10 Tips to Keep Your Desk Clean, Organized & Productive

Organized Desk

Is your desk a mess?

Do you return to more clutter than you remember leaving in the first place?

Don’t let your messy workplace impede your ability to get your work done.

Here are 10 tips to keep your desk clear of clutter and ready for work.

Cleanliness = Productivity

Keeping your desk clean is key to being able to get your work done.

Despite the excuses that some will give, piles are not organization. And a messy workspace isn’t conducive to being productive.

“If your desk is a mess, you don’t have space to work, nor any room for creativity.”

When inspiration or motivation hits, you don’t want to be searching for space to set down your important work or fighting back the flood of stuff on your desk.

Here are 10 Tips to Help You Keep Your Desk Clean and Organized:

  1. Designate a Physical Inbox – We all have too many email inboxes, yet many people no longer have a physical one on their desk. You need one place for incoming papers to reside. Otherwise, they will scatter all over the existing documents on your desk.
  2. Have a Trash Can Within Reach – If you have to get up from your desk to reach the trash, then it is too far away. (Nor do you want to be playing trashcan paper toss…) Make sure that you can easily and quickly reach the trash from your chair.
  3. Minimize Incoming Paper – Stop that incoming paper flood, or at least minimize it to the extent possible. Eliminate unnecessary subscriptions, reduce the number of paper reports and memos. If you don’t need something in hard copy, then stop it from coming to your desk.
  4. Get Rid of Unnecessary Clutter – Do you need all those knickknacks and office accessories laying all over your desk? Unless they serve a purpose, get them off your work surface. You don’t have to go to the extreme of creating a sterile workspace, but if you are not using it, move it off your desk.
  5. Schedule Regular Cleaning Time – If you have not cleaned your desk in a month, it could take you a few hours to tidy it up. However, if you do it daily, it should only take a few moments. Avoid compounding your organizing time by scheduling a designated time each day.
  6. Never Put Trash Down – Whether it is a piece of paper or a food wrapper, never set trash down. Get in the habit of holding it in your hand until you can reach your trash can. (See #2) You don’t want to put trash on your desk and forget about it. As well, that half-empty soda is an accident waiting to happen.
  7. Take a Picture – Do you have items on your desk that are simply for reference? A battery or ink cartridge that you need to replace? Or a clipping or article? Instead of leaving these items on your desk, take a picture with your smartphone. You will be more likely to have your phone with you when you need to reference the item.
  8. When in Doubt, Throw It Out – You will never need 99% of the papers that you are saving. When in doubt, throw it out. If you truly need a hard copy, make sure you have a filing system to put it where you will know where to locate it.
  9. Scan It– Is the price of a scanner worth the peace and organization it will bring? Yes! Clear that paper clutter, by scanning it into soft copy or PDF. Here is my favorite scanner via Amazon.
  10. Clean It Before You Leave It – If your boss were to come to your desk after you departed for the day, would you be proud of what he or she would see? One of the best times to clean your desk is the end of the day. It brings closure to your work day and sets you up for a clean start tomorrow.

Keep it Clean

An organized work area helps you get more done.

It starts by giving you space to actually work, instead of stacking new work on top of old papers.

Keep your desk clean and improve your productivity.

Question: Do you keep your desk clean or are you constantly working among clutter? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

121 thoughts on “10 Tips to Keep Your Desk Clean, Organized & Productive

  1. I’m a huge believer in this concept. For me, it only works because I have a strong task management system. (I’m currently using Toodledo.) That keeps me from looking at my desk or inbox (actually, a drawer) for “what to do next.”

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  3. Great advice. It took my awhile to get the discipline to follow these principles, but I’m glad I did. Always nice to get a refresher, with some additional ways to improve. Thanks for sharing.

  4. For me, the biggest move was getting my computer off the desk. I hung the monitors on the wall, instead of setting them on the desk. With that and wireless keyboard and mouse, I could really clear my desk for the first time in decades.

  5. They say a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind, and I couldn’t agree more. I didn’t mind messes until I made myself a home office, and realized why I felt so anxious and stressed out when I sat down to work. There was clutter everywhere! After I took a day to organize and clean the space, it was a world of difference. These are great tips for maintaining it as well, thank you.

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  6. Hi, Craig. You have written a great post with some very useful tips. As an owner of an office cleaning company, I constantly underpin the importance of clean and organised office to my clients.

  7. Love your tips! I have one more: instead of using paper calendar/planner and millions of post-it notes just use online application to organize your work! I use Kanban Tool. Before I found it, everything was getting messy so easy…wanted to plan something, but just kept creating bigger mess 😛 Ok, so here’s link to this app: http://kanbantool.com/, really recommend it. Everything is in one place, you can plan, keep track on time and just be more productive.

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