What should you have on your desk?
Everything you need to do your job and as little as possible to distract you.
Is a clean desk an organized desk?
Not necessarily. If you clean your desk simply be stuffing everything into your drawers, your clean desktop may just be superficial. The best measurement of organization is how quickly you can find anything you need. If you have to spend a lot of time hunting for files and bits of information, you are not organized–no matter how clean your desktop is. Also see the post 12 Tips for an Organized Desk.
On Fridays we publish questions from our readers. If you have a question you’d like to see answer here, please send it to questions@productivity501.com.
Even though my table looks neat and clean, I still cannot work effectively knowing that I have merely stuffed the rest of the papers and whatnot inside a drawer or two. Just being organized on the surface is not enough. You really have to allot a time to clean up. Even if you can’t see the clutter, your mind can.