How Important is a Clean Desk?

A colleague of mine gave me an article last week that posed the question, “Does having a messy desk affect our productivity, stress, and possibly our career?”  I decided to research this topic for this month’s newsletter.  Upon reading I found that the FBI has special investigators who visit the desks of criminals to learn more about them.  The FBI doesn’t publish their data, but the University of Texas does, and it says that those with messy desks are found to be “less efficient, less organized, and less imaginative than people with clean desks.” 

Ok, so most of us aren’t criminals, but if the FBI looks at peoples’ desks to determine things about them, are our employers doing the same thing?  According to a study commissioned by DYMO Corporation, of the 2,600 bosses surveyed worldwide, 51 percent agreed that there is a link between a worker’s organizational skills and job performance.  In fact, employers are more likely to promote neat workers over messy ones. 

With information like this, it makes sense that we should do everything we can to keep our desks neat and tidy (at least most of the time).  Here are some tips on how to do just that: 

1. Use in-boxes.  Have at least 2 boxes – one for “in” items such as unread mail and one for “to file” items.  When the “to file” box starts to get full, that is your cue to take a few minutes and put those items in your reference filing system.
2. IGNORE the saying, “touch a piece of paper only once.”  In reality, we may have to touch a piece of paper several times; however, the key is not to just keep moving it around on top of our desk.  Use permanent action files such as “to pay,” “waiting on response,” or “discuss with spouse.”  Then, when you have paid it, received a response, or discussed it, you can apply the F.A.T. system and file, act on, or toss the item.
3. Organize your desk at the end of every day.  Take the last 15 minutes of your day, whether it is at 4:45pm of an 8-5 job or if you are a stay-at-home mom and it is 8:30pm when the kids go to bed, and use that time to file away items or prioritize for the next day.  It is much easier to be productive when you start your day ready and prioritized.
4. Strive for practicality, not perfection.  Remember, our desks our not going to be perfect when we return from a two week vacation and dump all of the mail on it, or when we are in the middle of working on a huge project.  Use your organizing systems as consistently as you can, and give yourself a break when necessary.
5. Schedule “file clean out days” at your office or in your home office at least once a year.  Since we only use about 20% of what we keep and since information changes so rapidly, much of what we have can be tossed after a year or so.  If we keep our files cleaned out regularly, we will have a place to put all of those items that are currently sitting on our desks.
6. Archive some of your paperwork.  There is no reason to keep tax returns, years of company financial records, or years of personal banking records in your office.  Buy inexpensive filing boxes at your local office supply store and file them away in your attic or basement.  If you are worried that you won’t be able to find them later, use a system such as The Paper Tiger (www.thepapertiger.com) which guarantees that you can find anything you have filed in 5 seconds or less!
7. Lastly and most importantly, if you are busy, hire someone to help you file.  The investment in teaching them your filing system may be worth hours of free time in your schedule to devote to money-making activities, more time on the golf course, or time teaching your five year old how to ride their 2-wheel bike.

Happy filing!

Nicole
nicole@organize2optimize.com