We’ve all seen it: writers with overflowing ashtrays on their desk, bloggers with a computer area that looks like it was hit by a whirlwind, and home offices that are infused with children and general household chaos.
While there can be benefits to being yourself in your work space, sometimes changes are necessary in order to ensure that you find yourself in the kind of environment that encourages the very best in you in every single thing that you put your hand to.
When it comes to health, you are what you eat; conversely, when it comes to be a successful web writer, you are where you work. Make your workspace a safe haven and a place that encourages everything you need it to with these five tips on organizing your workspace to increase blogging productivity:
1. File Your Paperwork
While the world is getting more paperless by the minute, we’re not nearly there yet, and that means that most every job involves juggling paperwork of one kind or another. Given just how unpleasant that task can be, combined with the way that things have a way of piling up on us, this fact can easily lead to a cluttered workspace that includes papers and notes covering most every surface.
When it comes to paper, there are two steps that you’ll need to follow in order to get things organized: eliminate as much of it as possible and file the rest of it.
To reduce the amount of paper to be found on your desk and in your surrounding work environment, consider relying more on email for communication, a device like a tablet or smartphone for notes, and your computer screen for written material.
Besides saving a tree or two and uncluttering your work area, you’ll also find that doing things the technological way makes almost instantly for better general organization
2. Clean Up Your Computers
With the note on going paperless well-taken, we’re sure, you may find that you’ve only managed to trade out an actual mess for a digital one, so you’ll need to give your PC, notebook, smartphone, tablet, and other electronic devices the same organizational attention that you’ve given your desk.
When it comes to notes and personal lists, that means compiling things together and being honest about what you no longer need. For documents and files that you need to access on a regular basis, a well-organized virtual desktop will do the trick, helping you to free up your digital workspace even as you make things on your computer easier to find in the process.
Given just how important a part of our work lives our mobile devices have become, be sure to give them the same treatment, paring them down to what you actually need while on the go, including emails and other forms of messages.
Again, everything becomes easier to find and you save yourself that slight upset stomach that comes when you see that your inbox has 100 or more messages in it.
3. Add Shelving As Needed
No more how digital you try to go, real life items will inevitably find their way into your workflow, even if only as reminders of your off-time, and you’re going to need to ensure that you’ve got the space needed to find a home for everything.
Instead of allowing your desktop itself to play host to papers, books, photographs, or anything else, consider adding some extra storage to the mix, such as shelving, filing cabinets, or additional tabletop surfaces.
Besides giving you a place to store items that you may or may not need from time to time in the course of being a blogger, you’re also sure to be pleased at the esthetic effect achieved when tasteful new furniture is added to your office area - and a little added positivity can go a long way!
4. Keep Personal Items to a Minimum
Because many of us spend so much time in our workspace, it tends to become something of a home away from home, and that can make the bringing in of personal items seem a natural thing, often taking place without you even noticing it.
Whether you find your workspace cluttered with unintentional additions such as your children’s school work and the contents of your pockets after a day on the road, or you simply can’t help but bring a new framed photograph to work every few days, organizing your workspace towards increased blogging productivity means that you’re going to have to take a step backwards in order to focus on what’s really important.
If you insist on having these kinds of personal items nearby, consider adding a shelving unit or chest of drawers to accommodate them; otherwise, it may be time to admit to yourself that most of these distractions would do better in a different part of your home or office, freeing up your personal workspace for that minimal quietude that promises to lead to blogging inspiration and long periods of healthy typing.
5. Be Comfortable
At the end of the day, the real idea behind organizing your workspace and increasing productivity is related directly to just how comfortable you feel; being relaxed is the first step towards focusing and getting to work, after all.
While a minimalistic approach works best for most of us, always be sure to find that happy medium that is unique to your own personality and needs; by being honest and clear with yourself about what works and what doesn’t, you’ll have no trouble in achieving a workspace that allows you to put your mind to being the most productive blogger possible!
Anna Fox is the writer addicted to self-improvement. So all her free time is devoted to searching for new ways to increase her own productivity. Nowadays she is sharing her ideas via Viral Content Buzz - free social media platform for content promotion.
