The secret to maintaining a clean, clear, tidy desk all day, effortlessly (part 1)
Despite the fact that I work from home everyday, my desk looks like one of the miraculously clean and clear ones in all those glossy brochures for furniture. Okay, it looks a bit more beaten up than that, because it’s very old and I left an essential oil burner alight and unattended on it once, and it still bears the scars… But basically it’s clear of all paper, with my laptop and a lamp and a phone and in tray on it and nothing else. It’s very easy to clean!
Now before you strangle me, I want to give you the secret to maintaining a clear desk all day, everyday. It’s much easier than you think, and it really does help you to focus properly.
First of all, you have to have a couple of things in place. You have to have a good amount of filing and archive space available to you. It’s no good trying to maintain a clean desk if things live on there purely because there’s nowhere for them to go when you’ve finished with them, so I’m going to assume you’ve got this. Secondly, you must have a system for remembering all the administration tasks you need to complete, in place. And it must be one which doesn’t rely of visual reminders alone. So it’s fine to have an in-tray of visual reminders, because in-trays are for one off pieces of work. But long term project files shouldn’t live on your desk functioning as reminders, because they’re taking up space which you need to work and to think. So either get yourself a day book in which you can list them and consult this regularly or for an even more in depth solution, consult the first chapter on home offices, in my book ‘Banish Clutter Forever’, which give a comprehensive system for even the most difficult and diverse of schedules.
Assuming that none of the things currently cluttering your desk fall into these two categories, the rest will be made up either of things that don’t belong there at all, or of office equipment. Remove the stuff that doesn’t belong there, and show your working life the respect it deserves. Your work is important, and you need to be able to focus without distraction.
Then start relocating the office equipment out of sight by putting the things you use most frequently as close to you as possible, and working your way out with the things that you use less frequently. Also, try to group things used for a particular task altogether. So if you mail out brochures frequently, then put them together with the correct stamps and the right size of envelope altogether in a drawer close to you, rather than separately, and with all the stationery across the room from your desk. ‘Demote’ the stuff cluttering up the desk drawers closest to you, which you hardly ever use, to somewhere further away.
Next time, having given you the basic preparation, I’ll give you the golden rule which will enable you to maintain a blissfully clear and calm working space all day.
