What does your workspace say about you?
Posted by Ben Lumley on Feb 21, 2010 in Productivity | 50 comments
We all have places where we work. Some of us move from place to place in a temporary way, while others have a fixed abode; a little piece of work real estate that we call home. It may be a tiny cubicle surrounded by a sea of indentical little boxes or it can be a spacious luxury workspace adored by many.
What’s in your environment?
Stop reading this right now and look around your immediate workspace. Is it clean and tidy; full of order and structure? Or is it messy and clutter, a place of disorder? Does your workspace make you feel calm or is it the thing that tips you over the edge into rage?
We all work in our own way. You may find that having everything you need to hand is essential to your productive work. Alternatively you might feel that with too many things around you, you just can’t focus on what you need to do. In an ideal word we all want to work in an environment that is condusive to high quality work, whatever we’re doing but so many of us don’t create that for ourselves. We get lazy, we don’t stay on top of the clutter and we don’t see the harm.
If you’ve looked at your workspace and said to yourself “I need to work surrounded by all this mess,” my reply is: rubbish! You need to stop lying to yourself, clear away the clutter and start working in a space that allows you to think and create. You want to be focusing on the task at hand and your mind can’t do that surrounded by chaos, especially if you’re a man. Sorry chaps but our brains are wired up so that we can only truly focus on one thing at a time.
- Clear away any old coffee cups and lunch plates.
- Store away all of those unused cables and peripherals.
- File or trash any old files and documents that don’t require any more action.
- Sort through your inbox tray to make sure you only have all those files you actually need to work on.
- Get rid of the holiday gift your mum got you years ago that you don’t like.
- If you need books on your desk, then stack them so that they are tidy.
Don’t just look at the obvious.
What about your desktop? When you start it up in the morning, if you turn it off from the night before, what are you confronted by? A crisp, clean desktop with your favourite background that never fails to motivate you? Or a mess of icons and links, many of which are old and irrelevant?
If like me, you work on your computer a lot then there’s nothing better than firing up your machine in the morning to be confronted by an inspiring image, which isn’t covered up by cluttered icons (many of which you never use).
- Clear away all of the icons you don’t regularly use
- Use the auto-arrange and align-to-grid options to sort and organise any remaining icons.
- Empty you recycle bin.
- Stick up an inspiring wallpaper, something that will motivate you.
- Use the start menu more to remove the need for desktop icons.
If you’re not sure where to find a wallpaper that motivates you, then I’ve created some for you with motivational quotes on them that will inspire you to greatness.
There are 3 and you can download them here.
Try taking a serious look at your workspace and see how you can improve it. Once you’ve done that, just do it and make a change to the quality of your work.
So what does your workspace say about you?
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I'd have to admit that mine is pretty messy! But you have inspired me to clean it up, so before I do anything else, I'm gonna get rid of the junk! Hopefully it will be as clean as the desk above!
BRILLIANT.
I loved it. I'm definitely ADD when it comes to my work environment. Though it highly bothers me to work in a cluttered environment, something keeps me from cleaning it. But this has inspired me to CLEAN!! And as for my desktop…
I literally have NOTHING on it. All it is, is a beautiful background. I'm running on Macintosh OS X 10.6 snow leopard and it's amazing. I have it to where the icon dock hides automatically, and all that shows is a disk image for my hard drive in the upper right hand corner. I'm one for clean.
All the time.
Thanks bro. Good stuff.
Hey Tom – have a great time tidying up and getting yourself a clean desk. You'll love the results
Thanks dude!
Yeah my desktop is the same – using Windows 7 with the taskbar hidden and the only icon on the desktop is my recycle bin. I love it!
What can we say? great minds think alike, eh?
When I'm looking for something I ask myself: “when was the last time I saw it?” that gives me a rough idea as to how deep I need to dig down to find it. I'd take a picture and show you, but it's been a couple of years since I last saw my camera… it's on my desk somewhere. Every now and then I dig a valley from the front of the desk where I sit to the back where the screen is… it gets annoying at times not being able to see the whole screen.
I take it your workspace is a bit cluttered Steve? How about your desktop?
Will be tidying up today for sure after reading this. and besides I have been thinking of recorating, my work space is part of my living room but would like to make it its own litte special area of the room with a new desk….should be fun and nice. Exactly.
