Is Your Desk A War Zone?
Are you Inundated by information?

People today are inundated by information. Where ever someone goes, looks at or listens to, they are bombarded by messages of one kind or another. Some of it can be managed. The phone can be put down, email closed, TV and radio shut off. It is the stuff sent or given to us that truly clutters our lives.

Where ever someone goes, looks at or listens to, they are bombarded by messages of one kind or another. Some of it can be managed. The phone can be put down, email closed, TV and radio shut off. It is the stuff sent or given to us that truly clutters our lives.

New mail, reports on various clients or from different departments, business proposals, invoices, industry mailings, magazines and advertisements are just a part of what could find a place on your desk each day. In most cases, we all seem to be firefighters at work. We run from issue to client to meeting so often, the items on our desk are the last things we ever get to. If you string a few of those days together, your desk will disappear under mountains of paperwork.

Not having enough space in your primary work zone creates stress and increases the risk of injury. You may find yourself performing extended reaching, working in awkward postures and generally more fatigued. Inadequate leg clearance constricts movement and limits circulation. Monitor Screen clutter is also an issue and may contribute to eyestrain, neck strain and shoulder strain.

Disorganization of employees can cost companies thousands of dollars.

According to Fellows, It is estimated that an employee wastes an hour a day looking for misplaced items. If you estimate the cost based on a company with 100 employees, an average annual salary of $60,000, a 40-hour workweek and 2 weeks of vacation. The wasted time adds up to:

• $15,000 per week
• $65,000 per month
• $780,000 per year

43% of Americans categorize themselves as disorganized, and 21% have missed vital work deadlines. Nearly half say disorganization causes them to work late at least 2 or times each week.
Jane Von Bergen, “So many reasons to neaten up…”, Boston Globe 3/12/06
Esselte survey, David Lewis
So how do we fix the mess on our desks? Here are some ideas to get things moving in the right direction.

Here are some ideas to get things moving in the right direction.

1. Place items most frequently used within minimal arms reach

2. Remove any items under your desk that impede your leg clearance

3. Time-block a section of time on your calendar and treat it like a meeting, the work on the desk would get the attention it needs and maybe save you some stress and maybe even your job. Pick Friday afternoons, this way when you walk in on Monday morning, you have a clean desk and know what the priorities are for that day.

4. Use the TV show “Clean Sweep” idea of three piles or containers. The “keep” pile is the one with all of the important paperwork that cannot be lost.

5. The “move” pile is for anything you want to take home or that another person could use. Magazines or other industry specific items that you might need to refer back to would go here. Use a drawer or plastic box to store these in and “move” the magazines there.

6. Everything else goes in the toss pile to be shredded, recycled or disposed of.

Unless that is the actual goal, the surface of your desk doesn’t have to be sterile and completely devoid of paper. The objective is to organize your desk so that it increases efficiency and decreases the risk of injury. If that means several neat piles on your desk, then so be it, as long as everything you keep helps you meet your goal of increased efficiency.

These are just a few ideas to help you streamline your work environment. These same concepts can work in your home as well.

Please respond and give me your opinion of these suggestions and I hope some of my faithful readers send in suggestions and tips of their own that work for them.

Photo Al Gore in his office (Steve Pyke for Time).