How to Set Up Your Desk: A Guide to Fixing a (Surprisingly) Overlooked Productivity Problem

by Matt Perman

What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done,[4]

Book recommendations

You want your desk to be an effective, efficient “home base” for dealing with stuff and executing work.

1.1

A desk is for working, not storing stuff. So be a minimalist when it comes to what you have on your desk permanently.

1.1.1

Basically, if you have a context for understanding the types of stuff at your desk, you will be more likely to use it better and design your work area better.

1.2

Examples of equipment would be your computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, telephone, and in-box.

1.2.1

but the point in regard to supplies is that they are things that need to be replenished. This means that you keep at your desk only enough to meet your needs,

1.2.2

It’s good to have this; just keep it to a minimum or your desk will end up overly cluttered.

1.2.3

The last category of permanent stuff is reference. This doesn’t go on your desktop, but in file cabinets and on bookshelves.

1.2.4

That is, it goes in a specific spot—the in-box—rather than getting scattered over the desk or whole room.

1.2.5

These go in your task management software

1.26

It goes in files or, if it is too big to fit in a file, on a project shelf or project area away from your desktop.

1.2.7

In other words, don’t manage your life from stacks.[8] Manage your life from lists and your calendar. So don’t create stacks of stuff to remind you of the work that you have to do.

1.3

When you are actually working on something, then you can create piles to orchestrate your work

1.3.1

The input that comes your way falls into only one of three categories: Trash Information Action items

1.4

But for now, I’ll point out that you create centers on your desktop, desk drawers, and file drawers.

1.5

Use P-L-A-C-E to organize things intelligently

1.6

“Don’t skimp on work space at home. It’s critical that you have at least a satellite home system identical to the one in your office.”

1.7

Be organized and effective both at work and at home.

1.7.1

your system at home should mirror your system at work.

Last of all: You should not simply have a work center at home and work; you should also have a mobile dimension.

1.8

it’s worth acknowledging explicitly the need to have a permanently fixed “home base.”

He is anti-hoteling.

There are four different ways to configure a desk: rectangular, parallel, L-shaped, and U-shaped.

2.0

A rectangular configuration gives you less workspace, but is fine if you have a small area to work with or prefer to keep your desk area to a minimum.

2.1

With the parallel configuration, you add another rectangular unit behind you to provide additional workspace.

2.2

An L-shaped configuration also adds another desktop unit, but to the side rather than the back.

2.3

The U-shaped configuration is really an L-shaped configuration with another component added on to the other side of the L:

2.4

No matter what your configuration, there are actually two components that you need to have: the desk itself, and the drawer unit(s).

2.5

So whenever possible, I recommend getting a desk without built-in drawers and then buying a separate drawer unit

2.5.1

It’s not that we’ve seen the end of paper, although it has decreased. It’s that now when we do handle paper, there is usually an electronic component to it as well,

2.6

The place where you put your desk depends upon the type of desk configuration you have and the structure of the room/work area.

3.0

The Principles

1. Don’t make your desk face the wall. 2. Don’t have your back to the door/ entrance. 3. If possible, make your desk face perpendicular to the door/ entrance

I’ve found that the best way to make this work is to place my monitor in the corner of the “L” shape of my desk.

3.1

When it comes to your desktop, there are three things to know: what items to have on your desktop, how to arrange them, and how to use your desktop.

4.0

As I’ve mentioned before, the main principle here is to minimize the number of items you keep on your desk.

4.1

And pen and pencil cups are unnecessary.

Woah! Not the pencil cups!

The main things you need to have on your desktop are:

Suggestions for things on your desk

Here are a few more details on some of the items mentioned above.

Further desk set up details.

How to Arrange Things on Your Desktop

4.2

I mentioned earlier that everything at your desk falls into two categories: permanent stuff and transient stuff.

4.3

In other words, you don’t store work on your desk. Your desktop is for doing your work, not for storing your work. What goes on your desktop permanently is the equipment used for doing your work.

4.3.1

With this in mind, here’s a rundown on the process I recommend for how to use your desk.

How to use your desk recommendation.

So here are five main drawers that I recommend that you have at your desk: Wallet/keys drawer Pen/pencil/office supply drawer Labeler drawer Finance/mail drawer File drawer (pending and project files)

5.0

When you get into work, you need a place to put your wallet and keys (at least if you’re a guy and don’t like keeping them in your pockets).

5.1

The main purpose of this drawer is to keep a supply of pens and mechanical pencils on hand.

5.2

This is the drawer where you keep your labeler for labeling any physical files

5.3

It keeps all the supplies that you need for managing your finances. This may include these items: checkbook, extra checks, church offering envelopes, extra keys, envelopes, address labels, and stamps.

5.4

You want to have your most active files with you at your desk, and the file drawer that comes in most drawer units works great for this. Keeping the most active files here means the pending and active projects file divisions.

5.5

Pending files are the files for holding support material for non-project, ongoing, routine operations.

5.5.1

It is useful to have a drawer for all of your chargers.

5.6