10 Critical Tips for Clearing Office Clutter

Having trouble finding your desk amidst the clutter? Follow these easy steps, consistently, and you’ll experience greater focus and productivity as a result.

1. Define the purpose of each space in your office and be sure that everyone who shares the space understands how it is to be used.

2. Keep only high-use items on your desktop – computer, telephone, project files, good lighting, notepaper, stapler, To Do list, calendar/planner, and only what you are working on right now.

3. Use vertical space around your desk effectively – put photos and calendars on your wall, not on your desktop.

4. Organize supplies in a desk drawer organizer or supply drawer within “fingertip reach” of your desk chair.

5. Place a wastebasket, recycling bin, and/or shredder where you process your mail.

6. Trim the F.A.T. – File, Act, Toss. Professional Organizer, Barbara Hemphill tells us that the only choices we have for dealing with paper is to File it, Act on it, or Toss it.

7. Create zones in your workspace for incoming and outgoing paper, filing and a work surface. Resist co-mingling each zone.

8. Create an Action File System and place all “action required” items in the system. The Action File System works in-conjunction with your calendar. Simplified Spaces can help you implement this system in your office or home. CLICK HERE to learn more about our system.

9. File non-action required papers in an accessible “reference file system” CLICK HERE to learn more about the HomeFile System, a great reference file system we recommend.

10. Schedule office clean-up/organizing on your calendar, or you will always lean toward a competing priority. Face it … most of us would prefer to do about anything else than to spend a day organizing their office or home.

Being clear about what activities you want to perform in your workspace and where, having clear surfaces in which to work, and the tools you need to perform those activities in easy access, will significantly improve what you’re able to accomplish in a day. In the process, you’ll reduce your stress level and free up time and energy for what matters most. This is a preview from our upcoming booklet “The Simplified Office – A Complete Guide to Clear Office Clutter for Good!

Originally posted 2008-11-25 19:22:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Organizing 101 – Where Will I Look for This When I Need it?

I just read this great post on the Productivity 501 blog. I couldn’t have said it better myself. I address this concept with my organizing clients all the time. When it comes to trying to find something that you’ve stored, it’s best to have your stuff sorted “Like with Like” and stored where you will USE it, not where it fits best. 

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When it comes to organizing your stuff, most people deal with every item and ask “Where do I put this”? This is not the question to ask.  When you go to look for the item you may or may not be able to remember the answer to the question “Where do I put this?”      

The real question to ask yourself is “Where will I look for this when I need it?”  There seems to be a big separation between the way the brain makes connections when you are trying to store something and when you are trying to retrieve it.

This makes sense because when you ask yourself “Where do I put this?” your brain is going to start thinking in terms of size, available storage space, danger to surrounding objects, etc. It isn’t thinking in terms of the context in which the item is needed.

If you organize your stuff by thinking about the context in which you need each item you’ll spend far less time looking for things.  This type of approach helps you find simple but innovative solutions that make sense.  For example, if you ask yourself where  you should store your postage stamps, you’ll probably put them in a drawer, but if you think about the context in which you’ll actually use them, you might decide to keep them in the box with empty envelopes.

By imagining the context in which you will need something in the future,  you can organize your stuff in a way that makes sense and works best for you personally.

Originally posted 2010-08-17 09:09:05. Republished by Blog Post Promoter