Be Systematic When Clearing Office Clutter

Embracing a small space mindset (which I highly recommend) starts with decluttering your workspace. In this next installment of my series, I’m doing a deeper dive on the second of the three strategies for organizing your space. Your goal should be to focus on being systematic when clearing office clutter and not  like a ball in a pinball machine.  

Bouncing from one side of your space to the other will not be helpful. By doing this, you’ll get even more overwhelmed and distracted. Hence, you won’t make any visible progress. Without this, you’ll lose your motivation for completing this task.

Instead, pick a starting point. It could be the most frequently used area of your space like a corner of the desk, a drawer, or a section of the floor. Start by reviewing all the items in that space as you slowly move across the area from right to left, top to bottom. 

While doing this, look for the trees in the forest. Be sure to not overlook any items that have taken root and have become part of your workplace forest. During this first pass, focus on the items where the decisions will be easy.  Trash, recycle, put away, file so you clear the first layer of clutter. Additional passes will be needed and the decisions may take longer to make.  I’ll be sharing the key decision-making questions in my next blog so check back.  

I encourage you to be systematic when clearing office clutter as the results will be well worth your efforts. If you have a home office and are interested in additional strategies for having an organized space, this podcast interview that I did will be helpful. Check it out.

If you have any questions concerning how to get started, let’s talk.