Spring Cleaning Tips for the Office

It’s time to take a step back and clear your head… and your desk! Your office can be a pretty good reflection of the inner workings of the brain – frightening, isn’t it? Now is a good time to de-clutter your business life, to start the summer fresh and get that head start going into the next busy season. For launching out on a fresh start, taking a hard look at your office is a great place to begin. Pridestaff Financial has some great tips to spring clean your way to a great summer!

De-Clutter that desk!
Clutter can be hard to face first thing every morning. Yes, you may know where everything is, but piles of paper and notes, binders, and business collateral can create a subtle feeling of being overwhelmed. Begin by completely clearing your desk of everything- everything. Remove the paper, the calendar, the computer screen, your phone, the stapler; the pens… get the idea? Find the bottom of that desk. Now, only put back the few things that you need as essentials – but not the work product. That will be another step.

Make more space. 
Now that you have de-cluttered it’s time to clear off another surface in your office and begin to organize. Find a place for your office tools like rulers and staplers that does not interfere with your main work area but are still within reach. Start making files for all those materials you have “been meaning to” file. Get yourself a “to do” basket and place your undone filing there instead of on your desk.

Organizing isn’t just for the desk area.
If you thought you were done cleaning just because the desk is nicely organized, think again. Cleaning out your office area is about more than just hard surfaces. It’s also about things like old messages in your inbox, your presence on the web (i.e. google searches, LinkedIn accounts etc). Your email inbox is probably the least overwhelming place to start. When it comes to emails, the newer ones always get the attention. So, if you’re going to spring clean, the best place to start is with your oldest messages. Even if you only answer the three oldest emails, you’ll feel like you’ve made some headway, because those are the ones that have been gathering dust. If you use Gmail, you can click on the number of emails in the top right corner, and sort by “Oldest” to focus your attention on the emails you haven’t thought about in months. Next go through old contacts, businesses or colleagues you have not had contact with for more than a year and a half, as long as they are not essential to your business, hit the delete button. The simple steps you are taking here can also be done with LinkedIn accounts, Facebook accounts and Google accounts. Make sure your resumes, titles, current projects and contact lists are up to date. Check your searches; make sure you are at the top of searches in Google. These steps take a little more time but are well worth the effort before going into the next business cycle.

Pridestaff Financial wants to make sure that you are not only balanced and refreshed, but energized. When you walk into the office and feel organized and ready to tackle that next big project, you can thank your spring cleaning efforts! At Pridestaff Financial we understand how important it is to be at your best, and to surround yourself with colleagues that feel the same; learn more about how we can help, contact us today!