How to keep your workspace clean & organised
Want to stay productive and focused in this epidemic situation? Here we are to help you with how you can keep your workspace clean and organized.
The emerging trend- Work-from-Home has completely changed our lifestyle. We all know someone who has always loved working from home resisting efforts to commute to the office but now, most of us are working from home who haven’t done so in the past.
Most of us are not in the habit of working from home and are now facing a lot of issues especially in setting a professional environment at home to work effectively.
We all have heard this famous quote, “ TIDY HOME, TIDY MIND ”, but most of us fail to abide by it. More mess leads to lesser focus and productivity. One should keep in mind that the workspace should not be kept untidy. Not only the clutter but also, work surfaces should be regularly cleaned to reduce the exposure to the virus.
12 Tips to keep your workspace organised & boost productivity:
1. OWN YOUR WORKSPACE
First, create your own dedicated workspace that inspires you!!
Add a plant of your choice, stationery in your favourite color, a family frame, or whatever defines your personality best.
Before putting anything just keep in mind the following things that they should be: easy to maintain, not breakable, and should be durable with a finishing look.
To keep connected with your workspace, keep adding your favorite folders, wall arts, picture frames so that you always get motivated to keep your workspace clean and tidy.
2. START ORGANIZING
To organize your workspace, start with organizing your stationery, files, and folders.
Remove all the unnecessary items/papers and arrange the documents according to categories and sub-categories.
Dump everything you don’t need and make room for the essentials.
3. A SMALL TRASH BIN TO THE RESCUE
Keep a small dustbin near your work desk.
You don’t want to have crumpled paper balls and bits of paper lying all over the floor and desk.
So, get in the habit of dumping waste papers and other supplies like a pen without ink, etc. right away into the dustbin.
Don’t forget to empty the trash bin daily!
4. DISCONNECT YOUR GADGETS & CLEAN
Be in the habit of, “ Spray, Clean & Repeat!!”.
Clean the desk properly. This is a key element to keep the desk clean and to remain safe and hygienic in this epidemic situation.
Disconnect your gadgets / devices before cleaning!
Every day when you get up at the end of the day after working, either use a microfiber cloth or anti-bacterial wipes (that are not too wet) to clean the screen of your computer, tablet and phone.
Each time you work on your keyboard and then touch your face or adjust your glasses, this is the surface you come into contact with the most every day. Use a keypad protector or simply clean it using a duster.
Deep cleaning of the surfaces, below the printer and keyboard, should be done weekly without any excuses.
5. GO OLDSCHOOL & USE A NOTEBOOK
Instead of using sticky notes, try to maintain a diary or a notebook.
It is a good exercise and the notes which you will maintain in the notebook, will remain with you forever.
6. PLAN WITH A CALENDAR
Plan your daily work routine using a wall calendar. It would keep you organized. You can mark your important activities or meetings or scheduling an important email you forgot to send your boss on time and other important things which you need to do.
You can easily erase it when the job is done!
7. CUPS ON COASTERS
We all need a cup or maybe 2-3 cups of coffee to survive throughout the day.
Don’t rest the cups on desk surfaces without coasters as they can leave ring stains on your desk .
“I’ve got Coffee in one hand and Confidence in the other!” You are ready to activate your work mode - on with your favourite energy booster now!
8. KEEP YOUR CORDS SAFE
Do you also lose your charging cables or your cables keep tangling with each other?
Keep your cables safe and organized.
First, separate them and then label them according to which cable is used for which gadget.
Also, one can use clipping binders to the side of your desk and the cords hanging inside the handles to keep your cords arranged in an orderly manner.
9. DECLUTTER USING DRAWER DIVIDERS
To maintain proper space on your desk, only those things should be kept on the top of the desk which you need the most.
Keep your supplies into a drawer(s) and out of sight without creating a mess on the desk.
Declutter using Drawer Dividers/ Organisers to keep the stationery at its right place.
Don’t just throw away the things randomly. Organise them into different containers or sections.
10. NEVER PILE UP
Your desk is a mess mostly due to the stacks of paperwork that inevitably pile up on the worksurfaces.
Try not to pile up things. Always try to finish your work and keep on updating your folders according to the need and arrange your documents accordingly. Use different sized folders to store your documents. Keep on removing the waste material to keep your workspace organized and clean. Ditch the old stock of papers and classify the recent important ones into different folders.
You can use portable or expandable accordion file folders to handle all your documents well.
11. DIY DESK STORAGE
You can use multiple ways to increase the storage space on your work desk. There is no need to burn a hole in your pocket to buy more storage for your work desk.
You can DIY pen holders with mason jars, stationery containers out of old chocolate boxes or cloth wall hanging organizers.
Upcycling old household containers can be of great help to store all these supplies.
12. NEVER LEAVE A MESS
We all know it can be difficult to find the motivation to clean after spending hours working but Don’t Procrastinate & make it a Habit!
Always clean up the workspace after completing your work daily. If you won’t do so, it would keep on compiling, and would be difficult for you to clean it up.
Adopt a practice wherein you invest 10-15 at maximum to clean and declutter your workspace.
With this habit of cleaning daily, you would not leave things for the next day and would become more organized.
Your workspace is the last place which you want to keep untidy.
Clean your workspace so that you can take pride and say “Welcome to my Dream Worksetup, Let the creativity Begin!”
Don’t Forget to Wash Your Hands
Spray, Sanitize, Work, Repeat!
Happy working from home to all :)
Send us the pictures of your Dream Workspace and we will give you a shout out on our social media platforms.
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Written by: Mahima Agarwal
Transcript by (adding flavour in writing): Anmol Yadav
Designed by: Parul Yadav
July 23, 2020