Draft one of your presentation is still on your desk and you haven’t needed it in weeks, but “parting paralysis” takes over and now you can’t find the notes you need for your upcoming meeting! Sound familiar? Hoarding doesn’t just happen at home, it happens at work as well.
You can tell yourself all you want that your desk is an organized chaos and you know where everything is, but I’m going to call B.S. on that!
Fact: When your work-space is a mess, your brain cannot function at 100% because it’s busy trying to make sense of your surroundings.
Fact: Your clutter is actually triggering your brain into thinking there is extra work to do. And we’re all about working smart, right?
While there are a million and one tricks to keep your work-space calm and clutter free, I’m going to share my 3 favorites! And they may seem like “duh” moments, but hear me out.
Go Paperless as much as you can
I know it’s easy to print something off an make your edits, and you think you are saving time by not having to type comments or red-line a document. However, the opposite is true. You are really making more work for you and your team. When you edit on paper there is only one copy. If you lose that copy you’ll have to start from ground zero.
Your handwriting is not as easy to read as you think. And someone is going to have to turn those edits. How many back and forth emails will it take to crack your code?
No paper, no clutter! if you haven’t printed drafts 1-100 out, you won’t need to sift through paper mountains to find your favorite pen!
Wipe down your work-space
Even if you’re lucky enough to have someone who cleans your office weekly, they can’t clean under clutter! Make it a routine to wipe down your desk, keyboard, monitors and chair every Friday. Not only will you have to remove everything from your desk to do this (which will most likely prompt you to feed your trashcan), you will have a clean desk to come to on Monday morning!
Invest in nice things
You may not think a rose gold pencil holder and matching desk file is worth the cost when you can get the basic black for 1/2 the price. But when you have things you like, you are more likely to keep the entire area looking nice. I spent extra money to get white monitors and and a matching desk set. I even hung paintings in my office and bought rose gold pens. I love my work-space and want to keep it tidy! If you don’t have the money to get a matching desk set, that’s okay too, bring one or two of your favorite things from home! The more you like a space, the better care you will give it. So INVEST in YOU and upgrade your space!
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