Do you ever feel overwhelmed when doing your office work and meeting deadlines? Most of us have experienced this, and we find ourselves unable to focus.

One of the culprits affecting your concentration at work may be your messy desk. Whether you work in your home office or a professional environment, cleaning the workspace is as important as cleaning the house.

When you clean things up, clear off dust and arrange stuff, you will feel absolute mental peace. This same mental peace can be enjoyed if you declutter your workspace. A clean environment made you feel at ease and promoted motivation for work.

Over time, your workspace will collect dust and papers no longer required. Apart from that, you may see spare clips, pens, and other stationery items that are just scattered all over the place. The result is a disorganized workspace and mental tension that leaves you unable to work effectively.

Here are five tips on decluttering to free up space:

1. Sorting
Your first step for decluttering is to sort out what needs to be removed from trash, what can be recycled, and what stuff to be kept. Sorting is essential because you don’t need to throw away important work stuff. Take your time to manage the sorting carefully.

2. Filing
If you have lots of papers collected, you may want to sort them separately. Please go through all of them to ensure you don’t throw away the ones you require. Documents that are no longer needed you can take to a recycle bin. For organizing the others, buy extra files, and place them in an organized manner. You should label the files to keep track of what is what.

3. Stationery
Stationery is an essential part of the workspace. Make sure you have pen holders and other stationery organizers. If you love your things organized extremely neatly, you can buy several separate pens, pencils, and markers.

4. Use a Soft Board
Instead of having everything written down and scattered over your desk, install a soft board above your desk or in your office space. Pinup important papers and deadline reminders on the board. To add a bit of aesthetic to your environment, you can also decorate this soft board. Therefore, you will have something pretty to look at instead of a plain wall when you are tired.

5. Keep it Regular
Instead of waiting months to perform your next decluttering, do it regularly. This way, you will never have to deal with lots of unwanted stuff piling up in your workspace. Moreover, remove dust from the space periodically as well.

A clean working environment can lead to peace of mind. When you free up space, your mind will feel free as well. A clear mind helps you focus on your work, and you will find yourself far more productive.

On the other hand, a clean workspace also shows your professionalism.

Free “Declutter Your Work-Space Worksheet” to help you free up your workspace so you can reduce the mental tension that leaves you unable to work effectively.

Check out my video below, where I share with you why decluttering your workspace is essential to increase productivity and reduce mental tension.  ↓

Romina Tomas, Associate Certified Coach