Your phone is ringing. You want to answer it, but you can't find it unless you follow the sound of the ring, which is muffled under a heap of paper and a thicket of Post-it notes.
Sound like you?
Organizing your work area can give you focus when you work, says Stella Macey, who runs Stella's Organizing Service, or S.O.S., in Santa Clarita, Calif. Plus, she says, an organized desk can give your clients more confidence in you as a professional.
"When a desk is disorganized, it doesn't give you a favorable impression," said Macey. "A client thinks, 'Where is my work on that desk?' "
To help get you started and begin the new year with a clean slate, Macey offered a few tips.
Clear your desk top. Macey recommends this step first because people often feel overwhelmed at the prospect of organizing their desks.
For starters, put everything on the floor, except your computer. As you replace items on your desk, make sure everything has a very good reason for being there.
"You need to look at your desk space as prime real estate," Macey said.
Clean and dust. Get a rag and some cleaning fluid and clean the surface of your desk.
Group items. As you organize your desk, group together items that are alike, such as candies, family photos and knickknacks. Consider how important these things are in your space.
"I like to caution people about their personal knickknacks," Macey said, "because it clutters up personal space."
Place small items in a flat organizing tray. As soon as your small items are grouped, give them a home in separate compartments of a flat organizing tray. Ideally, that tray fits in a top drawer that slides under your desktop.
Use the space under your desk. Besides placing a rolling tray under your desk, look at leaning often-used periodicals like the phone book up against the side of the cubbyhole where you place your feet. That will give you easy access without clutter.
Get pens and pencils together in a container. A coffee cup will do.
Sturdy book holders. Look for a desk book holder with a solid bottom and firm dividers. Flimsy bookends will just frustrate you when your books slide and topple like dominoes.
Create an inbox. When you keep your papers in stacking plastic trays, your top should be your inbox, which means it must be cleared every night in order for you to stay organized.
"This is like a decision-making box," Macey said. "Everything in here, you have to make a decision on. It can't stay in there, it must be processed."
Daily Chores. Spend 15 minutes at the end of each day organizing your desk. This way, your desk will not lapse into an overwhelming mess.
One more thing to get you motivated: The process of organizing desks nearly always reveals lost money.
"I have found hundreds of dollars," she said, "and uncashed checks."
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