Regardless of how solid our determination or how hard we work, we are all products of our environment. If we are constantly working in cluttered, disorganized spaces, it will have a cluttering and disorganizing effect on how we think and how we work. To improve your productivity, here are ten desk and office organization ideas:
- Do a Large Deep Clean
- Rearrange Your Desk
- Hide & Organize Your Wires
- Get Yourself a Labeler
- Create Office Work Zones
- Focus on Simplicity and Comfort
- Surround Yourself with Motivation
- Reconsider How You File
- Get a Bigger Trash Can
- Use Your Walls
Keep reading to see how how to use these tips for how to organize your office and desk.
1. Do a Large Deep Clean
To organize your office, you want to do things that are going to make it look good, feel comfortable, and overall improve productivity.
The first step is to clear out the old. Whether you handle this yourself or hire a professional organizer is up to you. But if you are committed to optimizing your office space for productivity, the first step is clearing out the clutter. That means emptying all cabinets that have been building up for months or years. It also means throwing away anything you don’t use and moving items you seldom use into storage or other parts of the office that take up less space.
When it comes to office organization ideas, there are few more rewarding than a deep clean. It may not sound like fun but you’ll be glad you did it!
2. Rearrange Your Desk
A clean and organized desk says a lot about how you work and how you think. If you went into a lawyer’s office and found papers messily spread across his desk, how would that make you feel? Would you be confident in his abilities? We doubt it. But aside from the image aspect of a messy desk, disorganization can also impede your productivity.
Buy a few organization products, like plastic or metal paper holders or containers for your writing utensils, and put everything on your desk in its proper place. If there is something on your desk that you don’t use often, remove it. You should try and keep your desk as minimal as possible.
Need easy access so something but don’t want it on your desk? Consider other storage solutions like filing cabinets, cupboards, or carts.
3. Hide & Organize Your Wires
An easy office organization idea is to hide and organize your wires. An office or desk with a lot of exposed wires adds a cluttered feeling that does not promote productivity.
There are a variety of things you can do to minimize the appearance of wires in your office, from wrapping and zip-tying them to taping them underneath your desk. Aside from potentially helping your work, reducing the number of exposed wires in your office will also improve its overall appearance.
Below are some wire organization ideas, including homemade methods including paper/binder clips and bread bag tags.
4. Get Yourself a Labeler
A simple office organization idea you can take advantage of is to create and add labels. While this may seem a bit too fastidious for some, it is a genuinely useful practice. Especially when you are dealing with many different clients and many different types of files.
You don’t need to go overboard and start creating labels that say “stapler” and “computer.” But labeling certain file cabinets and other uniform office items can help both you and your subordinates stay on the same page.
5. Create Office Work Zones
Depending on the type of work you do, there are various ways you can segment your office space into “zones.”
One popular method is breaking it into two sections, one for computer-related work and the other for non-computer related work. You can, for example, do your computer work while seated at your desk and then move to another area to do written work.
If you have enough room in your office, another one of our office organization ideas is to include a standing desk. If your office space is not quite that large, you can use one of the chairs across from your desk. Just work normally while you are doing computer work. Then, when you need to make phone calls or do non-computer related tasks, move to the other side of your desk. This may sound strange at first, but give it a try and see how it works for you.
6. Focus on Simplicity and Comfort
While it may be tempting, especially if you have a large office, to decorate it with chandeliers and gold trim. You are far better off going with simplicity and comfort. That does not mean your office space can’t be well-appointed. It should just be done so in a minimalist way.
Remember, the first and most important function of your office is always to optimize your work. Not merely to look good.
7. Surround Yourself with Motivation
When it comes to office organization ideas, this one may seem opposed to our last tip, but including some motivation and beauty in your office is just as important when it comes to productivity.
What we mean by motivation includes anything from a picture of your family to several of your favorite books on your shelf that you can reach for and review from time to time. You can even include artwork of your favorite entrepreneur’s motivational quotes. Having quotes on your wall might seem tacky to some. If you feel that way, keep a framed quote in your drawer or some other place where you can see it every day but where it’s not prominently displayed.
8. Reconsider How You File
If you never put conscious thought into how you file things then, odds are you are not filing in an optimum way. Old dogs can learn new tricks—so, even if you’ve been filing in a wrong or unconscious way for years, there are no reasons you can’t change your ways!
While there are many different approaches you can take, one simple approach includes creating a “meeting”, “in progress”, “reading”, and “archive” folder. Here’s how you can break it down:
Meeting Folder
Be prepared for work meetings by using a meeting folder to store papers outlining meeting goals, agendas, and other materials.
In Progress Folder
When you have multiple projects going on, it can be difficult to remember what you should be following up on and when. Keeping an “In Progress” folder and checking it often can help you do just that.
Reading Folder
As the name suggests, this folder can include documents that need to be reviewed (after which it can be moved to the In Progress or Archive folders).
Archive Folder
An archive folder is not a trash can. If you are certain that you are not going to need some particular document again, you should throw it away. If you are uncertain, then stick it in your archive folder. Ideally, you should go through your archive folder a few times a year (or, at least, once) to empty it of any unnecessary items.
9. Get a Bigger Trash Can
One of the simplest office organization ideas you can use is to get a bigger, more prominent, trash can. This can serve as a reminder for you to throw things away that you do not need.
In today’s day and age, there are fewer and fewer office materials that need to exist in physical, paper form. If what you are holding can be scanned and digitized, then you should do so and forget about the paper copy—in most cases, it is just taking up space.
10. Use Your Walls
If you are not using your office’s wall space, consider hanging shelves or other storage items from them. Your walls offer a lot of great space that can free up room elsewhere in your office.
You can even buy a magic eraser marker made specifically for writing on walls and write out your most important tasks and projects for you to be able to quickly reference. If writing on your walls seems like a bad idea, you can also invest in something like a whiteboard.
So there you have it! Those are 10 office organization ideas you can take advantage of today to help you and your coworkers become more productive this year.
Do you have any other tips for how to organize your office or desk?
