Clutter has a huge impact on the way you work.
That’s why you need to develop a range of smart strategies to effectively manage the objects, papers, and contracts that clutter your home or office. If you fail to do that, your immediate environment won’t help you focus – in fact, it will become a significant distraction.
Clutter competes for your attention. It affects your habits and daily life. How are you supposed to think clearly when your vision is occupied by a messy pile of papers and objects on your desk?
Creating a structured environment is in your best interest. You won’t lose time on looking for the right bill or contract anymore. Your keys will always wait for you in the same place. You’ll discover that you actually have plenty of time to allocate in productive activities.
Here are 8 tips to help you unclutter your space and boost your productivity.
1. Organize your desk at the end of the day
Have a look at your desk before going home. If it’s full of unnecessary objects, trash, or simply chaos, you can be sure that the next morning won’t be swift and productive.
Instead of going straight after your goals for the day, you’ll be forced to make sense of the clutter and organize your papers in order first. And that’s not how productive people start their days.
2. File your documents right away
If a contract is waiting to be filed, then just do it and get over with the task. If you let it sit on your desk, one document will quickly become a pile. And that’s bound to disrupt your work. Plus, organizing and filing many papers takes much more time and energy.
3. Create smart storage space
If traditional shelves don’t fit your office or personal style, there are many other smart storage options to choose from. You can get rid of an entire cabinet of documents that you don’t need by storing it in a special storage like Spacer.
Use the space behind your monitor to hide objects as well. Well-placed magnets will help you to mount supplies onto any surface.
4. Organize your cables
If you’re dealing with a clutter of cables on your desk, consider using a pegboard. It’s the best method for hiding all the cables, routers, and other devices from sight.
Nothing helps to deal with a mass of cables like rain gutters – they’re cheap and make surprisingly great cable management tools. Or you can just invest in a Cablox or IKEA’s Signum line.
5. Enlarge your workspace
Sometimes you’re just dealing with too many things and your desk might offer too little space. That’s when you need to make a decision and buy a new desk where all your documents fit.
Or find a method for getting rid of your documents in a way that helps you to maintain order on your desk. Extra storage space always works wonders.
6. Donate to charity
When you bring in a new item, throw out two. Or better – give them away to charity organizations. It’s pointless to grow a collection of office supplies just because you can’t force yourself to get rid of them.
Make it a point to regularly scan your office space for objects that you no longer need, but that could be very useful for someone else. If you haven’t used something for 6 months, it’s not likely that you’ll start using it tomorrow.
7. Declutter your virtual world
It’s one thing to declutter your physical surroundings, but quite another to keep your devices clean and functional.
Remove all the apps you don’t use from your mobile devices and computers.
Have a look at your desktop. File away everything you need to keep on your hard disk, adding clear descriptions to your folders. Toss away all files that sit there just because you thought they might come in handy.
Now its time to declutter your inbox. That one can be tough, but most inboxes allow plenty of space and emails are light so don’t worry – you can store your correspondence as well. Create smart categories to organize your inbox.
Virtual decluttering helps to think clearer and avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information your brain has to deal with every day.
8. Keep your space organized
Even if you struggle to keep your workspace clean, it will become cluttered throughout the day. And that’s alright – it’s what working looks like. But treat mess as an extraordinary circumstance and keep your desk clean of any clutter that might distract your from your goals.
You’ll see that in time, your struggle for organization will become a habit and you won’t even have to remember about keeping your desk clean.
Decluttering will give you a lot of space – both physically and mentally. Once you get rid of all the clutter occupying your workspace, you’ll gain a clarity of thought and focus that will help you to make the most out of every minute you devote to a project.
About the Author:
Emma Lewis is a loving mother, a devoted wife and a part of the team supporting Spacer – a company helping you find storage space whenever you need it. Emma is also a staunch supporter of the sharing economy and often mentions its benefits.