With the pressures of the modern workday constantly raining down upon employees, it comes as no surprise that individuals tend to put off organizing their desks as often as possible. It may not seem like it, but a clean and well-organized desk is crucial in maintaining the mindset and well-being of an employee.
In this article, we discuss some of the easiest methods you can use to clean your office desk.
Purge Before Cleaning Your Desk
A purge is absolutely crucial in helping you eliminate a bunch of unessential items and achieve a clean desk. It may be difficult to manage the numerous artifacts on your desk currently, but by removing a heap of items right off the bat, it makes matters a lot easier for you.
It is best to be unemotional when purging your desk. Some items belong there, and some don’t! It is important to recognize which is which and dispose of the unnecessary ones from your desk immediately.
Clean Your Desk
Now that the purge has been executed, you can now begin to earnestly clean your desk. First, make sure to remove all the items and tools that you have decided to keep on your desk, and place them in a box for the time being.
Finally, there is an empty desk in front of you and you can begin wiping it down using a damp cloth to help collect all the dust. Using a mind disinfectant spray on the cloth before beginning the wipe down all surfaces can really help clear out the dust. If your desk is not all that dirty, you can simply use water to dampen the cloth.
Now that the dust has been removed from the desk, you can utilize a cleaner to wipe down the desk one last time. If you’re using a wooden desk, this is the point you can use a wood polish to bring out the shine from your table.
Read more: How to Clean Offices, Buildings and Other Commercial Spaces
Organize the Mess in Your Desk
Your desk is now spick and span, waiting to be organized based on your necessity. This is a crucial juncture as the organizational method you employ can be replicated time and time again, thereby making your desk easier and easier every time.
You should also be prepared to take your time with this stage as organizing and removing everything from your desk is definitely the most time-consuming step of the process.
Begin by sorting out all the documents and paperwork on your table and creating piles based on commonalities. This can include a simple system such as: important documents, immediate documents, and documents for later dates.
This is also the phase where you dispose of any unnecessary paperwork or documents that have lost their significance.
Once the paperwork has been sorted, you can also begin to organize your supplies in a way that works best with your personal preferences.
Designate Trays or Boxes to Organize Everything
Once the piles of documents have been properly sorted out, you can use additional organizing tools such as boxes and trays in order to place them in a proper location. If there isn’t enough space on your clean desk to place all these important documents, you can always look to acquire a filing cabinet in order to make matters easier on yourself.
Tidy Everything Up
Now that the hard part is behind you, you can begin to wind down on the cleaning by tidying up any stray items that may be laying loosely on the area. This is the last step of your cleaning process, and it gives you one last chance to remove any unwanted items and also place everything necessary in the right location.
Schedule Regular Cleaning
Now that you’ve finally arranged your way to a clean desk, you can begin to schedule the next session to keep the streak going. Yes, the true key to a clean desk is the scheduling of regular cleaning sessions in order to ensure that the mess never really builds up over time.
How to Clean Your Desk: Additional Tips
Here are some additional pointers to help you manage the whole thing better:
- It’s always a good idea to try and straighten up your desk at the end of each day as much as possible. It may not be possible to do this everyday, but it’s a good habit to develop to take the load off the official cleaning days.
- Employ professional help from time to time to really get your desk to sparkle. You’re certainly not a professional at cleaning, but you can get the job done by being regular at it. Employing a professional office cleaning service once every few months, however, will really help you make the most of your workspace.
- Try and eliminate as many distractions as possible when you’re cleaning out your desk. The point of your cleaning should be to minimize clutter and ensure that you can boost your overall efficiency.
- Make sure to organize your essentials in a way where everything is within reach. This is one of the milestones of improving your efficiency at your desk. The right item or folder should always be within reach to ensure that you save plenty of time in the long run.
- Try to think of your desk as a prime real estate location. Only the truly worthy make it all the way there. For all the “unworthy” items that still require your attention from time to time, you can always use a shelf or a filing cabinet.
Clean and Clear
The state of a clean desk closely resembles the mindset of an employee. Clutter on the desk equals clutter in the mind. There are no two ways about this.
It can be shocking to see how little changes can affect our well-being dramatically. The simple act of cleaning and organizing the top of your desk can be therapeutic to individuals, not to mention the fact that they also greatly boost productivity.
Cleaning your desk regularly isn’t something that should be done for the sake of the organization, but in fact for the sake of one’s own well-being.
