Hasta La Ideas

Returning to the office after a long holiday weekend can be rough and unproductive. Instead of staring off into space for 15 minutes, try these quick uncluttering techniques for your desk:

1. Return it. Find all of the things in your office that don’t belong to you and go on a walkabout to return the items to your coworkers.
2. Take it down. Collect all the sticky notes off your monitor and enter their data into a more appropriate and permanent storage location. Check bulletin boards and vertical spaces for out-dated calendars, memos, menus, and phone directories. Recycle or shred these unnecessary materials.
3. Test it. Gather together all your writing utensils, throw out any pens and markers that don’t work, and sharpen all your pencils.
4. Dust it. Give your desk and electronics a pass with a dust rag. Work from the top of your office downward so that you’re not brushing dust onto something you’ve already cleaned.
5. Do it. Complete any task on your to-do list that should take fewer than three minutes to finish. Set a timer for 15 minutes and get five of these tasks done right now.

If you’re still feeling unmotivated after completing these tasks, do some filing. You’ll continue to be productive without having to exert too much mental energy.

I hope your re-entry into the professional world isn’t too difficult after the holiday. Look for more ideas for quick, uncluttering tasks in the comments (or add a few if you have already discovered some easy, yet productive, tasks).

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