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How 'clean off your desk' day will benefit you!

Jan 6 2017

Darren Best

Start by clearing EVERYTHING off your desk, and pick out the most important things that you want to keep, and put them to one side. Bin all the rubbish, and let’s face it, you don’t really need those 2016 post stick notes and letters strewn out on your desk. Bin all of the empty chocolate wrappers and empty crisp packets too.

Wipe down your screen with screen wipers. Wipe down your desk too, as it is probably filthy. Research has found that the average desk harbours more bacteria than the average toilet - gross!. 

Next you need to organise this into a simple system. If you have important bits of paper everywhere – organise them into folders. Make sure you can access important things you will need; like pens or a notepad. Place a bin next to your desk to toss anything you don’t need. Things that you want to keep but aren’t essential can be put into a cupboard.
 

tidy-desk

Credit: Rido/ Shutterstock

How clutter affects your productivity

Clutter and mess doesn’t help your productivity. 

 - In fact, it overloads the senses with extra stimuli and therefore erodes your ability to focus and perform creative tasks. 

 - It distracts us from the task at hand

 - With such a busy, subconscious messages are sent to our brain which makes us feel we have more to do

 - Harder to relax

 - Feelings of guilt (I should be neater) or embarrassment

 - Frustrates us

Research from Princeton university investigated task performance in an organised vs disorganised environment. Physical clutter competes for your attention, resulting in decreased performance and increased stress.

Clean desk policy

Some companies decide to enforce a Clean Desk Policy, which means that employees have to clean their desk at the end of every working day. This doesn’t just function to deal with mess and clutter, but it’s also a method of safeguarding your organisation’s sensitive information, and prevents prying eyes.

However...

Some of the messier individuals among us may not agree with a clean desk policy, as it comes across as unwelcoming and reduces the personality of an office. People do things differently; one person’s clutter is another person’s treasure!

Research from the university of Minnesota has found that being messier actually promotes creativity and new ideas. They also found messier people made healthier choices (when asked to choose between chocolate and an apple). Orderly environments encourage convention and playing it safe.

Clutter encourages problem solving approaches that boost efficiency and enhance in employees creativity in problem solving.
 

tidy-clean-desk

Credit: lumen-digital/ Shutterstock

Read more about the psychology of a clean desk! and how clutter affects your brain

Feature image credit: Rawpixel.com/ Shutterstock

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