Who doesn’t love a relaxing break at the end of the year? Some well deserved rest is exactly what the doctor ordered, but for a lot of us this break means returning to a fairly chaotic and disorganised mess in the New Year. A desk all askew, last year’s coffee cup (with the accompanying ring stain on the desk) and a plant in desperate need of water makes for a less than ideal situation. To help you out we’ve put together our top five tips to help you get organised at work. Whether you’re back in the office or still working from home an organised desk and surrounding area goes a long way towards having a productive and successful 2021.
Clean it up
It’s incredible how much trash can collect around our desks and general work area, and it’s not just the discarded coffee cups and food wrappers. Think shipping boxes you were sure you’d re-use, flyers, presentations and paperwork, full notebooks etc. Don’t take last years refuse into a fresh New Year. To get organised at work start by throwing out any garbage around your desk, have a dig around in your drawers, toss any wrappers, blunt scissors, dried out highlighters and old pens (and order some new ones!). This will help you feel less cluttered mentally and as an added bonus, you’ll easily be able to put your hands on the things you need, there’s nothing quite as frustrating as having to try four dead pens before finding one that works (what a time waster!). Next, grab the multi-purpose spray or anti-bacterial wipes and give your desk a good, thorough clean.
File and Label
It’s likely that you have documents sitting around needing to be filed, even if it’s just some bills that you haven’t put much thought into. Keeping on top of your filing is critical if you really want to get organised at work, we all know it needs to be done but we’re often too busy to do it properly. Take a moment to catch up on filing so that you can start 2021 off fresh. We all have our own, favourite method of filing, so choose yours and get going. One thing you’ll definitely need when filing is labels, take those few extra minutes to properly label your files, future you will thank you.
Proper Drawer Organisation
It’s one of the most useful, and yet most underrated desk accessories out there, and without it your desk drawer would be a total mess, the humble drawer organiser deserves a champion. It’s a vital piece of equipment for those who want to get organised at work, it keeps your stationery bits and bobs in order and at easy reach. Handy dividers create designated spots for your essentials like paperclips, staples and thumb tacks as well as sticky notes and your all-important calculator.
Organise those Emails
When you’re done cleaning and clearing your physical surroundings it’s time to move on to your digital work space, which is particularly important for those of us who have spent time working from home or splitting time between home and the office. Start by deleting junk and old unopened mail, oooh how good it will feel to see that anxiety-inducing number of emails going down! Next, it’s time to get filing, anything you need to keep, file it away in an appropriately named file. Then… just delete the rest, there’s no point going in to 2021 with old, no longer relevant emails from the past. In the words of a certain Disney Princess “Let it go”.
Reduce Distractions
The modern office is full of distractions, and the home office can be even worse. Chatty co-workers (or partners and kids), buzzing phones, and office machines of all varieties are hard to drown out but there are some distractions you can take control of. Take a quick look around, are there any tempting distractions that are detrimental to your productivity? Your mobile phone could be a culprit, as could those extra tabs you have open, or even a laundry basket in your line of sight. Try keeping your phone on silent, or better yet tucked away somewhere to give you some uninterrupted time, close those extra tabs (it’s ok, you can bookmark them for later). As for those chatty co-workers, try popping on some headphones and see if that keeps them away, headphones should let your co-workers know that you’re focused and don’t want to be disturbed right now….you could also try this with kids but we’re pretty sure they’ll interrupt you anyway, especially if it’s lunch time.
Start 2021 out right by getting organised and giving yourself the best chance to stay focused, with all the right tools within easy reach. You’ll save yourself loads of time and your productivity will soar, just what you need to shake off the inevitable back to work blues.
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