We’ll show you how to organize your desk in five easy steps. We also reveal the best tools for organizing.
Office, home office or study place: For many, the desk is part of everyday life. To ensure that the working day runs as smoothly as possible, an organized workplace is an important prerequisite. Does your desk look like a battlefield? Don’t worry, that will change quickly!
Why should you have your desk organized? A tidy workplace helps you to find things faster and saves time! Also, so many possibilities for distraction disappear, so that you can work more concentrated. And if you work in the office or even have customer contact, this often creates a positive impression on others.
Clean Desk: absolutely or rather not?
The Clean Desk Policy (CDP) is practiced in some companies. This means that the desk organization is based on a standardized system and the workplace has to be tidied up every evening, e.g. B. no more documents may be open on it. Depending on the company, personal items such as photos or decorations are also not welcome. This can have advantages and disadvantages, as the work psychologist Christa Schirl told the magazine karriere.at explains: On the one hand, it simplifies routine procedures that are carried out throughout the day by different people who may be working under time pressure, such as in hospitals. And a tidy desk is also an advantage in some sectors, e.g. B. in banks, which benefit from a serious impression on the customer.
On the other hand, however, individuality can be lost and creative people in particular sometimes simply need their creative chaos in order to be able to work. You decide for yourself whether you need a total clean desk or whether you just need a certain basic order! We will show you step-by-step how best to proceed at the beginning.
Organize your desk in 5 steps
1. Clean out
It doesn’t help anything: In order to create order, you should first clear out a lot! The used coffee mug is best kept in the kitchen, the outdated notes go into the wastepaper basket and all the unnecessary odds and ends are thrown out. Gradually take all the documents and objects on your desk and ask yourself whether you really need them to work.
Reading tip: By the way, you can find the retention periods for private individuals here.
2. Get an overview
Then you get an overview. What work materials do you still have and how can they best be organized? The tidying queen Marie Kondo proceeds according to categories in her tidiness actions. So instead of room by room, go through all the books first, then all the folders, etc. Maybe this method will help you to get a little structure on your desk. For example, first look at the folders, then the loose documents, then other work materials…
3. Order
That’s where the ordering comes in! To ensure that everything doesn’t just fly randomly over the desk or disappear under documents, a number of tools have proven their worth. In addition to the classic folders and storage compartments, you can standing folder, wall organizer and utensil organizer To fall back on.
4. Fixed places
If certain things have their fixed places, this makes routine work easier for you. Don’t forget to include the work materials you need in the new order. Do you make a lot of video calls and always use headphones? Then assign them a permanent place!
5. Maintain condition
Now the most difficult point: Keep order. So after the video call, put the headphones back in their original place, put the pens in the organizer and take the coffee mug with you the next time you go to the kitchen…
Desk organization ideas
To ensure that the structure introduced is retained, you can fall back on any number of classification systems. Here you can find some ideas:
Notebook
Here a sticky note with a callback number, there a scrap of paper with to-dos? get one Notebook, in which you can write down quick memos when making calls etc. In addition, you can create a bullet journal with which you can plan your days and weeks exactly and never miss an appointment again.
memo board
on one memo board or a blackboard, you can keep an eye on the most important tasks or documents! After completion, the to-dos should of course be canceled immediately!
storage compartments
Sounds old-fashioned, but can be very useful depending on the activity! For example, if you have a lot of appointments or a regular inbox with to-dos, they will support you subjects in the overview. Depending on which system makes sense for your job, you can use it e.g. For example, mark urgent, next week, and done.
wall organizer
You don’t have a mobile container, but also no space? wall organizer are then a good compromise! This way you don’t fill up your desk and use space that would otherwise remain unused. This is where all the little things that are not used that often disappear.
utensil organizer
You need the pen every two minutes, just like the scissors and paperclips? in one organisers everything is within easy reach. You can get a desk organizer in various designs, from small metal pen holders to larger boxes with an integrated mailbox.
DIY organizer
You can also make some of the practical organizers yourself or use objects for other purposes.
You can find out how to make a pin board yourself here. You can also find more decoration and DIY ideas for the apartment at Pinterest!
More tips for the workplace
lighting
For working on the PC and desk is the optimal one lighting a must! If you work from home, the table should be at a 90-degree angle to the window. So you should neither face the front nor sit with your back to the window. The side light is better because it doesn’t shine directly in your face and blind you. In addition, there is no annoying reflection of the sun from behind.
decoration
If you (or your company) aren’t an advocate of the Clean Desk Policy, you can treat yourself to some feel-good deco! Maybe a photo of your family or motivational quotes will make you happy at work.
plant
Plants on the desk are said to increase productivity, improve cognitive perception and also air quality.
waste paper bin
Usually common in companies: one for each or a group of employees waste paper bin to provide. Even in the home office, it can make sense to bring a basket to the workplace. If you have a lot of materials or paperwork to work with, this will prevent you from accumulating unnecessary mountains of paper.
interruptions
Always privately on the cell phone? Does a tone pop up with every incoming mail that takes you out? Try to organize your desk and yourself in such a way that you have as few interruptions as possible. Of course, this is not 100% possible, but such time wasters can definitely be reduced. First find out what is taking your attention unnecessarily. Is it the smartphone that beeps with every Instagram comment? Mute it and put it far enough away that you don’t automatically reach for it all the time.
self-organisation
The best workplace is of little use if the self-organization is not right. How you do this depends on your individual day, your job and your preferred work-life balance.
What can help you are e.g. B. Time management methods. When it comes to projects or specific tasks, you use the timeboxing method to set a goal and a time frame and block time in your calendar for it. An all-encompassing concept that also includes your other areas of life is the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. What is behind it and how you proceed, we will tell you in the article about GTD.
Sources used: karriere.at, t3n.de