Take part in National Clean Off Your Desk Day
Today is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. I know what you’re thinking, and, yes, this is a real observance.
National Clean Off Your Desk Day is all about preparing your workspace for the new year and starting things on the right note.
National Clean Off Your Desk Day falls on the second Monday in January.
This year, it’s today January 10, 2022.
Remember, a messy desk is an invitation to chaos! But a clean desk, on the other hand, helps you focus, be more productive, and makes you feel good about your workspace. It’s quite therapeutic, really.
Tidy up your desk. Share a before and after picture on social media. Give organization tips and share ideas with your coworkers. Have a “cleanest desk” competition and give the winner a Dollar Store trophy. Fun, productive and the winner gets bragging rights, what could be better!
Offering to help others with their desk can be team building.
Clean your keyboard, mouse, and swap out that dirty mouse pad for a new one! Did you know that there are 16 million microbes on a typical office keyboard? Yuck!
Fun but troubling fact
The average office employee spends six weeks per year looking for something. Wow, this is more than your average annual vacation allotment.
Start January with a clean inbox
When we say clean, we don’t just mean physical clutter. That’s right, your computer desktop counts too. So, don’t forget to clean out your inbox!
With this in mind, drag those files into a nice, neat folder! Because there’s nothing less exciting than seeing hundreds of new emails in your inbox when you get back from the holidays. Actually, that is a lie because there is: It’s going through them.
Go through those old emails you “starred” and never followed up on…
If you don’t already use folders for your emails, create some to help you keep your inbox organized.
Check the settings your email platform has to offer. There are integrations, color coding, rules, and more that can make your life a whole lot easier. Spending half hour on this could translate into hours saved throughout the year. For more on this please go to Outlook How to Clean Your Mailbox
Create an ideas folder where you save marketing emails you’ve received that you like or find effective. You never know, you might just find your next great idea buried in your own inbox!
National Clean Off Your Desk Day History
In fact, the origin and history of National Clean Your Desk Day are unknown. We wish we knew who the organized-clean-enthusiast was that started this celebration. It is likely this holiday is the result of the cluttered desktops pre and post the Christmas and New Years. Who knows? The holiday may have stemmed from a New Year’s resolution!
The desk became widely used in the 18th century. Mostly by legal professionals and clergymen back then, today desks are found almost everywhere. After the Industrial Revolution, work shifted from intense physical labor to desktops.
So, before computers became mainstream and work went digital, drawers (a lot of them) were the way to go for organizing workspaces. With the dawn of computers unnecessary paperwork was disposed of. But with the many USBs and plugins required for maintaining data digitally, we still end up with messy desks!
Given how important it is to be focused and achieve our work goals, it is wise to spend some time cleaning and organizing our desks, rather than wasting hours searching for missing items. -source Nationaltoday.com
