Color Code Your Home Office To Seriously Upgrade Your Productivity

Your home office shouldn't just be pleasing to look at — it should also be the place you feel most productive. However, that productivity can easily plummet when the space is a cluttered mess. If you find yourself constantly overrun by files and notebooks, and if you have to shuffle things around or root through drawers until you find what you need, then you know firsthand how it can halt your productive flow. Rather than grabbing what you need and getting on with your task, you have to pull yourself out of your concentration and fix your attention to sifting through the mess. To help curb that, consider color coding your office. It's one of the best ways to tidy up your office desk.

This will help simplify your organization and work flow, letting you locate what you need at a glance. Rather than having to read labels or shuffle through items, you can zero in on a particular color and know that it is the item you need. To do that, you will need to identify the unique categories you need for your particular job and role. Some common classifications are things like "urgent to-dos", "do later", "client activity", "administrative tasks", and "department activities." Once you have your recurring tasks identified, it's time to assign colors to them.

Once you know your categories, it's time to assign colors to them and organize your desk. For instance, "urgent to-dos" can be red, while "do later" can be yellow. Then, assign everything pertaining to those tasks the same color. Files that have to do with your urgent tasks should be red, the notebook you use for those tasks should be red, the sticky-notes you leave yourself notes on should be red, and anything pertaining to that list noted on your calendar should be red. Keep the files on a stacked tray on your desk, letting you grab them immediately at the beginning of each work day. Even if you get a little messy throughout your shift, you will be able to quickly grab what you need since the red hue will pop out to you. 

On the other hand, if your job is project-based and you work on multiple projects at any given time, organize your desk based on those projects. One project can be green, another blue, and so on. Everything pertaining to that project on your desk should be the same color, making it easy to spot and put away at a glance. For example, everything from files to dry erase markers to storage bins to binders should be the same hue. This will help you keep your home desk organized, because those items can all be grouped together. If you have the space, you can even put all those items together into one storage bin, colored in the same hue.