If you work an office job, then chances are you spend quite a significant chunk of time at your desk. You could perhaps, unfortunately, liken it to a second home. While organisation & order is key when coming to creating a productive work space - your desk should reflect a piece of you too. It's all well and good for your desk to be the epicentre of industrious work related output, but without some personal touches, it can quickly become an idle and mundane environment. You want your work space to enable productivity - not prevent it! Having a desk that is organised and personalised is the best way to remain productive & get inspired while on the job.

Food & Drink stash: maintaining a healthy diet is an issue unto itself, but if you are the type of person who enjoys a snack and you find yourself ducking out of the office at 10am and 3pm to pick up a bag of chips from the convenience store down the street, a good way to save time and money is to stock up. This way you can also enable a more positive diet by preselecting snacks that are in line with what you want to be eating. Keep a box of muesli bars, cereal, dried fruit, herbal tea or whatever you so desire in a desk drawer.

Bottled water: this one is more about organising your health then it is about organising your desk. But if you are spending 8 hours of your day sitting at your desk, why not keep a bottle of water handy. It will save your going back & forth to the kitchen and you'll easily consume those elusive 8 glasses a day!

Spare change: good for parking meters, vending machines, coffee breaks, bus tickets home and so forth. There when you need it; it means you don't need to be digging through your bag in the hope of finding junk change at the bottom.

Desk organisers: pick out a colourful desk organiser to store all your pens/highlighters/correction tape/scissors/etc in. This way you are reducing the amount of clutter about your desk and it also means that you have everything you need at your fingertips, right when you need it.

A place for everything: this is an obvious one, but one that a lot of people fail to put into practice. Ensure there is a place for everything on or around your desk. Don't leave your desk as you have had it assigned, change it to suit your job and daily tasks. If you require an IN TRAY, make sure you have one, if you don't, get rid of it to decrease the amount of redundant gear on your desk. Clean out your filing. Yes, the bottom drawer, that you never actually file things into. Clean it out, utilise the space properly & to your advantage. If filing & organising paperwork isn't your thing, make it a little more fun, order in some colourful files and get a colour scheme going. In the very least it will be nice to look at and when people ask you for something you can instruct them "oh, it's in the hot pink file over there by the yellow folders".

Diary: keep a paper diary on your desk to write down the things you need to remember, people names & numbers, meetings, errands, daily task lists. In this world where we are so heavily reliant upon electronic means of organising our schedules and tasks, the merit of a paper day diary is often overlooked. It can be immensely useful for keeping track of important information and progress and act as a back should you be unable to access your electronic calendar / contacts list.

Computer: keep your desktop icons organised and download a wallpaper to personalise (if your company allows this). Make your PC your own. Subscribe to your favourite blogs in Google Reader so you can quickly skim the content when you need a 5 minute break from work tasks.

Personal Touches: pin a few photos of your favourite people up (a digital photo frame is great if you can afford it, won't take up much space & will flick through all your favourite photos for a bit of variety). If that is not quite your style, try pinning up your favourite photos of travel destinations or Vogue's fashion pages. Another idea for a hit of aromatic style inspiration is to keep a fragrance card spritzed with your favourite perfume (from your local department store) on your desk. It will lightly scent your work space - bring to your nose, breath deep & capture the aroma for a calming & invigorating hit you need first thing in the morning or mid afternoon. Write your favourite inspirational or funny quotes on post it notes and keep them in a drawer. Each week, take one out and pin it on your PC or wall - for a little bit of positivity throughout the week. An important thing to remember with personal touches such as photo collages on notice boards is that too much can cause the projected image of clutter- making you feel snowed under when, in actual fact, you have work related tasks under control. Be sure to keep personal touches neat for optimal effect!


What do you do to make your work space a little more comfortable? What inspires you at work?