Crush the Clutter: Tips on Clearing Your Desk for the New Year

As we welcome the New Year, let’s say goodbye to the old disorganized desk and make your workplace a way to kick start a more productive you.

Check your environment and evaluate your workspace. Is everything organized to cater to productivity? If you are in a cubicle, see if things are contributing to your workflow or not. If yes, leave them be. After all, why fix something that isn’t broken? If not, move things around for a fresh start. Add things that inspire you and get rid of things that bog you down.

Do a bit of spring cleaning, even if strictly speaking it’s not even spring yet. Bring out those wet wipes and screen cleaners, feather dusters, and disinfectant sprays. Not only will getting rid of dust bunnies and other accumulated dirt physically clear your desk – it may even help you work better. Some people have allergies and not even realize it. If you keep sneezing, or if you notice you get the sniffles only when you’re at work, it’s probably the case. Try to resolve doing this once a week, or maybe once every two weeks if you think that’s better for your schedule.

Get rid of any unnecessary papers on your desk. Some of these might be from training sessions or various meetings. It may take some time, but sift through them and see which ones are worth keeping. Anything else goes to the recycling bin! Also check other stationery materials: pens which have dried ink, used up pencils, and any writing utensils that no longer work. Check for rusty staples and staplers, malfunctioning tape dispensers, used up rolls of tape, etc. Toss broken paperclips and rubber bands, bent folder clips, and anything else that is no longer useful.

You know the one – the catch-all drawer where you seem to chuck random things that somehow don’t fit elsewhere? Take a look inside and see what you can get rid of. You don’t need to throw everything away, but same as the clutter on your desk there will be unseen clutter that also needs to go.

Clear your email folders! Don’t be that email packrat that hoards every single email – only keep the necessary ones as these take up space (especially if your company is strict on email bandwidth). A good tip moving forward is to utilize your mail software’s ruling system. Also try to do a quick search for any old emails as well as those that exceed a few megabytes worth of attachments.

These tips should be enough to get you back into gear and into a more productive 2016!