Maximize Office Productivity

Taking time to create an organized office space will do wonders for your productivity, motivation, and blood pressure

Arguably one of the most important spaces in your life is where you need to get work done, where productivity is the most important outcome, and where distractions are unwelcomed and avoided; your office. Your place of employment, an office building for some, a home for others, is dependent on your productivity and your productivity is dependent on your space. Listed below are a few tips that we have gathered that should help keep your space tidy and ready for the day.

Purge

We love a good declutter/purge session, and your office space is no exception! Take the time to go through those stacks of old papers, reminders that have already served their purpose, and whatever other miscellaneous items are simply taking up space. Remember to be extra cautious when going through papers. You don’t want to throw away anything important.

Establish Zones

Gathering whatever items and supplies survived the purge, take some time to plan out where at your desk you want to place objects. We recommend creating zones based on categories. For example, keep your main area with your computer simply for computer work, have another area strictly for written work, a storage area for documents, and a supplies area to name a few. This will keep everything logically placed and organized. We also recommend a left to right workflow, with your main workstation to your left and secondary, clear zones to the right. For documents, keep them separated by long-term, short-term, and immediate importance. A perfect way to do that is with these file folder holders. For all your pens, paper clips, highlighters, and whatever else you keep at the ready, we recommend this desk caddy organizer if you don’t have a drawer to keep those supplies tucked away. If you do have a drawer, an expandable drawer organizer will do the trick.

The Desk

Moving on, it’s time to figure out the details of your desk. First, your computer monitor should be about 20 inches away from your face and the top of the monitor should be as close to eye level as possible, not the middle. If you can, we recommend a standing desk that has the option to transition in and out of sitting. This will do wonders for your health and your productivity. As for decorations, we recommend not keeping more than three personal items on display. Anymore and productivity can dip. What we do recommend is plants! There are multiple studies that correlate plants and productivity, so maybe replace that fifth cat mug you have with a succulent or two. Also, go easy on the sticky notes! They are amazingly useful but make sure you keep up with them, or before long they will conquer most of your precious desktop real estate.

The Chair

The sidekick of your physical desk is your chair. We recommend splurging a little on a high-quality office chair because this is literally where you are spending most of your day. A few factors to keep in mind for your office chair are lumbar support, depth, height, armrests and material. Lumbar support should follow that natural curve of your back (unless you have scoliosis). An adequate seat depth allows your back to be against the lumbar support of your chair while also leaving an inch or two between the back of your knees. This is the most overlooked feature in office chairs, so pay attention to those knees! Height in most office chairs is adjustable, so just remember the top of the monitor should be eye level and you should be good. Armrests should keep your arms parallel to the floor while also keeping those shoulders stress-free. And finally, material is solely personal preference, but we love a good sturdy mesh with breathability.

Your desk and workspace should be custom tailored to you. If you have other methods that work better for you, then use them! These were just a few suggestions to get on the right track. If you are prioritizing you, even while you’re at work, then you’re doing the right thing. By keeping your desk organized, you set yourself up for productivity, accomplishment, and maybe even a promotion! Good luck and get organizing!

Shop the Look: Use the pencil cup featured above to keep your desktop neat and pens at the ready.

Nathan Ray is a Content Assistant at mDesign.
He is really, really good at catching the little pieces of eggs that they throw at you at Hibachi restaurants.

How do you stay organized? We’d love to hear your story!
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