How To Organise Your Desk: 13 Tips for an Organised Desk

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An organised desk sets the tone for a functional and productive working environment. If you’ve been having trouble working in your office space, chances are, the deficiency in concentration or productivity may be due to a disorganised and cluttered environment.

If you’re looking for ways to organise your desk to maximise workplace functionality, Epic Office Furniture have got you covered with their range of office accessories.

Australia’s leading supplier of office, chair and desk accessories, Epic Office Furniture offer an extensive range of desk, classroom and office enhancements to improve every type of working environment. Tidying up your desk and actually implementing fool-proof organisational practices are two different things. While it may seem simple enough, organising your desk can be a daunting and frustrating task. If you want to make the most out of each working day, you need to maximise the space you’ve got and organise your desk for functionality, flexibility and optimal productivity.

Epic Office Furniture have put together 13 tips for an organised desk. Whether you’re organising home office spaces or need to tidy up your diskspace at work – we’ve got you covered. Without further ado, here’s our guide on how to organise your office:

How to Organise Your Desk Space:

1. Optimise Your Layout

The first step to organising any desk is to consider the layout. Your monitor or laptop screen should be directly in front of your face, with your eyes aligning with the top third of the screen. Your screen should be about 45-50cm away from your face.

In order to optimise your layout, you need to consider how you work. All of your most-used items should be on your dominant side; preventing the need for you to reach over at any point. Have all of your most-used items handy, so you don’t have to go looking for them every time they’re required.

2. Do A Purge 

If you’re starting with disorganised desk space, it’s important to do a purge before you do anything else. Get rid of anything that you do not need or have not used in more than a few months. If you do it right the first time, you’ll make organising your desk and keeping it organised so much easier.

3. Clean as You Go

One of the best tips for organising your desk is to get into the habit of tidying up as you go. If you’ve just taken out your stapler, but no longer need it, put it back immediately. Need to access some files? Get them out, take what you need, and simply file them back as soon as you’re done. Adopting the habit of cleaning as you go will be a lifesaver when it comes to keeping your desk organised.

4. Lay off the Sticky Notes

If there’s one thing that prevents an organised office space, it’s clutter. Sticky notes and little reminders may be helpful for keeping notices and staying on track with reminders; however, too many of them will do the opposite. Moderation is vital when it comes to sticky notes – use them as short term reminders, but as soon as you’ve ticked off a task, get rid of them to organise your desk.

5. Select A Few Personal Knick Knacks

Your personal items can also contribute to unnecessary clutter on your desk. If you want to organise your desk, you need to choose just a few personal kick knacks to display. Person mementos are lovely, but too many will only provide distractions throughout the day.

6. Have Just One Notepad

One way to organise your desk is to make it as functional as possible. If you’re in a position where you frequently need to make or take notes, keep a notepad handy at all times – but, just keep one! Too many office workers write notes on various pads, notebooks and sticky notes; making the whole functionality of a note system entirely redundant.

7. Prioritise Your Tasks 

At your desk, prioritise your tasks to encourage a productive workflow each day. By prioritising each of your tasks, you’re addressing the most important things you need to do, before getting onto the least important. This takes the stress out of your leaving tasks to the last minute, getting the most urgent and essential things completed first. Prioritise your workflow and tasks each day into:

  • Most urgent
  • Not urgent but important
  • Non-urgent and not that important

8. Organise Your Desktop Too

In today’s digital age, most office and desk workers will spend most of their time looking at a screen. If you really want to organise your desk, take it one step further by ensuring that your desktop is organised too. File documents, spreadsheets and notes correctly; ensuring your background or home screen is not cluttered with random bits and bobs of work.  

9. Have A Drawer for Personal Items 

The items that you bring in every day – your phone, wallet, keys etc. – will clutter up your desk. By creating a dedicated area for these items in a desk drawer or similar, you’ll not only free up desk space, but you’ll also never have any trouble locating these important personal items when you’re coming and going from the office.

10. Keep Your Inbox Under Control

A key aspect of organising your office for productivity is ensuring that you have everything under control – including your inbox. An inbox overflowing with junk, important and unread emails is conducive to an unproductive environment. It’s almost impossible to get anything done if you constantly have to look at an absurd number of emails in your inbox. Even if you’ve got thousands to go through – sort through them and unsubscribe from any unnecessary marketing emails, you’ll be better for it.

11. Have A Filing System 

If you work in an environment that relies on physical documents and paper, implement a filing system and stick to it. Even if you just have a few critical documents that you regularly need to refer back to, securely file them so you, and anyone else who needs them, always know where to find them. A high quality filing cabinet can do wonders for your organisational efforts in the office.

12. File Papers Right Away

For your filing system to continue being effective, organise your desk and office by filing papers right away. Once you’re done with a file or have scanned it onto your computer, do not leave it on your desk. Put it right back into the filing system, under the correct name, letter or number.

13. Tidy Your Desk After Each Day

The easy part of organising your desk is making it tidy – the hard part is actually sticking to it and keeping it tidy. One of the best ways to effectively organise your desk and keep it organised is to tidy it up after each day. That way, you’ll come into work each morning with a clear desk and a clear mind – the perfect environment for a productive workday.  

Keep Your Office Organised with Epic Office Furniture

Well, there you have it: our top 13 tips for an organised desk and an organised office. Implementing these actionable tips will not only provide a fresh, tidy desk; but will also help you to create positive working habits that enhance your day-to-day work activities.

If you’re not sure where to start on how to organise your office, start with some fantastic office accessories that encourage tidiness, organisation and productivity at work. Epic Office Furniture, the experts in organisation, offer an exclusive range of office furniture, work and classroom accessories. Our office accessory range extends from desk chair accessories to flip charts, in desk charging, lecterns, monitor arm mounts, office planters and cable management accessories. If you have any questions on how you can make your desk more organised, check out the full range or get in touch with one of our friendly specialists today.

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