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We all know just how important the organization is for us. Whether it is for our workplace or our personal lives, we cannot deny its importance. But for many of us, organizing our stuff is a struggle that we have to deal with on a daily basis. We have a pile of papers piled on our desks, in addition to empty coffee mugs, post-it notes, and all types of odds and ends littering out tables.
Our inboxes fill up with emails that just don’t seem to end and no matter how much we try to reach inbox zero, we keep getting farther away from it. This is especially the case when we are so focused on one project that we forget to pay attention to all the other stuff that we have to do and that includes tidiness.
We are so engrossed with the projects that we either neglect organization altogether or we decide that we will do it later. And we all know that the ‘later’ never comes. Hence our desks look like a highway pileup of a couple of dozen cars. Keeping our stuff organized through storage solutions and other factors is the key to productivity.
If we keep our workplaces clean, we can easily enhance our performance and increase our productivity.
Why You Should Keep Your Workspace Organized?
There are a number of reasons why you should strive to keep your desks clean and clutter-free. If you don’t do that you will have to face a lot of problems that will hamper you and stop you from reaching your full potential. Many times people are not promoted because the management thinks that they will not be able to handle the stress of the managerial position since they are not organized.
Here’s what happens when you don’t organize your stuff:
- You add stress to your already hectic life as you are not able to find the things that you need when you need them.
- You are not as productive as you thought you could be. You waste precious time looking for files or anything else that you need.
- You are always distracted. A cluttered desk means that while you are trying to focus on one project, other things keep coming in the way.
- You might fall ill from the stress of it all or from the bacteria and germs that have been piling up on your desk due to the clutter.
How can You Keep your desk Organized?
There are a few easy steps that can help you stay as organized as you want and make sure that nothing stops you from reaching your potential and completing all your tasks on time, every time. Follow these tips and keep yourself in the right mindset.
Organize Your Brain
Before you start working on your desk or your workplace or your office, you first have to start with the man in the mirror. Yes, that’s right! You have to start with yourself.
Get Enough Sleep
The thing that probably affects our work the most is our sleep. Depriving ourselves of the proper sleep makes sure that your potential decreases and we are fatigued and tired when we reach the office. The more sleep we lose, the more we are distracted at work.
Make sure that you get 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night so that you are fresh and ready to go in the morning. Also, consider taking power naps during work in the afternoon. This will help you refresh and reenergize yourself and you can work for longer and with better concentration.
Don’t Multitask
Although, most of us think that if they are multitasking, they are doing more work in less time alas, the truth is far from it. When we switch between tasks, we are actually slowing our brain functions down.
We are also sacrificing our judgment as we become unable to fully focus on any of the multiple tasks that we have at hand. Another thing that happens is that our brain releases ‘cortisol’, the stress hormone and it clouds our judgment. This severely hampers our ability to make sound decisions and concentrate.
Take Breaks
If we think that we are doing good work by working nonstop for hours then we are in for a rude awakening. Our body wants breaks. We have to refresh our minds as well as give our bodies the proper stretching and exercise if we want to stay fresh and focused. These breaks can by anything from a coffee break to a walk around the office. Let your mind take a nap so that it can revitalize itself.
Organize Your Time
Now that we know how to organize our thoughts and our work pattern, let’s take a look at how we can organize our time:
Start with Goals
To organize your time, the first thing that you have to do is to clearly identify and write down your goals. This will help you find out just how much of your time and energy you need to put into each task.
If you don’t know your goals you might overshoot it or you might fall short and then increase your level of stress. These goals can be daily or weekly goals. If you are working on a big project, make a big goal and then create short term goals that all lead up to it.
Outline Your Priority
When you outline your goals, you will be able to prioritize your work. Knowing which task is more important and which one is not can help you accomplish your goals in time and move forward in an organized fashion.
Get Rid of the Non-Essentials
Often we have a lot of stuff on our tables that we absolutely do not need. All the clutter that we have on our desks just adds to our distractions. This will decrease the functionality and productivity of your workspace. If there is a lot of stuff on your desk, consider storing it all in a place that you can get to later if you want it.
Conclusion
Here are some of the tips that you can use to make sure that your desk is completely organized and that instead of decreasing your productivity, you actually get to increase it and complete more work in less time.
One of the worst things that affect you and your organizational skills is a heap of paper on your desk. You need to come up with a filing system that you can use to organize the papers on your desk. Make sure that all the papers you don’t need to go to the trash so that you can effectively manage the papers that you do need.
