5 Steps to Organizing Your Workspace to Maximize Productivity

In order to be your most productive self, it’s essential to have a clutter-free workspace that is designed to cater to your needs.

If you have piles of papers and old mail, random knick knacks that don’t serve a purpose, and other junk that you just haven’t paid any attention to in the last several months or years, it’s time to make a change! 

Read on to find out the step-by-step way to organize your workspace to maximize your productivity!

1. Clear the space

The first step to clutter-clearing is to get together all of the items in your space -- that means taking everything out of your desk drawers, clearing off the top of your desk, and the surrounding area. 

When re-organizing a space, you want to take a moment to pick up each item and make a conscious decision to keep or trash, so make sure all of your items are right in front of you! Now you should have a blank canvas, ready to be re-designed!

2. Throw things away

If you take the time to go through everything you own, you will find SO many things that are simply taking up space and not serving any purpose in your life. Most likely when going through your desk for the first time in awhile, you’ll find items you didn’t even know you had -- like a promotional postcard you got in the mail once or some random computer stickers from some company you’ve never even heard of (we’ve all been there!). Throwing things away -- or recycling/donating -- can be so liberating and can help clear out your space to allow functionality and ease when trying to find something. 

A good tip for knowing if you should get rid of something is asking yourself when the last time you’ve used the item and when you think you might use it again. If you can’t come up with an answer for both of these questions, you should probably get rid of it! And if you haven’t used it in a over a year, it might be time to part ways.

3. Choose the most important items

Now that you’ve gotten rid of all of the clutter and unnecessary items in your workspace, it’s time to pick out the most important items -- these are the items that you use everyday or items that you love looking at. Not every item on your desk has to “do” something, like a stapler or pen, but every item should serve a purpose. 

For instance, if you have a framed photo of you and your family, you should definitely work that item into your desk space, so that throughout the day, you will be reminded of those you love. This same concept works for items like inspirational signs or even small plants. Having things in your workspace that make you happy will increase your positivity and better your attitude, allowing you to get things done faster. 

4. Organize & Arrange the space 

Once you have your most essential items curated, go ahead and arrange those items in the way that feels right to you in your workspace. Using a desk organizer or wall shelving can be the perfect way to leave a large part of your desk completely clear so that you can leave tons of space for your computer, notepad, your phone, and of course, a latte! 

When arranging your workspace space, be mindful of your color palette, as you really want a cohesive look that relaxes your mind and allows you to be your most productive self. The colors around you can deeply affect your mood, so make sure to choose wisely! Blue is known to be a color for stimulating the mind.

You should also be thinking about the lighting in your space, as the brightness of your space can affect the way you think. For increased creativity and idea generation, dimmer lights can do the trick, but for problem solving, analytical thinking, the brighter, the better! It might be a good idea to pick up a small lamp, so you can easily switch up the brightness depending on your mood.

5. Enjoy and revisit

Now that you’ve decluttered your workspace, gotten rid of the unnecessary junk in your life, and curated the most important items to display in your space, you are ready to enjoy! Now that you have an organized space, you’ll benefit from increased productivity levels, a better attitude, and less stress. Just make sure not to let your space get out of hand by regularly evaluating the purposes of the items in your space! A good time to revisit your space is once a season.

There you have it! I hope that this post has inspired you to get off your phone or laptop and get to work on organizing your workspace! Imagine how good it will feel once you have a clean and clutter-free space!