Glad you liked it Winnie and that you're going to have a declutter because of it
Ben, I'm with you on this, a tidy workspace makes for a more productive time. Then I feel I'm very fortunate because I have a partner who is a very clean and tidy person. She makes sure I keep everything 'ship shape'.
Do you think we need to stretch as far as 'Feng Shui'?
Thank you for sharing.
Regards
Paul
Yeah Paul a tidy workspace means for a tidy mind for sure.
To be honest I've not come in to contact with Feng Shui. I know the concept but currently lack the background. Should I investigate more?
Desktop as in computer? It's perfect! Deleted windoze in 1996 and haven't looked back since.
Pretty good advice there Ben, I enjoyed reading your article. I agree with you so much on keeping both your physical and virtual workspaces free of clutter. My office at home is clean and tidy, and looks very nice
But it still lacks a personal touch. I really need to learn the basics of interior decoration!
At work I'm having trouble keeping my office free of clutter though. I'm a video game developper and I have a lot of video game consoles, gamepads and wires everywhere. I actually lack the space to organize it all like I would want to, I guess I just need to think of a more clever way to do it.
As for my main computer (a laptop), I cleaned it up recently and made it boot in a record time. I removed all the extra software I never use, turned off a bunch of useless Windows Vista services and got myself a nice wallpaper.
I have to add something more… you see, I pretty much disagree with this article. Oh, I understand and respect that it is good for some people, but definitely not all, and definitely not me. Lemme back up what I'm saying with a tale from my past…
Years ago I worked in a bank. One day during my time as the head teller, my boss came down stairs and ripped me a new one for being so untidy. You literally could not see the floor in my teller's box from the rubbish paper laying everywhere. He said I was a disgrace and that I could not possibly be doing my job accurately and effectively. Erm what?
I told him that that was nonsense and that I wanted a chance to prove that I could not only do my job with a high degree of accuracy, but I could do it better than anyone else. So we agreed on a little deal… if I balanced to the cent every single day for the next week (believe it or not, this is actually quite uncommon in a bank, tellers are usually a few cents out each day, shocking I know, but true) I got to do things MY way. If not, if I had a discrepancy of just one cent during the week, I had to “toe the line”.
He actually forgot about it until the end of 3 weeks. He came downstairs again snatched my books fully expecting to gloat over proving me wrong.
I'd balanced to the cent every single day… not just for the week we agreed on, but every day for the 3 weeks! Not only that, but I had served, on average, 3 to 5 times the number of customers than any other teller in that time.
I got to keep the pig sty I called my work space.
I did tidy my teller's box, but never until the end of the day after all the work was completed. And the weird thing… I didn't feel comfortable and relaxed in my job until there was a bit of clutter and rubbish around me. Then I was “in the zone”.
One more point. I completely disagree with what you say about men not being able to multi-task. That's rubbish. I multi-task all the time. Yes, I've read the reports about how it is impossible for anyone to multi-task, that our brains simply cannot focus on more than one task at a time. If you want to look at tasking in that way then fine, but then you have to know that computers cannot multi-task either. They simply switch between tasks very quickly.
Think about this… if you truly could not multi-task, you would not be able to drive a car. I've been know to be driving through a round-about, changing gears, talking on my cell, and eating a burger all at the same time. But even if the only thing you are doing is driving, you are still multi-tasking… your feet are doing one thing, your hands another, your eyes yet another, and your ears. The “task” of driving is made up of a lot of “sub-tasks” that you must put together and do at the same time.
OK, I think I've rambled enough now. Till next time, mate…
Steve.
Thanks for the teller story Steve – interesting look from the other side of the coin.
Got to completely disagree with your multitasking point though.
It's a physical, neurological and physiology impossibilty for men to multi task – our brains aren't wired up that way. Sorry but that's a fact.
A great example of driving a car but sadly flawed. The reason you can drive a car is because your subconscious controls the vast majority of the functions needed to drive successfully. By doing this your conscious mind can focus on the the road ahead and the environment that you're in. It's when you can that conscious focus of driving and move on to say changing the radio or something that you are unable to concentrate on the road fully.
This is the same reason that you can do lots of things like ride a bike, walk and so on.
To focus consciously on two tasks is impossible for a man to do. You can “like a computer” shift focus on the different tasks very quickly but you can focus completely on both. It's the simple difference between subconscious and conscious actions.
