How to Organize a Messy Office

Having an organized office space can play a huge part in whether or not you feel productive and comfortable throughout the day.

How to Organize a Messy Office

Having an organized office space can play a huge part in whether or not you feel productive and comfortable throughout the day.

By Brynne Adamson

According to "Effects of Positive Practices on Organizational Effectiveness," on page 29, "positive emotions affect individual performance at work such as job performance, engaging in occupational activities, organizational citizenship behaviors and social interactions with others." If you feel positively about your work space because it's organized, you may find your overall work experience increasing.

Below are some steps to keeping your desk organized and user-friendly.

1. Set your desk in a place where you won't be easily distracted

According to Statista, "as of May 31, 2020, some 50 percent of respondents in the United States who said they stay at home more due to the COVID-19 pandemic stated that they have done more online video streaming." Only 19% of respondents say they do more work after staying home due to the pandemic.

Looking at the previous statistics, you can clearly see how difficult keeping an organized work schedule is while working at home or even while at work! One of the ways to promote greater organization and productivity is to put your desk in a place where you won't be easily distracted.

Don't set up shop near a TV. Put away your phone; unless your phone is needed to make business calls or there might be an upcoming emergency, there isn't a real reason why you need to have it in the same room as where you work.

2. Organize things by category or color, then place whatever you use most the closest to you

Once your desk is set up and you're all comfortable, start placing your papers, folders and anything else you have in order by category. For me, I organize my papers into one neat pile as I don't have that many. In the past, I kept separate notebooks per topic or class and stacked those into a pile.

You, on the other hand, may have so many papers that they all start to blend together. If that's the case, get differently colored folders and label them. Stack those on your desk until they become a burden. Then put them into a filing cabinet.

After organizing everything by category, put the items you use the most closest to you. Having to reach for something you use every hour is going to get tiresome. Save yourself the extra step by putting the item right next to your keyboard. The items you don't use that often can be put into a basket under your desk, a cupboard or onto a floating shelf.

For decorations, try to keep them out of the way as much as possible. Wiring should be hidden or out of the way, too.

3. Digitize your notes

Type up your handwritten notes, so you don't have to keep track of a physical copy anymore. I love keeping all my notes and projects digital because I can easily click CTRL+F and search for a specific topic I'm looking for. I can rearrange paragraphs as needed and change the flow and grammar of a sentence at will, too.

For programs like Google Drive, creating digital files and folders doesn't take up space. However, if your notes consist of a lot of pictures, you may want to consider getting an external storage drive, so your computer doesn't get bogged down or so you don't have to pay for more online storage.

4. Throw away whatever you digitized

There's no point in having both physical copies and digital copies of a document, unless you're worried you'll lose the digital file of the document forever. The main point of digitizing your papers is so that they don't take up physical space anymore. Though, if you're still worried about losing the files or the files corrupting, I would put them onto cloud storage, so they can be accessed anywhere.

5. Use a project manager or a to-do list

Now that all of your notes are cleaned up, it's time to organize the projects you are working on. If you like to have physical to-do lists, get out a piece of paper and write down what you have to do for the day. Then check them off as you go.

If you work with other team members, though, having an online project manager like Trello is really helpful. You can easily keep track of what your team is working on as a whole and what you're supposed to be working on individually. There's no questioning who's working on what, making asking questions about other projects easy.

Another way to keep track of what others are up to is to use an online calendar, where you would schedule meetings. This helps you keep track of what's coming up in your day, and it helps others to know when you're busy. Microsoft Teams automatically changes your online status to "busy" when you have a meeting scheduled, which is convenient.

6. Keep your desk clean daily, so there isn't build up

A problem many people have is that they feel overwhelmed when trying to clean their desk because their desk is a mess from weeks of neglect. To prevent the stress of mess buildup on your desk, clean it right before you leave for the day. Wipe it down with antibacterial wipes to keep the dust and germs away. Restack papers and make sure meetings and tasks are recorded. Then head home or go to bed without worrying about what awaits you at your workplace.

Also see our article on the Benefits of a Survival Guide for your Front Desk Team.

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