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Hacking Work: Getting (and Keeping) Your Desk Clean

By , on Thursday, March 1st, 2007

Came across a great post over at Ian’s Messy Desk about the importance (and achievement) of a clean workspace. I especially like #2:

Get rid of sticky notes and scraps of paper. Get a single notebook and use it to record notes, phone numbers, web addresses, ideas, to-dos, etc.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone rooting through my desk looking for some small scrap of paper that I scrawled some number on or something. Having all of your notes, etc. in a single spot is a great way to avoid looking for old gas receipts that have that new client’s cell phone number on them.

A couple additional tips that build on that idea:

  • Add a date/time stamp to your notes/messages (well, maybe not ALL of them, but at least occasionally so you’ll have a point of reference when you searching back for the notes on that big meeting you had 3 months ago)

  • Always archive your old notebooks. Once you get to the last few pages of one, make sure you’ve either got a new one on deck or on the way from your favorite stationary joint. When the new guy arrives, break out the labeler and label the old notebook with start/end dates, then stick on a bookshelf somewhere. They take up almost no space and provide a good history for you when it comes time for your annual review.

Anyway, the post is full of great tips on keeping your desk clean, so be sure to check it out!

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  • http://www.allbusiness.com/blog/CustomerServiceExperience/10783/ Glenn (Customer Service Experience) Ross

    Before GTD, my workspace was covered with stacks of paper. Since GTD, the only paper on the top of my desk belongs to the action I’m working on, or my Moleskine. All notes go into my Moleskine. Each day I draw a line across the page and put the day and date down. I use symbols when taking notes and I always record when I do my weekly review. The only loose papers I have are put in a drawer which is my in-box and then process during my weekly.

    Bottom line: I no longer waste time searching for one piece of paper. It is such a rush to have someone walk into my office, ask me for something, and I turn, open a file drawer and pull the information out of the appropriate file.

    Regards,

    Glenn

  • http://www.ismckenzie.com/ Ian McKenzie

    Thanks for the link. I’ve always had a bit of a disconnect between my productivity systems and the state of my desk. It’s probably the key issue that derails my GTD efforts.

  • http://www.distinctoffices.com/ annie

    I absolutely love a clean desk…even if it means that most of my unfiled papers are in randomly in drawers somewhere. But at least it makes me feel organized! I always follow up this “A place for everything and everything in it’s place”….

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