How to Organize Your Office

Organizing your office can help you be productive and be focused in your daily work activities. Office organization ranges from the highly functional to the highly chaotic. Piles of old newspapers, hoarding behavior, and stuffed filing cabinets are unlikely to help you much. Incorporating a few tips you might be able to improve your work speed, reduce your stress, and create a positive impression for visitors.

1.) Remove Junk: Offices can be full of stuff we don’t really need that clutter the spaces and create confusion. Beyond what you need for decoration remove anything that takes up space and doesn’t contribute significantly to either aesthetics or functionality.

2.) Simplify: Complexity is not your friend when you are trying to find an important report or seeking to get your work done in a short timeframe. Simplify everything from the way you organize your work to how you file your documents. Adjust your filing processes and functions to keep everything as simple as possible.

3.) Organize Files: Filing should be completed in a way that makes it easy to recall information and documents when needed. Put your files in alphabetical order and organize in drawers based upon function. For example, you may want a drawer for projects and one for financial information.

4.) A Place for Everything: Don’t let things sit around your desk that don’t have a home. One reason why some people never have a clear desk is because there simply isn’t a place for everything.

5.) Use Labels: Whether it is files or boxes use your labels. Labels will help you find what you need without having to search too extensively for it. Focus on stacking and saving space with the label facing outward.

6.) Organize Your Virtual Desktop: Electronic files also clutter up your computer and this can make it difficult to find things. Use the same processes above for your computer. Make sure you are using proper labels for items and you are placing them in their proper folder.