More Organization Tips To Maintain a Functional Desk

Previously, we suggested a few products from our Organization page to help clear papers off your desk. It’s easy to see these suggestions and follow them for a few days, but without a good system and routines in place, the clutter may find its way back. To stay organized for the long haul, there are important steps to take.

Look at all of the office supplies you have on your desk. Do you have a stapler? A tape dispenser? A holder full of paper clips, pushpins, or extra pens? All of these are good to have around, of course. But think about how often you actually use them. If it’s not every day, why is it out in the open? Your desk surface should be limited only to items that are always in use. Reserve a drawer, preferably a top drawer, for important supplies that might be used a couple times a week. That makes them just as easy to get to, but frees up desk space for getting work done and creates more incentive for keeping it clear. A desk already full of unnecessary items makes it easier to excuse more of a mess.

Carver Hardwood Letter Tray

If you have a lot of papers coming in, you probably already have some sort of letter tray. If not, it can be a good way to process incoming work. The key words here are "can" and "process." The trick to managing a letter tray is never to put anything back in there once you look at it. Once you take it out, either deal with it right away or mark it with Post-It flags as discussed before. A good strategy would be to assign colors based on urgency and importance, and whether the paper itself ultimately needs to be archived (and how accessible it will need to be) or if it can be tossed once the work is done. Once marked, put it in your file box or a To-Do folder- somewhere you can get to regularly but where its contents won’t distract you while you’re working on something else. Refresh your To-Do pile frequently and clear out your letter tray daily.

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes

Making a habit of regular cleaning is a good way to promote organization. It’s a good task for Friday when you’re counting the minutes until the weekend. Cleaning your entire desk surface with a disinfecting wipe is a great way to prevent the spread of disease, but is also easier when the desk is clear. You’ll be encouraged to put stuff away, might find loose notes that can be discarded, and challenges you to think about how useful everything on your desk is. By keeping it on your mind regularly and making constant assessments and adjustments, you can keep your desk clean and free of distractions and use it for getting work done instead of storage.

Staying Productive and Motivated Through the Holiday Season

As the holidays approach, we all have various annual traditions we like to honor. We have our ways of celebrating Thanksgiving. We may have a typical time and unique ways to put up a tree. We have parties we like to go to, shopping to get done and plans to make for both. There's also one more tradition popular in offices around the country- counting down the days until we're off work for the holidays. It's an exciting time, but also easy to get distracted and maybe even overwhelmed. That makes it important to have a plan for getting the work done leading up to the end of the year.

House of Doolittle Calendar Desk Pad

End-of-year work is a bit of a double whammy- there's often a lot on everyone's plates as the year winds down, whether it's because of reports or holiday marketing or deadlines before the calendar changes. It's also a time when employees are using the rest of their vacation days, worrying about holiday plans, and waiting for both of those to get here. There are ways to cut through that and stay productive. Start now and list everything that needs completing and when. Make a schedule, (taking into account when co-workers are off if anything involves collaboration), and write it into a calendar- better if it's something nice and visible like a desk pad. As projects get completed, there's extra satisfaction in crossing the days off like an Advent calendar.

Juggling everybody's time off can slow down projects. Instead of being surprised by someone's out-of-office reply, keep track of who on your team is going to be out. Either add it to your calendar or, if there's a shared collaboration space, consider an organizer board that everyone can add to and view.

Optimal Desk Setup (courtesy Fellowes)

Are you getting so antsy for the holidays that you start to feel uncomfortable at your desk? Maybe your desk setup needs improving. Consider a variety of ergonomic solutions such as keyboard managers, wrist rests, footrests, and proper screen placement to make it easier to get through the day. Fellowes has a nice site for identifying potential problem areas. Also, check your desk to make sure only the only items on it are necessary, and that those items are in easy reach. No sense having a file on your desk if it's tomorrow's project. Stash it away and don't think about it until then!

Holidays, festive as they are, can also be a stressful time. Many workplaces have a bunch of holiday-themed activities. They're plenty fun, but only if they don't add to your stress. Don't be afraid to be selective about what you participate in. The company-wide Secret Santa game may be meant to bring everyone closer together, but if it leaves you wondering what gift to get and when you'll find time to get it, don't feel like it's an obligation. Stick to the activities you'll actually enjoy. And on that same note, make a determined effort to enjoy the time off you get. Holiday preparations can be involved and the family gatherings can be exhausting, but make time to refresh. It's important to do what you love and spend time with the people you care about. It makes the countdown that much more pleasant.

DIY Getting Things Done Tickler Files

If you are like me, and I can't assume that you are, then you have heard things about this Getting Things Done method (commonly known as GTD). As Wikipedia says (at the time of writing), it is an "..organizational method created by David Allen..." and it has given Mr. Allen a fair amount of praise and a fair amount of money. Of course there are people who will talk about how great he is and there are people who will talk about how he got it all wrong, but I don't fall into either of those categories because I've never read his book. One specific item in his book that was brought to my attention is the Tickler File system. It consists of 1 folder for every month and 1 folder for every possible day in a month, so 12 folders for 12 months and 31 folders for 31 possible days means you have 43 folders. This tends to simplify things for you by only allowing you to file stuff for some day this month, or another month.  The hardest part of this filing system is getting yourself into the habit of using the files regularly, they are easy to build yourself.

Start With Inexpensive File Folders

43 folders aren't very much when you are visiting the wonderful world of Office Supplies.  You can purchase a box of 100 file folders for cheap and you are almost done with your Tickler File.  The official GTD guideline for a the file says you should have your tabs lined up according the month and date.  That means your monthly folders might have the far right tab while your daily folders could then have the far left tab.  The Universal file folders (here is the link again) come in a box of 100 with tabs on the right, center and left.  That means you'll have 33 right, 33 center, 33 left and 1 extra.  That is enough to create two different Tickler Files and still have a few left over.

A Good Labeler is Nice

If you have good handwriting you don't need to worry about how you are going to label your files, but if you listen to anybody who has had to read my handwriting it is occasionally a necessity.  They are pretty simple.  You type in a word or a number, and it prints out a sticker that you put on your folder and you call it good enough.  Obviously you'll find all kinds of uses for your labeler around the office and around the house so it won't be a single use tool.  If you get a cheap labeler it won't have the same features as an expensive labeler so take a look at a selection of different label makers.

You can go online and look at pricing on David Allen's official GTD Tickler folders, but I'll leave that up to you and Google.  At the end of the day, for the price of one official filing system you can build yourself two filing systems and have a labeler left over to take home and start labeling members of the family.  I have a feeling your kids might mind more than your dog.