Do you have piles of paper all over your desk and stacks of files all around you?

Do you think that you know where everything is as it is close to hand, or that you need a lot of files because you are always referring to them?

In reality however, a messy desk can lead to distractions as you focus on the top most piece of paper, rather than the next item on your to do list and more importantly it is far easier for things to get lost amongst the disorder.

If this sounds like they way you work, try something different! Order your paper, throw away those that are so old they are no longer relevant and file others that you need to keep. For those items that need further action add them onto your to do list and put the item into a pending file for retrieval later. You can still have files to hand, but limit them to just the ones you really are working from, say three or four at the most.

The result – one clean desk and a more productive working environment.