Your Productivity Hinges on How You Arrange Your Desk

Advice from nine design, career, and organization experts on making your space work for you

Photo by Michael Soledad on Unsplash

If your job requires you to sit at a desk, you probably spend more waking hours at that desk each day than you do in your own home (or in any other part of your home, if that’s where you work from). If you love your job, this may not seem like such a bad thing, but it’s still worth maximizing your small space for ultimate productivity.

We asked design and productivity experts for advice on how best to structure, organize, and decorate your desk to create a workspace that serves you, keeps you on task, and makes you feel good about what you’re doing.

Focus on functionality

Keep it simple and functional with items you use all the time. My desktop must-haves include a stapler; a jar of pens, pencils, and highlighters; a candle; and, most important, my planners. My life is in my day planner, so having that right next to me as I work ensures that I stay on task and plan accordingly when responding to emails. It also has all my important to-dos and papers right inside.

— Meghan Meredith, life coach and home organizer; Atlanta, Georgia

Practice minimalism

Having a clear space helps you avoid decision fatigue. If you have a lot of clutter on your desk, it creates a lot of stimuli for your brain to constantly react and respond to. Likewise, if you have a lot of stuff in your space that you have to move and shift around, you’ll likely feel flustered and spend more time finding the things you need. Be intentional and selective about what goes where. If you have a lot of decor you love, consider switching it out weekly instead of trying to fit it all on your desk at once.

— Sarah Steckler, productivity expert

Organize based on how you work and think

The way you set up your desk should depend on your job and mirror the flow of your thoughts and materials. If you’re a linear thinker or someone who works based on task categories (prospecting, invoicing, brainstorming), you might prefer to separate papers and other…