Hey Anna,
Organizing workspace is really an great thought.
If I talked about my workspace, it’s a little room with lots of other non-blogging stuffs..
Full of clothes and very little space.. I never thought to organize them.
Same thing is with my PC. I’m gonna organize all those things now.
Thanks!
Ankit
Hi Ankit. I’m pleased to hear that this information became of interest to you. The main idea is to get less distraction and to feel comfortable. I’m sure you’ll get positive results
Great tips, Anna
I think my work space isn’t too bad, in terms of items. But, I might need to do some cleaning. I can throw some stuff away, move somethings to the attic (or to a shelf) and so on. I have added that to my weekly to-do list, thanks for reminding me!
You are right about the effect of work space on productivity. A messy work space can overwhelm us, and discourage us from working (plus, it helps to have everything organized. We don’t need to search for specific files/documents, offline or online).
Thanks for the tips, Anna
Appreciate them!
Thanks Jeevan. We all should keep everything organized - especially our computers. They are our main working instruments. So keeping them clean from unnecessary out-of-date information as the result will save our precious time
A clean and tidy workspace is very important to ensure an efficient working environment. I made the move from my spare room to an office a while back and have experienced a huge boost in productivity.
Mark, you are absolutely right. At home in addition to managing our working space we have to organize ourselves to fight multiple distractions. That’s also not a simple task.
This is indeed a very useful post especially for people like me , my desk is always unorganized . A clean environment gives you the positive energy to work. I am going to follow your tips , thanks
Thanks Abhishek. Hope all your efforts in organizing your working space won’t be gone unnoticed
Great post! I do agree, organizing your workplace can help you become more productive. I hate working in clutters so having a clear space helps me gather my ideas and be more productive. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Nancy. It sounds so familiar to me. I also can’t work in a messy environment. It’s hard to concentrate on writing while your attention is drawn to the objects not related to your job
Hello,
I must begin by saying I am a total mess when it comes to organizing my space. It’s like spring cleaning that you do so well but it’s done only once a year. I think I got you a picture about me by now.
I agree to digitalizing those ‘sticky notes’ spread all around but I must admit though I am with against exploitation of any kinds I am probably one of the trees worst enemies. Sometimes it feels I cannot think straight if I do not have a pen in my hand. I love the screech on the paper and seeing my words written there smelling like fresh ink.
Haven’t you had the same obstacles? I think I have dozens of agendas and I flip out in the library when I see them. I am the kind inlove with the papertouch.
Hi Andreea. If digital tools are not quite for you - that’s not a problem. Try to calm down and relax. In any case stacks of small sheets of paper won’t increase your productivity even when you have created a perfect to-do list and have scratched it on one of them (laying somewhere in this messy dump). Instead of sticky notes and paper sheets use tested by generations good old daily planner. First of all your notes will be scheduled and organized in one place. You won’t need to look through dozens of paper pieces. Ideally your working desk should look like this: computer+pen+daily planner+cup of tea/coffee. I’m sure that will definitely decrease your stress level and will make you more productive.
Thank you Anna. I have googled some daily planners and they look great. I don’t need to note down myself that day and time and the tasks separately.
My own block right now is that it’s a bit hard to translate ”daily planner” in Romanian. I am searching for it in libraries but also e-libraries.
Don’t get me wrong please. I love technology. I have a laptop, a smartphone (an old one in deed but a smartphone) and also an e-book reader. My problem is working in front of a computer 8 1/2 hours a day being employed in a call center so screen staring is not avoidable. My eyes hurt and it feels that my tasks are much more achievable if I see them laid down by my own fingers.
Andreea, that’s a real problem. Working behind computer all day long is very dangerous for your eyesight. If you are telling that your eyes hurt - that’s a troubling sign. Maybe you should incorporate some exercises for eyes. You can do them right at your workplace. And also make some dietary changes. Include in your nutrition green, leafy vegetables, oily fish, nuts, blueberry. These steps will support your eye health.
I know what you mean Anna. I have already checked with a doctor and I was recommended also some eyesight drops which I have used as prescribed and they did well to my eyes for a couple of weeks.
