How to Organize Your Home Office Desk
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Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Whether you’re still working from home, or heading back to the office, it’s essential to keep your home desk organized. When your desk is free of distractions and clutter, you have no prior associations with your space and can think more freely and expansively about new possibilities.
You can’t expect to do good work if your desk is littered with papers, empty coffee mugs, and granola bar wrappers. You might claim to thrive amidst the chaos, but your subconscious would beg to differ. For most, the only items sitting on your desk should be a water bottle, journal and pen, a computer, and a touch of meaningful visual flair.
The best way to maintain a decluttered work space is to have a home for all your items. It’s much easier to continuously put things back where they belong when they have a place to live. It’s much easier to maintain a neat space if you love and respect it from the get-go!
This is where some restrained visual flair comes into play – just make sure it’s meaningful and inspiring to your work at hand. A photo of you and your cat might be nice, but what about an inspiring motivational quote instead? Stressed at work? What about placing an essential oil diffuser on your desk to create a more calming atmosphere.
Add more vitality to your desk with some succulents or mini plants (just avoid cactuses, which according to Feng Shui, have the effect of chasing away potential business partners and customers!). Fluorescent lights got you down? Swap them out with a playful studio desk lamp like this one from Schoolhouse. The possibilities are endless when it comes to visual flair, but I truly believe it encourages you to keep your space spotless and clutter-free.
To minimize clutter (especially paper clutter), digitize as many files as you can and print your documents only if absolutely necessary. Use a shredder to regularly encourage paper decluttering (also makes for a randomly satisfying activity) and recycle the other non-sensitive material in a chic wastebasket. Invest in a filing cabinet like this one from Poppin, which is chic enough to get you excited to file documents (instead of those grey clunky ones from the 80s).
Fill them with brightly colored file folders and make sure each one is specific enough so you know what’s in it, but not too specific so that you end up with one document inside. You’ll instantly clear the clutter away from your desk, and spend significantly less time searching for documents.
If you prefer to have something directly on your desk, IKEA makes a sleek-looking drawer system for more minimal filing needs (just make sure to label each tray). I recommend keeping office supplies like pens, pencils, and paper clips tucked away in a desk drawer organizer. Invest in sturdy, multi-compartment ones like this one from Cantara, which is a cut above the rest for having storage compartments in varying sizes.
As for electronics, not enough attention is paid to wire organization! To avoid that unsightly (and potentially dangerous) tangle of cables behind your desk, invest in a cable organizer like this one from Humanscale. And if you’ve got lots of cables stashed away in your drawers, consider neatly wrapping them up with fun, brightly-colored Gear Ties.
Happy working!