Five simple uncluttering tasks
Returning to the office after a long holiday weekend can be rough and unproductive. Instead of staring off into space for 15 minutes, try these quick uncluttering techniques for your desk:
- Return it. Find all of the things in your office that don’t belong to you and go on a walkabout to return the items to your coworkers.
- Take it down. Collect all the sticky notes off your monitor and enter their data into a more appropriate and permanent storage location. Check bulletin boards and vertical spaces for out-dated calendars, memos, menus, and phone directories. Recycle or shred these unnecessary materials.
- Test it. Gather together all your writing utensils, throw out any pens and markers that don’t work, and sharpen all your pencils.
- Dust it. Give your desk and electronics a pass with a dust rag. Work from the top of your office downward so that you’re not brushing dust onto something you’ve already cleaned.
- Do it. Complete any task on your to-do list that should take fewer than three minutes to finish. Set a timer for 15 minutes and get five of these tasks done right now.
If you’re still feeling unmotivated after completing these tasks, do some filing. You’ll continue to be productive without having to exert too much mental energy.
I hope your re-entry into the professional world isn’t too difficult after the holiday. Look for more ideas for quick, uncluttering tasks in the comments (or add a few if you have already discovered some easy, yet productive, tasks).
Posted by Erin on Jul 6, 2010 |
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14 comments posted
Posted by Robert Wall @ Finding Frugality - 07/06/2010
Number 1 is awesome for home decluttering too. Anything you’ve borrowed from somebody (tools, library books, movies, etc.) that you don’t need – get it out of there!
Also, every now and then I’ll have something that I want to get rid of, and I think “(pick a friend) would want this”. If you have anything like that laying around, either get it to the friend in question immediately or donate it to your favorite local thrift store.
Clutter is bad enough when it’s our own – it’s even worse when it belongs to somebody else!
Posted by Joshua Banker - 07/06/2010
Thanks, I am actually going to follow all these steps when I get into work this morning.
Posted by Ruth Hansell - 07/06/2010
Evaluate it. Do you use the stapler several times a day, or a couple times a week? Does it belong on your desktop or in the drawer?
Ruth
Posted by Michele Connolly, Get Organized Wizard - 07/06/2010
Good ideas!
I’d add:
6. Discard it. With fresh, post-holiday eyes, look for anything on your desk, in your in-tray or around your office that you don’t use or need. It’ll feel great to get rid of the clutter!
Posted by Rue - 07/06/2010
I love testing all my pens! I do this often at home.
I don’t keep many pens in my desk at work and I use even fewer of them (the extras are the type that I really like so I keep them hidden for when the ones I do use die).
I try to do all these things BEFORE a vacation day so that when I come back everything is still (hopefully) clean and uncluttered.
Posted by Jeannie @ Take Childbirth Back - 07/06/2010
Wow! I’m ashamed that #2 is a complete surprise to me. I sit here with 8 little post-it notes peeking out from under my keyboard, only because the 4-5 more had already expired by the time I looked at them yesterday. Most of them are in-between the “task” type of item and “project note” type of item, so they sit as post-it notes. I’ve got big post-its with lines on them, and just one of those will tidy this up perfectly.
Thank you!
Posted by Dawn F - 07/06/2010
Rue has the best idea – do it BEFORE vacation. It’s no fun to return to a disorganized mess at work.
I’ve got another idea – Rearrange It. Is your desk, tools, files, supplies, etc. arranged in a way in which you can be efficient throughout the day? Does everything around you flow like it should? Are you constantly getting up to get things that are out of reach while having things around you within reach that you rarely even need? Maybe a little rearranging can make the day/project/job run more smoothly and efficiently.
Great post today!
Posted by Jeanie - 07/06/2010
And I’ll add “Reconsider it”. Do I really want the 3-year old family picture on my desk? Maybe it’s time for a new one!
Posted by Joan - 07/06/2010
Same thing with your inbox – I normally maintain inbox zero at the end of each workday, but when I come back from an extended time off, I take a quick run through to delete the junk, then create broad categories of new inbox folders and file – for instance, “to do today,” “to forward” and “read and discard.”
I work as an editor at a daily newspaper, so a lot of my job is e-mail processing – sending things to various others to do. This gives me the good feeling of inbox zero and a specific plan of attack; I’ll then work through each folder and delete the folder as I empty it.
This does break the “touch it once” rule, but in my case, it helps.
Posted by chacha1 - 07/06/2010
I’m firmly in the camp of “do it the night before,” not the day I come back. In fact, I try to do these five steps daily, because there is already so much distraction in my workplace, I really get bugged out when my desk is not shipshape.
Posted by WilliamB - 07/07/2010
I do most of these things on an ongoing basis – does this mean I’m wasting time on them? I admit, though, that I don’t understand why anyone would keep a pen he knows doesn’t work. Why not toss it in the trash right then?
I have a few other brainless tasks:
- Update contact lists. This is a two-fer because it also clears out business cards (they go electronic or to my physical card file) as well.
- Go through my email “sent” file. This is only for when I’m really wiped out or really bored.
- Since most email is threaded, get rid of earlier messages that are already contained in later emails.
Posted by WilliamB - 07/07/2010
I know that when I’m away from the office for an extended period (business trip, vacation) my head isn’t in office space anymore so I need some help getting back on track. I like to leave myself a list of important ongoing projects and what I need to do next for them.
I wish I could say I do this before every absence but I try.
Posted by Lulu - 07/10/2010
I do most of these on a regular basis too, except for #3. Actually, I’m pretty bad at #3 because I think “well, this pen still works sometimes!” and keep it. And then a couple of weeks later, when I’m cleaning up, I’ll decide it’s never going to work consistently and just chuck it. Next time, I have to be willing to toss it the first time around.
I wipe down my desk area usually at least once a week. If there are stains (I think people come along and put their sticky mugs on my desk when I’m gone for the day) or if I drop crumbs while eating, I’ll do a quick wipe down then. Most of my coworkers tend to be the “visual stacker” type that has piles of paperwork everywhere (so they don’t have any desk space to wipe down), and when they see me wiping my desk, they’ll ask me to do theirs too. (I tell them to clean up first, though, which they don’t, so I don’t wipe their desks!).
I’ve just started to keep a steno notebook on my desk to jot down tasks and messages as they come in. I used to write them either on a notepad (one of those “while you were away” pads) or on a post-it (though I never stick post-its on my monitor), but I think the notebook is really useful because I can go back and look at previous days. Otherwise, I may have already tossed the post-it after I completed the task, or the loose note might be stuck in a folder somewhere.
Posted by nobu - 07/19/2010
thanks!
i introduce them to my japanese reader.
Actually, we japanese people finished three day off. so, it will be a great help for us.
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