My schedule you see it fluctuates. I try to go for shifts starting 5pm rather than 8pm which is what they recently gave me. I’m going to the market tomorrow for my groceries so I’d better google up some recipes before that.
As a book worm myself(a bit in retirement right now) I try to keep my eyes down, look sideways, massage my forehead, close my eyes or look in the distance for a change. It works but let me tell, I can’t wait for my regular schedule to be back.
OFF-TOPIC: Yhank you so much for the intense interaction. I appreciate the energy and your input.
Andreea, I hope that these are all temporary difficulties in your life and soon everything will become better. You deserve schedule that will fit you perfectly. And your eyes deserve it too. Thank you so much for your honest and hearty feedback.
We have been taught from the school time that organizing and making proper schedule will increase your efficiency of study, the same is here. Organizing and making a time table and following it daily, will help a lot.
Jijin, you are absolutely right. We were taught the right things at school. Creating a proper schedule works perfectly for every aspect of our lives.
Hello,
Yeah i agree with your mentioned points about the workspace. Organizing a workspace for blogging is really important which has a virtual computers and all our needs, so that we can work without any issues.
Thanks
That’s true, Tushar. Nowadays are created favorable conditions for increasing productivity thanks to huge variety of computer and mobile apps. This factor is making organizing of our working places much more easier.
What an awesome write up Anna,
To increase blogging productivity is what almost every blogger out there is seeking for because, there are so many different distractions out there that always tend to stand on our way towards being productive.
Now, one other important way through which we can enhance our productivity is by simply organizing our work place because, if you fail to keep it as organized as possible then, you will always get distracted by so many things in the environment.
I agree with all you said here Anna, thanks for sharing and, have a fabulous weekend.
Thanks Theodore. I strongly agree with you. Endless chances for distractions in our working places and poor selforganization are making us less productive. This could be a great challenge if we want to achieve success in blogging. So it’s time to make some more efforts to improve our workplaces.
I’m very glad to see you here. Have a great and productive week!
It means one must go green to enhance his blogging producitvity. As much green way of doing things you will follow your workplace will be less messy and it will boost your productivity. A really great and off-the-track post with novel ideas to enhance blogging productivity. I would follow all of them and for this thanks a lot to you.
Thanks Edson. I’m always ready to help with advice.
Hi Anna,
Well I’m doing online marketing from home, where I must admit sometimes it’s very difficult to concentrate because it’s home (You eat there, sleep, relax, you’re with family etc.) Sometimes I wish I have my own office in town to work and make myself habit it’s a place for work. Like this it’s always messy at my bedroom desk, there are all kind of things there like games, magazines etc. A person needs to have strong will to make their to work, if you know what i mean
Anyway if you set your mindset and make p plan for everyday schedule when to work and when to relax and watch TV and so then there won’t be any problems. But it’s hard sometimes to be so determined xD
Thanks for writing this and explained it detailed.
Regards,
Patrick
Hey Jane,
Well written. You know what? I can’t agree more with the clean up computer part. I can’t work with slow computer and a fast one really make me ‘go the extra mile’. Haha!
Great list and thanks for sharing!
*p/s How have you been?
Hello Anna,
Since i’m a freelancer and a part time blogger, I always prefer to have a separate virtual PC with additional backup of every thing i need like Mobile, PC, laptop and of course a power backup. By making these things necessary it would ensure productivity.
Thanks for the tips.
Hey Anna Nice work,
All the provided tips are great. Organizing yous space keeps your mind fresh and only use minimal tools that you need.
Great Post.
thank you for sharing this.
Nikhil
Hey Anna, these are some very good tips and reminders. One question deals with comfort issues. Can you recommend a chair for those of us that sit at the computer for long periods of time?
Good tips. My work area is not the only part of my little one-room flat that is quite chaotic. I always want to change it but it seems that it is so much work to get started.
I really like the point #5 .i.e getting comfortable or feeling relax is most important to create focus and concentration on our work. In blogging, concentration on work is most important. If we will not concentrate while writing the blog article then we can’t write a helpful article for our readers. Thanks for sharing. Happy Blogging