Desk Organization Ideas That Will Boost Your Productivity

by Smith Willas, Guest Contributor

The desk at your workplace or home is the place where you want to stay focused to complete a work. You know your desk can hamper your productivity when it is a mess. A cluttered desk makes you get tired soon. On the other hand, a clean desk helps you stay focused on what you are doing. It helps you increase your productivity. 
​
Start following the tips mentioned below if you are tired of your having a look at your messy desk:

---

---

Start with an audit 
The best way to decrease the disorganization and desk clutter is to reduce the number of items placed at your desk and organise all of them properly. Have a close look at each single item available in your office or at your desk before you start organizing them. Categorize them into several piles (Keep, Donate, and Recycle). For every item, think about whether it is useful or not. Take decision fast and wisely.

Before you rearrange anything, take a good look at every single item that’s currently present in your office. Then sort them into different piles (Donate, Keep, and Trash/Recycle typically cover most people’s needs). For each item, consider whether or not you actually use it and if it enhances your work or life in any way. Make decisions as quickly as possible; if you get stuck on an item, move onto the next one and come back to it later. 

Use labels or stickers to name files 
Do you face problems in finding particular files when you need them? Get rid of them by using custom labels. Get your personalized labels designed and printed and use the same to label your office items, wires, chargers, bookshelves, paper organizers, and cabinet shelving. Place the items at the appropriate place you have decided for them. 

Minimize papers 
Papers are one of the worst offenders to office clutter. Therefore, it is crucial for you to have control over magazines, mails, bills, and allied documents. Think of recycling paper documents that you don’t need in the future. Besides, you can digitize important documents to get rid of hard copies. You can have paper trays to keep your essential documents organized. 

Mark everything you need for doing your work 
Your marker is the best friend for you. With it, you can mark your frequent used office items. You can easily find them when you need them in your work. By marking your office drawers and cabinets, you will save your time and limit your number of breaks that you usually take for organizing your office stuff. 

Get rid of tidy wires and chargers 
The wires that are lied on the floor create a visual clutter to your desk at the workplace or home. It can cause detracts to the overall aesthetic look of your workplace. Begin with untangling wires. After that, hold the excess wire together with the support of binder clips to prevent tangles in the future. In the next step, decide about the appropriate storage solutions. Keep the binder-clipped and labeled chargers in the same place. Keep the wires off the floor by securing them to the underside of your desk. 

Take advantage of the wall space 
Using your wall for storage is like gaining a new room. Free up space on the floor and your desk by placing many possible items to the wall storage. Here are some useful tips for your support: 

• Utilize a pegboard to stock often used office accessories like tape and scissors 
• Install a hanging storage bin to store staples, thumbtacks, rubber bands, etc. 
• Hang a wall calendar instead of keeping the calendar on the desk 
• Utilize a corkboard to store the documents that need your attention 
• Install coat hangers to hang your sweaters/jackets to avoid placing the same on office chairs 

Enlarge your desk space 
It doesn’t matter what is the size of your desk, you can enlarge the space amount at your desk with a few easy tweaks. For instance, think about placing a rolling cart for holding often-used paper files, planners, notepads, and more. For this, you do not need to find room on the top of your desk. 

Use overhead lighting instead of a desktop lamp 
Give a new look to your desktop or laptop monitor with a compact desktop shelf. With this, you will have storage space beneath the shelf and functional design to your workstation (desk). You can think about the installation of under-shelf storage option or under-shelf basket if you feel a lack of storage space. 

After the implementation of these ideas, you will face challenges to keep your desk clutter-free or organized. The best option for you is that you should deal with the papers and allied items at times they come to you. After doing the associated tasks, keep them aside and organized. 

Conclusion 
You can stay focused on your task and improve your productivity by doing a complete makeover of your desk. Apart from the ideas mentioned above, you can use your mind to make your desk clutter-free to give it a new and organized look.

---