I hope you are sitting down because I’m going to say something shocking: desk clutter is okay. However, it is only okay when it provides more advantages than disadvantages. So breathe a sigh of relief if your desk surface is never completely cleared off and re-examine what it means to be organized.
Below are a few examples of things people often label as desk clutter.
Small objects and toys
- Okay: You are a person who needs to fidget with small items in order to stay focused and be more productive.
- Not Okay: You have so many small objects and toys that you can’t find a surface to write on and you are tripping over them as they fall off your desk.
Paper piles
- Okay: You are working on a project and the piles contain papers you need to reference immediately. Or your pile takes up a small area of your desk and is usually gone by the end of the week.
- Not Okay: Your paper piles resemble Mount Everest and you can’t find what you need when you need it.
- Okay: You have deadlines looming and you don’t have time to put anything away.
- Not Okay: Always using deadlines as an excuse to not put anything away. Spending fifteen minutes a day tidying your space will make you more productive than if you used those 15 minutes to work on the project.
Sticky Notes
- Okay: When you need to write a quick memo that you will use in the next 24 hours.
- Not Okay: When they become permanent décor on your computer screen and there are so many you stop looking at them.
Food containers/coffee mugs
- Okay: When you are eating or just finished a meal but you are still on the phone or in the midst of a good writing spree.
- Not Okay: Letting the containers/dirty mugs sit there for 8+ hours. This will only attract other clutter: ants, roaches, and rodent droppings.
So before you berate yourself for having desk clutter, ask instead, “Is this clutter helping me become more productive or is it standing in the way of my success?”
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{ 2 comments }
I’ll never be a neat freak so I was feeling pretty good until you mentioned what’s not okay about piles. As I look at my piles, I realize that I have to figure out how to transfer those piles to files, where I have some degree of confidence I can find them when I need them.
I definitely have some work to do. Thanks for the article and gentle nudge.
Gabby
Thanks for allowing me to have clutter!! Actually I am doing fine on everything apart from Paper Piles – how do I get round the worry of ‘I will need that one day!’ – now I have so many bits of paper I can’t remember what is in the pile but when I review the individual papers I still have this sense that ‘I will need that one day!’.
Sue