Countries are opening back up, things are almost back to normal, which means that many of us are back in the office, either full-time or in a hybrid arrangement. After almost 3 years of working from home, you won’t be alone in feeling overwhelmed and exhausted after a day at the office. Refreshing your physical workspace both at home and in the office can help to clear your mind and reduce the mental load just a little. Here’s how you can do a ‘desk detox’ by reorganising your workspace.
Clear Your Desk
The first step is to clear your desk at home and in the office. Start with a clean slate and take stock of what you need and what you can discard. Clearing the clutter that you’ve accumulated can help you to clear your mind and bring some focus. Keep only what’s necessary for your nature of work. Rethink your desk layout if you have to, and arrange your items in a better way that helps your workflow.
Sort Your Items
Instead of leaving loose items on your table and creating a mess, invest in some desk organisers to reduce the impact the clutter can have on you. Files, trays and drawers are your best friends when it comes to creating some order over your belongings. Remember to keep using them and putting your items back when you’re done using them.
Get Ergonomic Furniture
Standing and walking desks were all the rage during the height of the pandemic when we were stuck working from home. There’s no need to slide back into the sedentary office lifestyle now that you’re back to "normal". Invest in a standing desk arrangement or build a makeshift one with shelves and boxes at the office and more comfortable chairs so that the posture that you’ve worked hard to fix in the last 3 years can be maintained.
Do a Digital Declutter
The desk detox also involves your virtual desktop. Clean up your digital storage and sort your files into neat folders to streamline your work. If you have different devices for home and office workspaces, ensure that all your files are backed up and updated on the cloud for easy access. Make sure you’ve archived, deleted and saved the relevant files, bookmarks, tabs etc.
The most important thing to remember though, is that you’re not the same person you were before the pandemic, and neither is the world. Certain things might have changed for the better, some for the worse and many things have changed permanently. Be kinder to yourself and those around you, if you see yourself struggling to readjust and focus on your work.