How often do you have to spend several minutes or even the entire day looking for something that was right there in front of you at work? Well, we all have been there at some point. The reason why it happens is the fact that our work desks are usually cluttered and messy.
Each employee is given a limited space where they've got to accommodate everything, from work documents to office equipment to their personal belongings like coffee mugs and water bottles. Understandably, the space on the work desk may not be sufficient to accommodate everything, so your work desk may look cluttered.
However, that doesn't imply that you don't try to keep your workspace organized. There are numerous ways to organize your workspace. You may wonder why put in any extra effort to do something that isn't really necessary. Well, the answer to your question is that keeping your workspace organized has got plenty of benefits.
Continue reading this blog post to learn about the surprising benefits of organizing your workspace and how you can do it.
How Can Keeping Your Workspace Organized Benefit You?
One thing is given; an organized workspace looks good. Apart from looking aesthetically appealing, an organized workspace offers many other benefits as well.
Let's see what benefits keeping your workspace organized has got to offer.
1. A Good First Impression
Imagine walking into an office for an interview and finding the office space extremely unorganized, cluttered, and messy. What first impression will you make? You'll assume that all the processes of the organization will be as unorganized as the physical office space. In all honesty, it's hard to believe that an organization will have smooth and well-thought processes when the basic matter (cleanliness and organization) isn't addressed.
Needless to say, keeping your office space organized and neat will leave a good first impression on clients and potential employees who visit the office for interviews.
2. Saves Time
The most obvious benefit of keeping your workspace organized is that it helps save time. The time you spend looking for things at work just because you didn't keep them in an organized manner will, straightaway, be saved. You can use the time you would otherwise spend on searching for what you need to do something more productive. Let's look at it this way; you've got an important presentation to complete before lunch, and you can't find a very important reference document that you need to complete it. You'll spend the time you could have invested in finalizing your presentation searching for that document. You could have saved valuable time if you had kept your workspace properly organized.
3. Enhances Productivity and Efficiency
Another way keeping your workspace organized benefits you is its impact on your productivity and efficiency. Just like we explained above, an organized workspace enables you to put your time to the best use. Instead of spending time looking for things that hinder your efficiency, you can spend the time doing something that counts. When everything is organized, you'll know what's where and can retrieve it when you need it and get things done on time. Not being able to find important documents or basic office equipment like a stamp when you're short on time can also frustrate you, and that can decrease your productivity further.
4. Improves Concentration
Clutter can be a major distraction at work. Your eyes may get diverted to the mess on your workstation and distract your focus, but when your workspace is neatly organized, a distraction from this source will be reduced significantly. The worst thing is that clutter isn't the only distraction at work. You'll be constantly distracted by people around you, your phone, the noise in the office, etc. You can't do much about distractions around you, but you certainly can reduce clutter and prevent yourself from getting distracted due to an unorganized workspace.
5. Improves Mood
A messy workstation can impact your mood directly. If your workspace is cluttered and untidy, you won't feel like working at all. Your mood will be edgy and irritable, and this will impact your productivity. Having an organized workspace not only makes you more focused on your work but also makes you feel good about your work and yourself! The better your mood is, the better you'll perform.
6. Reduces Stress
Cluttered spaces promote stress. If your workspace isn't organized, you'll experience greater stress levels, and when you're stressed, your productivity, efficiency, mood, and morale will get affected. You'll be surprised to see how your stress levels decrease after you organize your workstation and eliminate all the clutter!
7. You'll Feel More Positive
Starting your day by organizing your workspace and readying it for the busy day ahead puts you in work mode. Getting done with the first task of the day (organizing your workspace) successfully will pump positivity into you, and you'll take up the challenges and tasks that come your way during the day positively. This positivity will reflect in your performance.
Workspace Organizing Tips
By now, you already know how keeping your workspace organized can benefit you. This brings us to another important part of the discussion: how to keep your workspace organized so that you can reap the maximum benefits of an organized workspace.
Well, keeping your workspace organized is no rocket science. It's pretty easy.
We've listed down some tips to help you keep your workspace organized and neat at all times!
Keep a Trash Can Nearby
The chances you'll keep accumulating trash on your work desk if there's no trash can nearby are high. And it's understandable too. Imagine taking a document printout only to find a typing error in it. It's of no use to you now. Will you leave your work desk and walk all the way to the trash can to discard it, or will you rather leave it there on your desk and get down to correcting the error and getting your work done right away? Well, we would do the latter.
This is why we suggest you keep a trash can nearby where you can easily reach it. If there's any wastage during work, you can easily toss it in the bin then and there. This will ensure that the trash doesn't build up on your desk.
Clear Your Desk at the End of Work Day
Coming to work to a cluttered and messy desk can be off-putting and can instantly change your mood. You may get frustrated without knowing why and might start work without clearing the desk. This way, clutter will continue to build up. One of the best ways to ensure your workspace doesn't get cluttered enough to affect your mood and productivity is to clear your desk at the end of every working day. Organize your desk before leaving for home so that you can start the next day fresh!
Use Cable Organizers
One of the biggest reasons why a workspace may look cluttered is the scattered cables. Scattered cables not only make your workspace look bad, but also pose a safety risk. One way to sort the cables is to use a cable organizer to keep all cables neatly together.
Use an Under-Desk Drawer
You can also set an under-desk drawer to accommodate work essentials that you usually keep on your workstation. Having fewer things on your workstation will make it look nice and presentable and will also ensure your maximum productivity at work. Under-desk drawers can be used as additional storage space if the space that's presently available starts to feel insufficient.
Install a File Cabinet
Files and folders can take up a lot of space on your work desk and if stacking them on shelves makes your workspace look cluttered and untidy. One way to address this problem and make your workspace look well organized is to install a file cabinet like the Mobile File Cabinet 026 to store your files neatly inside. You can use a file cabinet to arrange the files in an orderly fashion so that when you need a specific file, you can quickly retrieve it from the cabinet.
Final Word
Organizing your workspace requires you to put in conscious effort. Accumulating trash at work is a normal practice, and this is what makes your workspace look untidy and messy. You may still not take workspace organization seriously, but once you experience the difference, you'll never want to go back to having an unorganized workspace!
