How to organise your office this spring

No matter whether you work in a corporate office or home office, your workspace should reflect the way you want to work and succeed.

The more clutter there is on your desk, the more unproductive you will be, so make sure your office is clean, declutter and organised using these tips:

You should make sure you avoid distractions around the office, keeping them to a minimum when you work around your desk. This means you need to avoid personal clutter, as it will keep your attention divided between your work and your personal life. For example, have 1 or 2 frames of your family and minimise the amount of cuddly toys you have on your desk area. Keeping less personal decorations means your desk will be less cluttered and easier to keep clean as well.

Rid yourself of any possible paperwork you have lying around your office space, placing it in folders and organising it in a proper drawer instead of letting it pile up on your desk. Make sure you go through the paperwork once a week organising it and figuring out what you need and what could simply be shredded or filed away. Having a good filing system is necessary to keep things organised, especially if you still use paper around the office. Before you decide to print something out you should decide whether you really need to or if you can avoid it entirely.

Organise your computer, keeping them free of digital clutter as well, organising apps and files into proper folders. This will allow you to stay focused for what you need to do in the future and without making things more difficult than they need to be. Simply file away and trash what you really don’t need, never letting your desktop get buried under pointless documents and empty folders.

Make a system in your office space and stick to it as much as you can. Once you do that you will have a much easier time with the rest of your job.

Make sure you have all your work and office supplies neatly organised and stored on your desk, possibly keeping your things in a drawer nearby instead of on your desk. This will allow you to keep things planned and organised with greater efficiency instead of making a mess out of everything. They will be near you for when you need them, but not in the way of your work. If you have too many stationery items or duplicates, put them back in the stationery cupboard.

Remove all the junk from your office and desk area. Get a bin and start throwing away everything that is taking up space, slowing down your work process and is not used every.

Stop having lunch in your office. Remember that stubborn stain that the cleaners had so much trouble with? That might be a result from all of your lunching inside the office and wiping your hands on whatever you can reach. Your office is for work. Eat somewhere else.

Organise your desk clearing the surface of your desk and start putting things in order without piling anything on it except what you have to deal with it at that time. Have separate inboxes for different documentation that needs your attention.

Linked to the above point, before you leave for the day, declutter and organise your desk. Get rid of those post it notes with scribbles on them, throw the food wrappers away, and similar. In the morning take the papers and files you will need for the day out of the inbox/pending tray and take your equipment out ready to start the day in an organised manner.  Having a clutter free desk, will help you think clearly and produce better results. Also it will reduce the amount of time you spend searching for items.

With these simple tips, your office space can look much better than it currently does, not to mention that it should boost your productivity.

About the authour:

Shelina Jokhiya, Founder of Decluttr Me.