January 1 brings with it each year a brand new blank slate, an opportunity for starting over fresh and adopting new habits. It’s a great time to make little changes to help improve your life! 

If you’re not sure where to start, or if change makes you uncomfortable, starting small still counts as starting. 

Why not begin your 2024 by decluttering your workspace? An open, tidy work environment can help you feel less stressed, more focused and can help you be more productive. 

Here’s how to declutter your work area and why it might help you be a better employee. 

• Start with the necessities. You know what you need to do your job. Make sure those things have the most prominent placement on your workspace, without anything covering them or making them hard to reach. If anything in your space impedes your ability to access what you need to complete your tasks, determine whether it needs to be moved to a different location or, in the case of extra papers, tossed into the recycling bin. The necessities should be in easy, quick access without hunting, digging or wasting time.

• Establish spaces. What’s the first thing you do when you come in each morning? What is the first thing on your to-do list? In order to start your day right and efficiently, have a space designated for your to-do list and immediately know what you need to complete it. To help keep cords from getting tangled, keep your phone cord separated and in a different spot from your keyboard cord, for example, so you don’t get tied up or restricted unexpectedly when busy. Organizing your work space into segments to keep things tidy, even during the busiest times, can help you feel less stressed and more prepared. 

• Organize your time. It’s so easy to get distracted by messages, notifications, alerts, calls on your cell phone, etc. Most of us don’t realize how a few minutes here and there can lead to hours of time lost each month! To address your impulse to check messages as they come in, and to ensure a timely response without shifting away from projects every few moments, establish a schedule. Set alarms and organize your calendar so you have designated time to check your emails and reply to them; establish another bit of time each day to respond to phone calls you missed and reply to voicemails. Your lunch break is a great time to check personal messages and address them. You’ll get so much more done when you can dedicate your attention to your work! 

• Take breaks. Speaking of lunch, it’s vitally important to take your lunch break and a few shorter breaks during the day. Our brains don’t work optimally when they’re forced to stay focused and involved only in one task. Instead, we need to look at different things, get some fresh air, get some nutrition and water and think about something else for a little while. That’s what keeps up our ability to concentrate and be effective in our work. Breaks are also an opportunity to socialize a little with colleagues, forging relationships that help make work a more pleasant place to be. 

• If you don’t need it, toss it. When you’ve completed a project, put it away. File away in a drawer for future reference or otherwise take it off your desk — out of sight, out of mind and making it easier to move on to the next item. If there are papers, of any kind, you no longer need because a task is completed or they hold no relevance, it’s time to throw them into the recycling bin. It’s so easy for paper in particular to pile up and take over your workspace, undoing all your good work and making it difficult to find what you actually need. Don’t feel guilty about getting rid of something you don’t need – it’s creating space for what you do! 

Being able to find what you need, having a clear space in which to work and keeping your most important items and priorities in front of you are a great way to improve your focus and productivity. All of this can boost your mood, reduce your stress and help set your year off on a great foot! 

If the changes you’ve made to improve and declutter your workspace don’t help you feel less stressed, or if it’s not enough to make you feel happier, maybe it’s time to make a change? When the time comes to try something new, call Davis Staffing, Our recruiters can help you find a new career that better aligns with your interest and passions and makes you excited to come to work every day. Take a look at the jobs we have available today, then pick up the phone and call Davis Staffing to get started!