Hey Phil.
I know what you mean about the cables everywhere – I have had the same problem. It's actually the same problem I have behind my entertainment system in the front room – no matter how hard I try, there are wires everywhere.
If I'm honest I've not ever completely solved this problem
As I read the first half of this post, I was feeling very sanctimonious. But then I got to the bit about the desk top. Mine is shocking! But like Steve can probably relate to, I always know where everything is
That said, I am going to have a clear out one day. For example, I have five zip files of themes for someone elses website that I'm never going to use.
But tidying is soooooo boring and I've usually got much better things I'd rather be doing. I do live in a tidy house but it's only as tidy as it is because I know it makes my husband happy
Hi Ben,
As far as the office, it looks like a computer lab. As far as the desktop, man I'm always moving, there is no such thing as cleaning in up. That's kinda funny to me. Three fourths of my desktop changes everyday. Every inch is covered. I could use a 110 inch screen to handle what I do in a
day. I think I have a couple of dozen blogs going at any one time! Most are for sale. So there's no time for housekeeping!
Yeah tidying up and decluttering is boring Eleanor – but not everything in life can be fun. Can it?
Sounds like you're really busy Jeffery.
Must be tough moving a lot? I only use a laptop and it's never on my desk for long unless I'm home a lot. Being on the road a fair bit during the busy times of schools and colleges means my desk space can remind untouched for weeks
Ben,
Take a look at this post.
Regards
Paul
Nice post Ben. I was just cleaning up my desktop and workplace yesterday night. I had like around 20 icons on my desktop and reduced it down to 5. It looks a lot more clear. As for my room, I changed things around to give me more space and put a calendar up on the wall – something that I've been procrastinating to do for a long time. I agree that a workspace does say a lot about a person. In my opinion, a clearer, organized, and spacious workspace gives a lot more mental clarity oo someone's mind and work than a messy one.
mine unfortunately is a mess atm as someone has just dumped a bunch of stuff on it. I can't stand it, so i will most likely spend the next hour making sure its back to being as sparse and barren as possible
Thanks for the comment Hulbert. Glad your find some clarity by having a clearer work space and desktop.
Yeah I don't like it when that happens either Anthony, especially when it's stuff I don't usually have anything to do with
Well, I certainly like to try
Remember what Mary Poppins said? “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”
Hi Ben,
You and I think alike. If you got a chance to read my “Cubicle Bliss” post (in my Popular Posts) you will note that I feel the same way. You must be organized in your workspace if you want to be productive. I love articles like this that give you hints and tips on being productive. Great work…
Best,
Bob
Hi Ben,
Although I used to have a desk when I lived in London, I don't now. My “desk” can be my kitchen table, a coffee table in Costa, or a table on a train. In fact, right now because I'm ill and am writing this in bed, it's a big cushion on which I'm balancing my MacBook! With my Mac, a couple of notebooks that I carry everywhere, and some papers of stuff I'm currently working on, that's pretty much me.
Before reading this, however, I did a cull of what was open on my desktop. I have a very bad habit of having about 20 things open at once and this isn't good for focus or concentration!
Thanks, Ben
Ben,
I live in an apartment and while I've had my “office space” setup, it tends to be the one room that gets cluttered quickly. Not using those lamps? Ok, put them in the office room. That box shouldn't be in the living room, so now it'll bemoved out of sight into the office space.
It's my mind set. I will be cleaning it up this week and look forward to it. Can't think in a cluttered space.
Ah what can I say Bob – great minds think a like
Great to have you commenting here.
Ah Christine sorry to hear you're unwell. Hope you get well soon.
It must be nice to have a portable workspace that you can in affect pick up and take with you where ever you go. Might start trying to think like that.
Hey Moon
Nice to see you here again.
Yeah that can be the mentality that a lot of people have where they use their office as a dumping ground. Thankfully my usually office space in is our master bedroom and I get in the trouble if I just dump stuff in there all the time. So it have to keep me organised
Wow, yeah my computer desk is pretty messy. Could always be worse but it could definitely be better. I need to clean it up and I need to clean up my desktop from icons and all that. Linux comes without any icons on the desktop and me, being the way I am, have made more icons than necessary lol.
Good article though I'm really anxious to get my car cleaned out today actually.
