Member-only story
Your Productivity Hinges on How You Arrange Your Desk
Advice from nine design, career, and organization experts on making your space work for you
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
