Organizing your studio will increase your efficiency. If you have everything in place, you will know where to find what you need at the right time and you will have the potential to become more productive.
Steps
Step 1. Order your cards
It's easy to leave a lot of paper lying around on your desk, but it creates too much clutter and will cause you to work poorly. Get a filing cabinet, small shelf organizer, or some other type of binder or filing cabinet to put your papers in. Whenever you've done something, archive it, destroy it or throw it away. If you need to keep a document but don't need it right now, store it somewhere.
Step 2. Delete from your desk anything you don't need right away
Put pens and pencils in some container on your desk or in a drawer. Do the same for any extra paper clips, paper clips, tacks, and other small items. If you need more light, instead of putting a lamp on your desk, get a larger one to put on the floor or put a smaller lamp on top of the filing cabinet.
Step 3. Keep all the items you use every day on your desk tidy so you can easily reach them when you need them
The computer monitor, keyboard, and phone should be the focal points of your desk if you use them a lot. Put a notepad nearby along with your favorite pen. Other items you use less frequently, like the stapler or rotary filing cabinet, can be placed on the edge of the desk, so it's still easy to reach but doesn't clutter too much. Make sure you have enough space to work by hand if you don't use your computer to do everything.
Step 4. Rearrange your drawers:
put the items you use most in the drawers at the top, so it will be easier to take them.
Step 5. Hang up a calendar if you can
Alternatively, write the meetings and events you will attend on a planner, handheld, or phone.
Step 6. Gather all loose cables and wires carefully
Group them and try to hide them along the wall or behind something, then tie them together with a paper clip or something. If you are not sure which cables and wires these are, get some help from someone experienced in electronics.
Step 7. Arrange the office space in the best possible way
If your desk is facing a window and you know you are easily distracted by watching what happens outside, try putting it in another location. Your filing cabinet should be next to your desk so you can easily reach everything in it; your printer, fax or scanner should also be easy to reach. It's best to get a swivel chair so you can move around more easily.
Step 8. Hang your family photos on the wall or put them on top of your filing cabinet
Place them where you can see them but avoid taking up valuable desk space with your photos. You could also make a collage of all your photos and hang them on the wall so that you have to buy fewer frames.
Step 9. Find a place for your personal items
You can put your phone in the top drawer so it's easy to grab if they call you. If you are a woman, put a coat rack on the wall or behind the door for your purse.
Advice
- Organize your office even while you use it. It's easy to mess everything up again, and that could waste your time and you could end up taking more hours than you expect to do your job.
- Convert old sheets to pdf or electronic files. Use file sharing platforms like SharePoint or create your own through a local server with a new drive. Be sure to check the overall server size if you choose this option.
- Instead of printing everything, you can reduce the waste of paper by creating files on your computer and viewing them from there. You can also scan something and email it instead of printing it and mailing it. This will save you time, money and paper.