Which one will I do first…?
Car first Eric – only because you might need that for a special little trip soon
Yeah I used to have loads of icons on my desktop but stripped them all away one day and have never looked back
I can't work in clutter. A clean desk = a clean mind. I can get too distracted by having stuff all around my workspace. I like to keep it sparse.
I have finally set up a desk for my laptop where I can work and watch the kids. previously I had a portable table that was crap for doing anytihng for any duration. My new desk is not huge but I keep everything off of it but my pen cup, a couple of books, my laptop and a coaster for drinks. I have to have that little bit.
I also like the computer desktop being clean. I like to have 1 row of icons on either side of the screen and maybe one or two others in a second column but that is it. I use the quick menu most of the time. My background right now is Jack Bauer! previously it was me with Mr. Incredible in Disneyland. I love to switch them when I get bored looking at it.
Thanks for the good tips Ben
Justin
Yeah I agree Karen – clean desk = clean mind.
Hey Justin
Sounds like the new desk is a great addition.
Yeah we all have our little creature comforts that we add the our workspace. I have 2 cardboard fingurines of Kevin Rose and Alex Albretch from Diggnation as mine.
Would be interested to see the picture of you with Mr Incredible as well
I haven't cleaned my car out yet but my computer desk is still a mess so it's all good! lol
But no, I'm going to clean my car out today still. That special trip is getting closer as we speak, that's for sure.
Yeah when I cleaned up my desktop at one point I loved it and then just let everything get cluttered up once again. Naughty, naughty me! Guess I'd better get on my butt and start cleaning up again.
I decided that my workspace was too cluttered (had a desk about the size of the one in the pic) so I went out and bought an L shaped workspace that is 3 times bigger, now I have 3 times as much room to spread out my clutter
My desktop has a good amount of icons, but I am always organizing it because I set my downloads to land there so I can put them where I want them and not forget about them in a downloads folder.
Seems intuitive enough, yet it's not the only viewpoint regarding having a cluttered workspace. Besides Steve Youngs' interesting personal anecdote above, there's this from Harvey Mackay:
“Genius may not always be associated with messiness, but the following words are very much to the point:
'Picture to yourself the darkest, most disorderly place imaginable…blotches of moisture covered the ceiling; an oldish grand piano, on which the dust disputed the place with various pieces of engraved and manuscript music; under the piano (I do not exaggerate) an unemptied chamber pot; beside it a small walnut table accustomed to the frequent overturning of the secretary placed on it; a quantity of pens encrusted with ink, compared with which the proverbial tavern pens would shine; then more music. The chairs, mostly cane–seated, were covered with plates bearing the remains of last night's supper, and with wearing apparel, etc.'
That passage is found in The Lives of the Great Composers, by Harold C. Schonberg. It is Baron de Tremont's description of Beethoven's 'Office.'” (Swim With the Sharks, p. 141)
Great post Ben! I just use a lap top these days which is good as I don't have to worry about making a mess or tidying up. One thing I do need to do is tidy up my computer files though!
Hey Jen
Using a laptop definitely makes the whole desk thing easier doesn't it?
I wanted to let you know that I read this the other day and instead of posting a comment, I cleaned and re-arranged my desk and work area.
Thanks for the kick in the _ _ _.
Hey Keith.
I think things like desktop are ok as long as you manageable. It's when they are out of control that it becomes a problem.
Thanks for popping in Keith.
Hey John. Thanks for stopping to comment.
I think everyone has there on ideal workspace environment. My good friend Steve prefers his environment. I on the hand need space and organisation. Lots of people don't like their disorganised clutter space but struggle to break free. I think that inspirational “you can do this” angle was what I was going for with this.
There's always a individual way with anything in life I suppose but it's what makes the world a beautiful place.
Haha that's excellent news Jeff. Thanks for letting me know.
Feel free to come back for a kicking whenever
Thanks for the reply, Ben. I appreciate the inspirational focus of your post. It's not that I personally prefer having a messy environment; it's more like it's been an recalcitrant weakness of mine. I've come to prefer to focus more on my strengths than my weaknesses, as I seem to get better traction that way. Now, if only I could find where I left my…
Your comment on individuality seems quite orthogonal with a Results Only Work Environment (ROWE). I was referred here from their Facebook page, which included a link to your post.
Thanks John I'll check them out