This 5s Japanese principle will help you declutter your desk and keep it organized

This 5s Japanese principle will help you declutter your desk and keep it organizedThis 5s Japanese principle will help you declutter your desk and keep it organizedClutter makes you less productive.Your office space is just as important as your home space.If you spend a greater percentage of your time at work, its worth giving that space some attention to do your best work.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreThe mess on your work desk inhibits your overall productivity because everything is competing for your limited mental resources.The more stuff you have around your immediate work environment, the more each item competes for nerven betreffend representationi.e, your attention.A disorganized desk makes it harder to focus, according toresearch.So the more clutter kept on your desk, the harder it is to process information and switch between tasks successfully.Think about how stresse d you are when you cant find something (if you have to keep moving objects every day, or you cant see your desktop, its time to declutter your workspace).If you have to keep a few important things on your desk, follow the essentials only rule, according to Jennifer Ford Berry, best-selling author of theOrganize Now. Keep the items you need to get your job done within arms reach?- ?and only those items, she says.To improve mental clarity and concentration, keep items you rarely use away from your desk. Non-essentials should always be kept in desk drawers.Aim to make the space as open as possible.Use the5-S Principleto clear yourdesk5Sis a simple method for organizing your workplace in a clean, and efficient way to enhance productivity.Its the name of a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words Sort (Seiri), Set In Order (Seiton), Shine (Seiso), Standardize (Seiketsu), and Sustain (Shitsuke).Make work easier by eliminating obstacles (Sort)Arrange all necess ary items so that they can be easily selected for use (Set In Order)Clean your workplace on a daily fundament completely or set cleaning frequency (Shine)Maintain high standards at all times (Standardize)Self-discipline also translates as do without being told(Sustain)Its a simple principle to maintain a productive desk.You can use it as a guide just before you leave the office to declutter your desk.The last 20 minutes of your workday is the perfect time to prepare fortomorrowYou can easily embrace the declutter habit if you clear your desk before leaving the office.Clutter isnt evil during a project, but it certainly isnt necessary all the time. Thats why I adopted the practice of desktop zero, just like inbox zero for email At the end of a task or project, I clear my desk of everything I dont need sitting out, says Jeff Sanders, author ofThe Free-Time FormulaandThe 5 A.M. Miracle.When in doubt, rearrange.Your workspace is now your command center.You dont even have to spend a lot of time tidying your desk. A simple re-arrangement of essential objects can do the trick.Put frequently-used items on your dominant side. This saves you time.You wont need to reach across to grab an essential item when necessary.Getting up even just once a day for a pencil or paper clip is shutting your brain off a project you are working on and you will have to come back and re-center, says Amy Trager, a certified professional organizer.If you still feel still distracted after rearranging objects, try sweeping everything off your desk, except the computer, phone, planner, notepad, pen, and desk trays if use them to organize papers.Keep it nicht unter and functional with only the items you use every day.You can go a step further by making the one thing youre working on the only thing that gets to occupy space on your desk.Be deliberate and selective about what goes where.The same desk arrangement may not work for everyone.Adjust your workspace according to how you work. If you do a lot of brainstorming, paper trays, pens, and highlighters might be your essentials.If your work is primarily digital, a minimal approach ( computer, journal, and a pen) may be your essentials.Organize your desk based on how you get things done.For maximum productivity, reassess how frequent you use essential items on your desk. Take a weekly scan of your desk to make sure everything still deserves a spot on your desk.Commit to a personal organizational system to keep your desk clutter free.This article first appeared on Medium.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people