When you want to be able to glide through the working day without a hitch, your environment can make all the difference to your success. You are a product of it, you will be influenced by it, and you’ll certainly be distracted by it.

Check out my ultimate guide for office declutter and how to create the ultimate creative space.

To get things moving in the right direction, let’s take a look at 15 ways you can declutter and get seriously creative.

Tips and Tricks To Decluttering Your Office Space

Put your phone away!

First things first, you need to put the ultimate tool of distraction away. Unless you need it for your work right there and then, pop it in your desk drawer.

Having it out on your desk won’t work, because before you know it there’ll be an alert or a message to distract you. Popping it in your drawer on silent is a proven way to get more done.

Tidy those cables away

A messy desk is not the sort of place you can get down to serious creative work. If you have wires and charging cables strewn across the desk, then this will prove to be a distraction.

You’ll be far more likely to keep the rest of the office tidy if you push the cables to one side and root them neatly. It might sound like a small thing, but add enough small gains together and you’ll see significant changes to your outcome.

Have an in-tray

When you have paperwork that you need to get through, it’s no good if you can’t find it. Keep everything in a centralized location and you’ll be able to get into your work much faster when the time comes to do it.

And an out-tray

The same goes for work that you want to delegate or pass on. Keep it centralized and it’ll be much easier to get it done. Simple right?

Throw away old copies

Annotating hard copies is still a great way to assimilate new information, but don’t go overboard. Keep your notes in order, file away what you want to keep, and recycle the rest.

That way you won’t be overrun by piles of paper you haven’t read for two months.

Don’t eat at your desk

In the email era, it’s all too tempting to keep working at your desk and eat a sandwich when you get hungry. Not only is this bad for your concentration, but it’s also a sure-fire way to get a messy working environment.

Food wrappers and waste will soon become commonplace, and before you know it your once clean and tidy creative space will better resemble a dumping ground.

A bottle of water is all you need

Novelty mugs, snacks, and sandwiches might make you feel at home; but they won’t ensure you get more done. The secret is to keep things minimalist so that you have fewer and fewer distractions.

A bottle of water is all you need to get you through until lunch, and it won’t take up much space either.

Have a to-do list on your desktop

Having pages of notes on what you need to do is a bad idea when it comes to being creative and productive. Keep a running list on your desktop so that you have one less thing cluttering up your desk.

No more sticky notes on your monitor

Sticky notes fall off, get moved, and never get thrown away when they are out of date. If you need to write things down, keep a work journal in a hardbound notebook.

By centralizing everything you’ll be ensuring you only have to look in one place for that crucial piece of information.

Use a docking station for your laptop

Docking stations are a great way to sync your laptop to your desktop computer. Invest in one that does everything automatically and you’ll be able to hit the ground running when you get into the office in the morning.

Clean your desk on a Friday afternoon

A quick clean and tidy once a week is the best way to stay on top of things. Do it as one of the last things you do before the weekend, and you’ll feel all the better for it on a Monday morning.

Use wall planners to maximize space

Making use of all that wall space you have at your disposal is essential if you want to take your creativity and productivity to new heights. Outline timelines, key dates, and milestones so that you can see what’s going on at a glance.

Corner desks give you twice the space

If you have the option, then a corner desk will be a great addition to the office. By essentially having two conjoining work surfaces you’ll be able to work on large projects when you need to be able to stand back and see everything all at once.

Ideal if you want to immerse yourself in the detail so you can come up with something new.

Keep the pictures to a minimum

Family photos, cartoons, sports calendars; you name it you’ll have probably seen it in an office. Whilst they may make you feel at home, they won’t do much for your creativity.

Keep the outside distractions to a minimum and you’ll be able to extract that extra 10% from yourself that will make all the difference to the quality of your output.

Make everything easy

The best way to turn your office into an oasis of creativity is to make things nice and easy. Keep everything easily accessible, give plenty of thought to the layout, and do away with anything that distracts you. That way you’ll have nothing else to do except get down to some serious creative work. Decluttering doesn’t have to be hard!

About Author

Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. She does her voodoo regularly on the Pick Writers blog and occasionally contributes to other educational platforms. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors. Now she had found herself as a freelance writer.