How? Organize the items on your desk.
If you really want to free an area of junk, you need to find the right kind of storage. Different situations require different types of storage containers to file your junk. One day I realized that I had way too much computer-related gear on my desk. Now, most of it was pretty small. Cords, a laptop DVD drive, a couple CDs, my iPod, and a microphone. At the time, I didn’t really have anywhere concrete to store these items, and when I did try to put them away, they eventually gravitated back to my desk when I needed them. What I needed was a convenient way of storing many small items.
So I went to Staples, and bought a desk organizer. I knew a traditional organizer wouldn’t work, because I had to store many different items. I walked out with two stackable mini-drawer units. The first unit had a large drawer and a cool top-organizer for pens, etc. I bought another unit that was 3 small drawers. Combined, they have proven very useful in organizing all of the items on my desk. I have one drawer for cords, one for CDs, one for iPod and related gear, and another for miscellaneous items.
Next time that your feeling claustrophobic at your desk, or you don’t have enough space to lay out your work, go out and buy some appropriate storage. There are a couple things you need to remember though to make it work:
1. Make it convenient. Make sure that you store your stuff near your desk. Your probably going to need to access it every day, so it needs to be close. If you have to take more than 5 steps to reach it from your desk, its probably too far.
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2. Choose appropriate storage. Try to choose an appropriate medium of storage for your items. If you have mostly traditional desk items such as stickies, pens and pencils, paper, and scissors, you could buy a traditional desk organizer. If you have bigger items, make sure you invest in larger storage, to make it most effective.
3. Return everything to its place. Ensure that you return everything back to its place when your done. Hopefully your storage is close enough that you don’t have to get up from your seat. Otherwise you may find yourself pushing stuff aside, and eventually your desk will be cluttered again.
4. Give each drawer its own category. Avoid putting different types of things into one drawer. You should have enough stuff of one category to have its own drawer. Mixing your iPod gear with your stationary will be hard to sort through when you need to find something quickly.
If you have any tips for organizing your desk, we’d love to here them. Just drop us a comment below.
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