Work and life can get busy. Appointments add up, deadlines pass and clients and coworkers count on you. Much like a website, your work life needs to have order or you might get lost in the shuffle. Cleaning your office is a simple way to reduce the stress in your life and even relax yourself in the process of organizing.
Below are five easy ways you can implement more organization into your life and stay on top of your workload. After all, who doesn’t love less stress?
1. Get a planner and keep it up to date
A planner is probably the most important organization tool to keep in your office space. When kept up to date, a planner can get you to meetings on time and keep you from forgetting about approaching deadlines. You can also keep information like days bills are due so your work and home life can work harmoniously.
A planner is also a much better option over 20 sticky notes lining your desk and computer monitor, creating even more clutter. It’s also probably more cost effective too, sticky notes are expensive!
2. Keep your desk clutter free
Just like a homepage of a website, you want to keep the home space of your work clutter free. Extra papers, broken pens and trash can clutter up your desk and make you feel like you don’t have a good handle on what’s going on.
A clean space will actually make you more productive and organized. Studies show the average person wastes approximately 4 hours a week just searching for lost papers. Imagine what you could accomplish in that time if your space was more organized.
3. Keep your desktop clutter free
Your desktop on your computer is just as important, if not more than your physical desk. Turning on your computer to files, documents and photos overloading your screen is not a good way to start the day.
Put documents into labeled folders and throw away what you don’t need. That way, everything is exactly where you need it when you turn on your computer in the morning. I make it a goal to clean my desktop once a day so nothing gets overwhelming. You will be surprised how much less stress you feel when everything is exactly where it needs to be.
4. Keep your emails in order
Delete what you don’t need and put other emails into folders for easy navigation later. Your email is likely one of your key hubs for communications between co-workers and other businesses.
A cluttered email can leave questions unanswered and hurt you in the long run. By keeping up on deleting old conversations and labeling important ones, you can prevent this from happening. Another way to keep email clutter down is to not sign up for anything promotional (clothing websites, coupons, etc.) with your work email. Save the promotions for your personal email and keep only important contacts in your work email.
5. Make your space feel like home
Make your office space feel homey. You probably spend 8 hours a day sitting at your desk, why not make it feel cozy?
Get file organizers, shelving and pencil cups that reflect your personality. That way, you are still staying organized while also feeling at home. Here at Nextfly Web Design a lot of us have things in our spaces like blankets, pillows, succulents and photos that show our individual personalities, but also keep us comfortable and productive.
It doesn’t take a lot to get your day in order, but by organizing your physical and digital space, your day will run as smoothly as a new website. Remember to delete what you know you don’t need, and keep the things you do need in clearly labeled files.
Studies also show that taking a break to do “busy work” like sorting and organizing can actually bring some stress relief to your day, so really, it’s a win-win.