How to Organize Your Desk

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By Juliet du Preez

Are you sitting at your desk, staring out over a landscape of papers and books? Chances are you’re wishing it would tidy itself. Unfortunately that won’t happen. Perhaps you are wondering if it really matters whether your desk is tidy or not.

I’m afraid to say that it does.

When you are working, you don’t want distractions. Trying to find a crucial piece of paper which is hidden somewhere under a mound of paper is not the type of interruption that helps efficiency.

Another benefit comes from the fact that your surroundings do have an influence on you. If your work area is tidy and neat, you’ll feel more in control of things and capable. Yes, a clean desk is important.

But, before we start tidying, think: What is behind a clean desk?

No, not a big cupboard where you can dump everything. The answer is: a system. Or, to put it less formally: a place for everything.

So, that means bookshelves, filing systems, specific cupboards for specific things etc. I’m afraid that, if this doesn’t exist, you have some work to do. That however, is a task for another article.

OK, now you’ll learn how to organize your desk…

How to Organize Your Desk in Five Steps

Start with what’s easy. Achievement is motivating and if you can make a bit of space to see the surface of your desk, it will give you hope.

So, things like books that can return to a shelf, cups that can be deposited in the kitchen; hairbrush that belongs in the bedroom etc.

2. Messy Things

This means: papers.

It’s stuff you have to sort through and decide where it goes.

Often it is tempting to gather this into a neat little (or big) stack and place it on the back corner of your desk.

I find that the answer is to pick it up as it is, and put it on the floor.

Reasoning? If it is on your desk, it may not be pleasant to look at, but you can live with it. If it is all over the floor, it is inconvenient.

This will get you going. Then you can put it into ordered piles and file it, throw it away or use it as scrap paper.

Here we also hit those “difficult things”. These are the “things without places”. Unfortunately the only solution is to create a place for them.

That place, by the way, is not your in-tray.

3. What Should Be There

Now your desk should be looking a little more, well, like a desk again. It’s just that now you have tidied up, you may find that there are some things missing.

For example, sometimes I go and make notes or edit work in other rooms in the house (I work from home). When I do this, a pencil travels with me. Most times, when I return to the desk, the pencil doesn’t.

Now is the time to make sure that all of the stationary that you require is on your desk or accessible.

What else do you want there and it isn’t in sight?

4. A Clean Desk

Here I am not referring to a desk without clutter, I mean physically clean.

Wipe off the eraser chips, dust the parts of your desk that haven’t seen daylight for a while; get out the cleaner and remove the coffee stains. Empty the rubbish bin.

5. When and How Often

Make time for a regular desk-tidy.

A good time is at the end of the day. It sort of symbolizes the end of work and also prepares you for a clean fresh start the next time you sit at your desk.

So, put it into your schedule.

Another useful time is when you have completed a task and before moving on to the next one.

You may need a little bit of a break and something mundane like a desk sweep can do the trick. Then you also start with a clean slate.

There, all done, and not so difficult to do hay?

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