How to Transform Your Desk into a Command Center

Do you know what the magic secret is to a functioning, efficient office space? Sure, a clutter free space is helpful and an organized desk is necessary. But the real key lies in transforming your workspace into a “command center.” A command center is where everything you need for your daily work is within arm’s reach. This creates a simplified, systematic work experience. It’s crucial, and the difference between just an organized space and an organized space that is productive and efficient. Organizing is more than just finding a place for everything. It also includes developing a flow and a reason for why each space is chosen – which is why a command center is so important!

Ready to give it a try? Here are this Professional Organizer’s top tips to help you turn your workspace into a command center.

Let’s start by thinking about what tasks you do on a daily basis. Make a list of what you do frequently and what tools you use to accomplish those tasks. Take inventory of where those items are located in your office. Is your trash can near your door rather than near your desk? Are you storing your active client files on the other side of your office? Two things happen when the items you need are not near you while you are working. First, you spend valuable time getting up and searching for those items throughout the day. Second, if you must get up to return an item to its proper storage place or toss out a piece of scrap paper, you may be tempted to leave those items on your desk while you continue to work. This leads to clutter and clutter can pile up fast! Third (and sometimes most important), you run the risk of being distracted by all those items littering the path between your chair and your destination and ultimately forgetting why you got up from your desk in the first place.

So how do you fix it? Now that you know what items you use with regularity, it’s time to figure out your work flow and organize your office accordingly. Take a look at the storage locations already in your office. Which ones are most accessible when seated at your desk? In most cases, the main storage location will be on or in your desk. If you take a lot of phone calls, you want to have your phone right on your desk and near the arm you use to answer calls. If you take a lot of notes, have a notepad and pens in the drawer of your desk nearest you. Try and keep items that are used together in close proximity to each other. For example, keep a ream of paper near your printer. When you are thinking about which items to store where, remember to keep the items used most often in the nearest drawers and shelves to you, and the items you use slightly less in the next set of drawers or shelves.

An important key to making this work is ridding your office of the excess items. It’s important to have a backup supply of items you often use, like pens or file folders, but not all of those items need to be stored right within your most valuable space. Store some of those items in your desk, and then store the excess in a filing cabinet or a shelf elsewhere in your office. Don’t clutter up valuable storage space with excess. Keep enough to keep you productive and store the rest!

Your goal in creating a functioning command center is minimizing the times during the day that you need to disrupt your workflow to go across the room to find an important file or locate your calendar to note an office meeting. Utilizing these tips to transform your desk into a command center means you are well on your way to increasing your productivity and efficiency! If you need help, reach out to this Professional Organizer in NYC and I can help create the functioning office space that you need.