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Ten ways to organize your workspace for a more productive you

Let's face it — when your workspace is cluttered, you feel unproductive and unmotivated. There's just too much stimulation around you to distract and disturb your concentration. Even if it's not about distraction, you still need a clean desk to save space and know where everything is.

So, whether you organize to relieve stress or to procrastinate other tasks, make sure you find the time within the day to clean up your workspace. Here are ten things you can do right now to organize your desk for a more productive day.

1. Maintain a permanent layout

According to Gotham Organizers, your monitor should be at eye-level and about 17 inches in front of you. You can really do this however you want but make sure your computer and frequently used items are in the same place on your desk everyday.

I put my laptop diagonally to the left of my desk and my agenda to the right — it's not the most efficient way but the layout works for me.

2. De-clutter useless things from your desk

Throw away anything that doesn't help you with productivity. Make a list of all the items on your desk and categorize them by importance. Trinkets from last Christmas? Stuffed animals from your bed? Throw them out or put them away.

It's alright to have one or two personal items like a framed picture or flowers, but too many objects will distract and overstimulate.

3. Store your supplies

Keep office supplies together either on top of your desk or in a drawer. Things you need everyday should go on top of your desk — preferably in a supplies organizer. Objects you don't need everyday can go in a drawer — maybe even in a drawer organizer.

4. Free up some free space

Not every inch of your desk needs to be covered — leave a sizeable amount of room for short term projects or important documents. This way, you won't be struggling to clear space every time a new item is introduced to your desk.

5. Organize storage containers with colors and labels

Amazon.com: StorageWorks Polyester Storage Bin with Strong Cotton Rope Handle, Foldable Storage Basket, White, Bamboo Style, Large, 3-Pack: Home & Kitchen

Desk storage bins can be super helpful in organizing your life — just be sure to color code and label them as you see fit. You don't want to be rummaging around all your containers every time you need some blank paper.

Taking time to color code and label can also be a destressing and relaxing task — have fun with cute colors and shapes.

6. Prioritize your tasks

Having to deal with a lot of projects at once can overwhelm and stress you out. Use file holders to prioritize everyday tasks — have a section for urgent, important and non-urgent. This way, you can just pluck a task off the top and work your way to the bottom.

7. Divide your workspace

Does technology distract you? Do you often eat at one of your workspaces? Performing a leisurely task frequently in the same spot can lead to habits and association of that task with the corresponding space. That's why I can never work on my bed like most of my friends.

Instead, separate out your workspace. Designate one area as a technology-free zone or remember to never watch Netflix at your desk. Doing this will provide you with a sense of routine and stability.

8. Don't forget your virtual workspace

Your laptop can also be a source of distraction — organizing your virtual workspace will make you more motivated and less overwhelmed. Trash items on your desktop that you don't need. Delete old and useless files from your folders. Categorize work into different folders and utilize reminders and calendars to organize your life.

9. Put a small trash can near your workspace

A separate trash and recycling bin would work best, but beggars can't be choosers. Place a small wastebasket next to your desk — you won't have to get up every time to throw scrap paper away which can disrupt your workflow.

10. Organize your cables

I use cable clips to keep my chargers and wires in order. This can be very useful, especially if you have an extension cord under your desk. Wires are just prone to becoming tangled up with one another so you don't want to always be undoing them.

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The New Year is about to roll in, which means it's probably time to become a new you. And what better way to shake into that new and uber-productive self then changing up your schedule to be the maximally effective person you always dreamed of being?

According to the well-studied folks at Psychology Today, you're probably waking up too late, staying up too late, and your body is, correspondingly, all kinds of messed up. "Our near-constant exposure to artificial light has... [left] our bodies and brains struggling," Holly Pevzner writes for the popular magazine. Of course, if you're already pulling the 6am rise-and-shine, you might be among the high-achievers of which Laura Vanderkam, bestselling scribe of such texts as What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast and I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time, told the popular news magazine, The Week, that "They rise early. Almost all have a morning ritual."

Since so many people tend to wake up later, the early riser is also placed at an advantage next to their still-snoozing compatriots. "You need to wake up before the insanity starts," Eric Barker writes for The Week. Waking up early also sets you straight on setting some goals for yourself, another common habit among the high achievers or generally happy people, as reports a popular study that appeared in Journal of Happiness Studies all the way back in 2007. But the early rise promises something even more primordial than the late years of the Bush administration. Michael Grandner, who helps direct the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania, dropped some serious knowledge on Psychology Today when he warned that "[Our] natural rhythms have been gravely disrupted."

All of us live in some constantly-lit times and all that illumination has left our bodies scrambling--per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most people spin over five hours a day on things like Netflix and interacting with other people but don't, according to Psychology Today, correlate that with any particular feeling of happiness or satisfaction. All of our so-called leisure time happens in such small and measured chunks that we can barely feel anything at all, anymore. But how do you plan on reorienting your entire way of being in this hectic rat-race of on-line living? Here's some tips!

  • Wake up once, not a hundred times. "When you hit the snooze button, you coax your brain to rewind to the beginning of the sleep cycle," writes Psychology Today, this time citing research by another academic, Edward Stepanski of Rush University. Of course, anyone who knows a snooze button already has some idea of this.
  • And on that note, do more things earlier. Jennifer Ackerman's classic work of pop-psychology, Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body, informs us that "most of us are sharpest some two and a half to four hours after waking." Do things then.
  • "The average person spends 28 percent of the work week managing email," Psychology Today reminds us. Check twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Remind the working world that you're the one that knocks.
  • Take naps, if you can. Sara Mednick, back in 2013, gave a TED talk titled "Give it Up for the Down State" to promote her celebrated work of advice titled Take a Nap! Change Your Life, recommended taking naps, urging everyone "to take a break." And even NASA recommends taking naps, per Richard Wiseman's Night School: Wake Up to the Power of Sleep: "[NASA] pilots who take a twenty-five-minute nap in the cockpit...are subsequently 35 per cent more alert, and twice as focused, than their non-napping colleagues." If your workplace is not as conducive to naps as, say, NASA, Psychology Today, recommends nap-like activity such as "paperwork, photocopying, or collating."
  • Socialize after dusk. Back in the day, Jacqueline Olds of Harvard Medical School reports, hunters and gatherers would choose the sunset hour to gather themselves into a socially cohesive whole. "Dusk is when people had to be especially aware to stave off dangers they couldn't see…[so] it was the time of day we'd group together for safety," Olds remembers. Psychology Today recommends posting on Facebook.
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