Re-energize, refuel and use springtime to the fullest by decluttering your desk and environment. A clean workspace is a great way to set yourself up for success so you can be super productive.

Step One: Declutter Your Desk

Take everything off of your desk and dust/clean it thoroughly. Make sure you especially sanitize your mouse and keyboard. If necessary, go through any drawers and discard items that are no longer used. Additionally, if you have random storage racks or things such as pencil boxes, it may be helpful to label everything.  If there are random papers, put them aside and move on to the next step.

Note, if your desk is in your room then it is absolutely necessary to deep clean your room as well. Try starting in the closet and making a pile of clothes you don’t wear anymore to donate. Then move on to making the bed, cleaning out trash bins, etc. Oh boy. If this overwhelms you, stick with the desk. Getting that squared away and organized may motivate you to tackle the rest. “Clutter of the house equals clutter of the mind.”

Step Two: Go Through Your Papers

Begin by gathering all of your loose paperwork and setting it all into a pile in front of you. Then go through each piece and set it in a pile to throw away (recycle) or file. All of the filed papers should either be put into a type of organizer of your choice (notebook, file drawer, etc.), or as mentioned later in this article, take a photo of your notes and “e-file” them.  

Step Three: Don’t Forget to Declutter Your Digital Desktop

Your computer is just as important to declutter as your physical work space. Spend some time going through the files you have on your computer and start to get rid of old files, or things you don’t need to reference anymore. We also love these desktop organization backgrounds.

Pro Tip: If you haven’t already done so, come up with an awesome way of organizing your digital folders to make staying on top of things a breeze.  Strategies like having folders for each of your classes, and sub folders for things like “Homework”, “Notes”, “Other” is helpful. If you also feel you enjoy having digital copies of things then try taking pictures of your school notes and saving them as a PDF to your computer.

Step Four: Accessorize

Now, this is the fun part! Feel free to replace any used items with clean/new substitutes. Or, add a few new additions to your desk space. Things like diffusers, plants, fun staplers, etc. can make you enjoy being at your desk a little bit more and even motivate you. We, at IET, are motivated by fun, colorful (and erasable) markers and pens.

Step Five: Maintain

Maintain it! This may seem daunting, but we can almost promise that if you keep your environment clean and organized you will be so much more productive and less stressed. No more missing papers or having to run around before school looking for homework. Try setting an alarm if you need a little extra help remembering to organize at the end of each day.

Happy Spring everyone!