your project down into manageable chunks of time.  This is because you will probably not be able to accomplish the entire task at one sitting unless you have an open-ended schedule.  For this reason concentrating on specific tasks is advisable.  For example, on Monday concentrate on the desktop; on Tuesday work on the desk drawers; Wednesday tackle the filing cabinet.  These simple desk organizing tips alone will go a long way in getting you started on decluttering your desk.

Desk Organizing Tips -  The First Step

The first task is to collect anything that does not belong on your desktop and put it in your “In Box”.  This means gathering anything that is:

  • Out-of-date or broken items.
    • Examples: Old reference materials such as computer manuals or a broken stapler.
  • Unfinished items:
    • Examples: That brochure you started to develop five years ago, by now it is old information.
  • Potential action items:
    • Items that require input from you or input from someone else.

Desk Organizing Tips – The Famous “In Box”

This is going to be the only time you will have permission to let your “In Box” grow exponentially. For the time being, it will not matter how large your “In Box” becomes.  Your main goal is to sort through every item on your desk.

If you have something that is too large to place in the “In Box”, write the name of the object and the date on a piece of paper and put that paper into the “In Box”.  If you don’t have room in your “In Box” for the initial collection phase just use an additional cardboard box.  It is important to use a cardboard box so you will not be tempted to create additional piles on your desk.

Do not leave one inch of your desktop untouched.  Every piece of paper, in every pile must be sorted.  Of course some items will be trash, so just go ahead a trash them, no need to handle pieces of trash twice.  Additionally, take note of any equipment that needs to be replaced or fixed such as a broken tape dispenser or updating your phone; make a note of this and place the note in your “In Box”.

Desk Organizing Tips – Don’t Forget the Desk Drawers

Once you have addressed every single pile on your desktop, it’s time to get the clutter out of your desk drawers.  Depending on how much time you have available, you may be able to tackle your desk drawers now or you may need to wait for another day.   Look for stray pieces of paper that may be actionable items, put these items into your “In Box” or write a note about them and put that into the “In Box”.

Depending on the state of your drawers, you may be able to use this time to clean and organize your drawers without much having to go into your “In Box”.  However, don’t waste this opportunity to get rid of broken and old equipment as well as addressing all actionable items.

Desk Organizing Tips – Process, Process, Process

By now you should have an “In Box” with tons of stuff that you will need to take care of.  If it needs to go in a file, file it.  If you need to take action on it, take action.  If it needs to be moved to another area of your house, move it.  It won’t be long before you have processed every “In Box” item.

By following these desk organizing tips you will not only accomplish the task of decluttering your desk, you will improve your productivity, think more clearly and be able to keep your focus for longer periods of time.