One of the things that always holds true when it comes to work is that an organized person is generally an efficient and productive person.
The simple reality is that if your office desk or cubicle at work is not organized, it’s going to make finding various papers and objects extremely difficult. Accomplishing any task when you are not organized takes much longer.
There is of course also the fact that an unorganized office just doesn’t look very nice. What we’re here to do today is to provide you with some great tips on how to organize your desk, office and/or cubicle at work.
Organize Your Office Space
1. Create Task Specific Zones
One of the best ways to organize your cubicle or office at your workspace is to create specific zones designed for various tasks. What we mean here is that each zone in your office or cubicle should be delegated to a specific task.
For instance, this means that you might have a main workspace such as your desk, a reference area for your files and records, and something like a supply area for all of your materials and office supplies. This way everything will always be exactly where it should be.
If you organize your desk, office, or cubicle in this way, it should make it much easier to perform specific tasks and to find anything that needs finding.
2. Declutter
When it comes to organizing your workspace, one of the most important things that you can do is to declutter your office or desk. By this we mean that you should get rid of anything that you don’t need for work.
Anything that you haven’t used in a while or just doesn’t serve a purpose should be gotten rid of. If you don’t need it for work, then it is just taking up unnecessary space that could be used for something better.
This doesn’t just go for random miscellaneous equipment and toys, but also for furniture and office supplies. Anything and everything that you don’t use on a regular basis should not be there. Now this is not to say that you can’t have any plants or anything cool on your desk, but with that being said, you do want to keep those things clean and out of the way.
3. The Rule of Proximity
Yet another tip that you absolutely need to follow when it comes to organizing your workspace is the rule of proximity.
This is just a fancy way of saying that the things that you use the most should be the closest to you and the things that you use the least often can be set at a distance from you.
Things that you don’t use on a regular basis can be stored out of the way, thus leaving you with much more desk space for those things that you do use on a regular basis. It’s really nothing more than simple logistics.
4. Keep Those Papers Organized
In order to keep your workspace properly organized, another tip that you should follow is to constantly go through all of your paper stacks to see what you still need and what you do not. Sure, all of those letters, pieces of mail, invoices, order forms, and other such pieces of paper are quite important but with that being said, they do get dated.
In other words, you might have papers from several months or even several years back, still cluttering up your desk and serving absolutely no purpose.
Therefore, we recommend that at least once per week, you go through all of those papers to see what you still need and what you do not.
Anything that you no longer need should be thrown out, and anything that you do need should be properly organized. Speaking of which, it is a great idea for you to get a filing cabinet in order to keep all those papers properly organized according to their specific purpose or designation.
5. Put a Label Maker to Use
On that same note, when it comes to all of your papers, vials, binders, file folders, and filing cabinets, one of the worst things that you could possibly do is to not label anything.
If you don’t label anything, it’s going to take you potentially hours to find a single piece of paper, and when it comes down to it, time is money, so wasting time is not an option in an office workspace.
Therefore, you should get yourself a decent little label maker, so you can clearly label anything and everything. This will allow you to easily identify anything that you need at a moment’s notice, thus saving you a whole lot of time.
6. Monitor Stands, Keyboard Trays, & More
The other thing that you can do to help save space on your desk and to keep everything well organized is to use things like monitor stands and keyboard trays. A monitor stand is raised off your desk and allows you to store papers and various items underneath it.
Moreover, a keyboard tray allows you to keep your keyboard under your desk and therefore leaves more room in front of you. It’s small things like these that can make a huge difference in your office.
Conclusion
There you have it folks, the six best tips for you to follow when it comes to keeping that workspace of yours well organized.