Ditch the Office Desk: Organization Tips for any Business Person

If you’re anything like me, you sit in front of your desk for at least eight hours a day. It’s crazy that what I sell all day long (document storage and management solutions) took so long to find their way to my daily routine! I say it’s time to ditch the office desk. Organization hasn’t come easy for me, but what I can do is share with you some tips I’ve learned along the way to make my desk – and office – a boat load more bearable.

Office Organization: Storage
What goes where? Figure it out and keep it there. Whether you scan all your documents and build a filing system or have a hard copy filing system, keep things in their place. I’ve started a Work Day Deadline for “filing” anything on my desk. At the end of each day, prior to leaving the office, I check an “inbox” where I put every piece of paper I look at in my office each day. Before I leave, I file everything in here. Yeah, yeah – some days it’s a pain, but the next morning when I walk in, it feels great to have a clear desk and know everything’s right where it should be. I do the same thing with pens. I was astonished at how many pens I actually own when I started to take the time to put them away. (note to COO’s – saves on line item “office supplies” at the end of the year)

Office Organization: Comfort
Are you really comfortable in your office? If you’re uncomfortable, odds are your workspace is going to reflect it. Look at your desk, your chair, where your feet are. Do your feet touch the floor? Is your chair too low? Heck, does your chair feel like you’re sitting on concrete? Make some changes. Bring a chair from home. If your company won’t give you a new one, they can’t keep you from being uncomfortable. Check out one of these odd-looking but really comfy GAIAM balance ball chairs or one of the ergo chairs offered from someplace like Office Depot. If you can’t bear to spend the cash, head to one of the office furniture clearance centers in your area. Stores like Cort have clearance centers nationwide and you can sometimes get a pretty good deal on next-to-new.

Office Organization: Computer
Does your desktop look like a collage? Is there more on your desktop than actually in folders in your filing cabinet? Scary. I know, I’ve been there. Take ten minutes each morning and pull a John Cushman: I clean up anything I’ve quickly saved to my desktop and either file it in a folder or delete it.   I actually have a folder on my desktop called “inbox” and everything thing goes there.  This gives me one place to “collect” electronically.  This process gives me clean edges and forces me to stay clean with my computer. I preach “find it in 30 seconds” all day long. Now I live it on my computer as well.

Of course, you can’t just throw everything into an inbox (electronic, wire mesh, or otherwise) and become super organized.  You need to go through this stuff and figure out what to do about it.  To give you a highlevel look at my workflow (thanks David Allen) take a look at the diagram below.  At the very least, this can help you work through your inbox, and stay focused.

Posted by: John Cushman on May 4th, 2010 // View Comments
Posted in: News
Tags: office organization
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