There’s no better feeling than the first real day of Spring after so many months of cold and darkness. The sunlight is sticking around a bit longer and the days are getting warmer — just how we like it. As if the weather wasn’t enough to make us more productive, this season of renewal enhances the effect of new beginnings. And what better way to start fresh than to clean up your space?
This kind of mindset can give you a burst of productivity at work. Here are 8 Spring cleaning tips to help you take advantage of this and improve your focus.
1. CLEAN YOUR WORK SURFACES
Find a home for anything and everything that is on your desk. Whether it is pens, notebooks, post-it notes — they should all be put away in a drawer and out of sight. If you need them, you will visit this drawer and pick what you need. Or better yet, throw away the items that you don’t need anymore. Then, use your surface cleaner of choice to scrub surfaces and freshen things up.
2. ORGANIZE DIGITAL CLUTTER
If you’re anything like us, you’ve been meaning to do this for a while but never have the time. Set aside an hour in your workday, put on a good podcast or TV show, and organize all the files on your phone and computer. This includes documents that live on your desktop instead of in folders, and apps that are scattered throughout your phone. This will help you avoid wasting time looking for these things in the future.
3. SORT THROUGH YOUR PAPERWORK
If you have a ton of paperwork laying around your office, it’s time to sort through it. Keep your shredder close by to destroy the paperwork you don’t need anymore and a paper folder to store away the documents you still need. You can also use a phone scanner app (like Tiny Scanner) to quickly and easily scan documents, and then store them digitally.
4. GET RID OF UNUSED SUBSCRIPTIONS
Look through your bank statements for the past 30-60 days and identify all of the recurring subscriptions that you’re paying for (note that some might be charged annually, so you may need to look further). Whether these subscriptions are for software you don’t use that much at work, or an app on your phone you didn’t even realize you are still paying for, take the time to unsubscribe from everything that isn’t valuable to you anymore.
5. THROW AWAY ANYTHING THAT IS BROKEN OR UNUSABLE
The first place you should look for broken and used-up things is your stash of pens — because we’re all guilty of keeping pens that don’t work anymore. Take the time to try them all out to see if they still work and throw away the ones that don’t. This goes for anything else in your office space that may be broken and useless as well, like a charger cord that doesn’t work anymore.
The exception here is some things that are “broken” that might be worth fixing, like a lamp that has a blown lightbulb or a printer that’s out of ink. Take a few minutes to fix these items, or decide to donate them. Nothing unusable should be taking up valuable real estate in your workspace.
6. DIGITIZE YOUR BUSINESS CARDS
If you have a stack of business cards laying around, digitize them. Whether it’s by adding them all to your email address book, your phone contacts, or even a spreadsheet — there’s no reason for you to keep the stack of cards on your desk. There are even some phone apps that can scan these cards for you and save the information.
7. ORGANIZE YOUR SUPPLIES
All of your office supplies should be organized in a way that you can quickly grab what you need when you’re on a call or in a meeting with a client. The last thing you want is to be scrambling as you look for a notepad. Organize these supplies in a drawer so every item can be quickly spotted and grabbed should you need it. You may decide that some of the less-frequently used items can be stashed away somewhere else, such as surplus pens, tape, or a stapler … while the everyday items should be kept within an arm’s reach.
8. MAKE A FUTURE CLEANING SCHEDULE
Spring cleaning will put you in a great mood — but to keep the good feeling going, you need to keep up the habit. Set up a schedule for yourself so that you are regularly cleaning your workspace. For example, set a reminder for the first of every month to scan all the papers on your desk (business cards, mail, etc.) and then put them away or trash the hard copies. Otherwise, these things will accumulate month after month and this will take even longer next Spring.
If you have any more tips for Spring cleaning when it comes to your workspace, share them with us! We would love to hear what keeps you at your most productive self.