The COVID-19 pandemic has forced businesses all over the world to move to remote work. The transition was unprecedented for many, and while we thought that working from home is a short-term solution, it’s gradually unfolding itself as the future of work—pandemic or not. News abounds with announcements of extended remote work policies, with some even allowing employees to work from home permanently.

As we may have realized by now, working from home takes twice the amount of energy. It’s half as productive too. Many of us are juggling work, kids, and household chores that keeping our home offices organized the least priority.

However, organizing your workspace and keeping it that way has significant benefits, not the least of which is increased productivity, reduced stress, improved creativity, and better work-life balance.

The Benefits of an Organized Workspace

A desk, chair, and maybe a desk office storage on top of the table are all it takes to set up a workspace. But, throughout the day, you’ll be surprised to see how much clutter can accumulate faster than you can accomplish your day-to-day tasks—paper, crumpled tissue, pens, office supplies, empty wrappers, etc. Several studies reveal that this clutter can harm your life and actually hinder your work efficiency.

Organizing is key to getting your work done and among other benefits of a clean, well sorted-out workspace include the following:

• It communicates professionalism and promotes a strong work ethic.

• It reduces the distracting elements on your table that can foster the feelings of being overwhelmed and stressed.

• It keeps you focused and efficient with the absence of distraction.

• It inspires creativity

• With a clear space comes a rational mind that helps you remember important tasks.

• It saves you from wasting time sorting through files.

How to Organize Your Home Office

To encourage creative thinking, boost productivity, and ultimately stay on top of the game, below are 10 ways to organize your workspace, including some tips to maintain it that way.

Reduce the Clutter – Start with what’s in front of you: your desk. Limit what’s on your table and keep only the items you use daily. This should reduce the need to shuffle around whenever you have to look for something. As said above, nothing fosters creativity more than a clean slate.

Discard Unnecessary Items – In relation to the above point, throw away anything that could distract you from the task at hand. Keep a trash can within reach for your garbage and a separate bin for your recyclables including bills, old documents, notebook paper, etc.

Organize Your Desk – This is where desk office storage solutions come in. Invest in organizers, pen holders, and racks to keep your pens, paperclips, documents, electronics, and loose change, just to name a few.

Use Labels – If you’re feeling a little extra, label your files, containers, and boxes to further organize your office. It should make it easy for you to locate things whenever you need them. While at it, you can also consider color-coding your documents and categorize them into the following: financial, customer data, vendor information, forms, etc.

Create Binders – Organize your documents in binders for easy grab-and-go. This is helpful if you’re meeting with a client via Zoom meeting and you need to pull their information quickly. You can use this trick for other important documents, too, like manuals, guides, etc.

Go Digital – Backup your documents so you don’t have to keep as many hard copies around your home office space. You can sign up for a cloud storage service or save them as digital copies on your local computer. What’s great about it is that you can easily make a copy of these documents and access them anywhere.

Utilize the Vertical Space – Revolutionize your walls by neatly hanging documents you use for daily reference. You can also hang a corkboard or anything you can clip, stick, or pin post-its for your day-to-day reminders. This should not only keep you ahead of your to-do list but help you avoid misplacing documents as well.

Set a Cleaning Schedule – Whether that’s at every end of the day, week, or month, set aside a time to clean your home office, purge the unnecessary items, and file away the contents of your desk according to the time you will need them again.

Takeaway

An organized work desk and a home office, overall, establishes you as a professional, promotes creativity, reduces stress, keeps you productive, and creates a healthier work environment. What’s not to love about that?

Get control of the clutter before it takes over your space. If you have any more tips to create a workspace, that’s conducive to productivity and creative thinking, leave a comment below!