Since we recently moved, I had a chance to revamp the way my desk was organized. Today, it suddenly occurred to me that some of my setup made absolutely no sense at all. I had arranged things so it would look nice, but things that needed to be in reach were too far away and things I didn’t need to ever touch were close by.
For example, my phone was back in a corner of my desk where I couldn’t reach it. My wireless router was within easy reach. The thing that amazed me the most is how long it took me to actually stop and think about how things were arranged.
So here is a challenge for you. Take 30 seconds and look at your desk top. Are the things you need often within close reach? Are the things you need infrequently out of the way? If not, do something about it. Standing up to answer the phone may only be a minor inconvenience, but everything that slows you down adds up over time.
Make it as easy as possible to be productive. You deserve it!
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Mark, you are of course assuming that you can find things on your desk. The phone may be close but if it’s under 4 invoices it may still be difficult to use. :-)
Yes that is a good point. If the phone is close, but hidden it is worse than being far away and easy to find.
I think optimizing for the way things look is a common problem. We make things beautiful and unusable.