Workplace and Productivity

Hey everyone, I’m Alex.

Right, after that very boring and thankfully short introduction, I’m going to write about the place that you spend most of your day at, be it your desk at work, be it your desk at home, (be it the sofa if you’re like that!) and how its appearance, cleanliness, state and how you fit into it affects your day to day workflow and productivity.

Sum it all up, I’m a slob, no wonder I can’t ever think of ways to innovate, create and no wonder why I always end up with facing the horrors of “Designersblockitis.”

So I’m going to start with a question, Look at where you are sitting and ask yourself, does this inspire creativity, productivity and hard work? As I am writing this article, I’ll take a quick look and wow, I need some serious cleanup. Just browsing, I can see; Empty Coke cans, delivery papers, my ipod nano box and all of its contents (that I bought in January), bank papers, coins, old magazines, wrappers, delivery packaging and practically everything else you could think of. Sum it all up, I’m a slob, no wonder I can’t ever think of ways to innovate, create and no wonder why I always end up with facing the horrors of “Designersblockitis.”

Right, so if you’re like me, you need to find a way to improve this situation and to create a little place where you can hide away for hours on end and actually work. So the first step I’m going to take is to sort out what I actually need on my desk from what is rubbish and what isn’t necessary at all. Taking from the most productive people in the world, you need to learn how to be completely to the point, anything you don’t need or use rarely, get rid of. After that, you should be looking a lot cleaner, give yourself a pat on the back.

Ok, so with that done, you need to organise things properly, I’m not going to tell you how to organise papers, but just make sure that everything you may need to use for references or that you use regularly is easily findable and that there is enough free space to work easily on your desk.

Right so with that done, you’re on the home straight. Having done everything so far and having a nice clean desk, you’ll need something to make it that bit more “yours”. Feel free to put some nice little items (that won’t distract you for too long) on your desk and I’d also recommend some plant life, something to grow with you and for you to take care of as you work. If you want to take your “workplace of perfection” to another level and beyond, I’d advise you read this article Creative Workplaces by the guys at Smashing Magazine, it’ll give you a lot of ideas on what you can achieve!

On an ending note, I hope this article helped you a little bit towards becoming a more productive person, (and keeping your workplace a little nicer too) If you’re interested in becoming a productivity obsessed mindless work machine, then I’ll point you towards Zen Habits, a very informative blog that’ll help you towards being a more productive and healthier person all round.

Alex.

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