Clean Off Your Desk Day was 25 days ago.
In 2023 Clean Off Your Desk Day was on January 9th (monday).
New Year’s resolutions – we all make them every year, even though we may not always admit that aloud. Most of them concern big changes in our life, usually connected with discipline. There is one more action connected with discipline we should take at the beginning of the year – cleaning off our desk. Second Monday of January is the best occasion to do that, because this is Clean Off Your Desk Day.
Many of us work at the office and spend a few hours every day sitting at the desk. This is our work space, where we make phone calls, take notes, surf the Internet, drink coffee or even eat lunch. If we do not clean it up regularly, our desk may quickly become a “jungle” of papers, notes, clips, business cards or personal stuff. This is not good for the work quality. According to the scientists and productivity experts, clean and organized desk is the basis of efficient work. A messy workspace is an invitation for the chaos, and this is not something we need during work. Looks like cleaning the desk is worth the effort! And if we do that on the second Monday of the year, it is more likely that we will be able to keep the desk clean for the whole year. Clean Off Your Desk Day is not, however, only for adult office workers. All children and teenagers doing their homework at the cluttered desk are also encouraged to observe the day and start the new year with a tidy mind.
How can you celebrate Clean Off Your Desk Day? It is not hard to find the answer – just clean up your workspace! This should not, however, be just a superficial tidying. Begin with removing everything (literally everything) from your desk. Thoroughly clean the desk’s surface. Put all the stuff from the desk on the floor or a table and segregate: which things do you really need, and what can you throw away? What has to be on the desk, and what could be hidden in the drawers? Maybe you could organize important papers into a binder? Are there any things that can be taken home instead of lying on the office desk? Everything that clutters your desk makes you more stressed and anxious, even though you might not feel like that. In order to motivate yourself and others, make a “before and after” picture of your desk. Encourage your colleagues at work to do the same. Make a competition! This is a very good way to make your work place much more pleasant and motivating for everyone. And when you already clean off your desk, do the same with your PC’s or laptop’s desktop. If you want to keep your desk clean for a long time, have a trash can standing close to it. It will be much easier for you to throw papers or trash away instantly, than collect it on the desk waiting for a mass throw-away.
Did you know?
The word “desk” derives from 14th century Modern Latin word “desca”, which is a table that you write on. Not many people could write these days, so desks were not important furniture until the 19th century. Then first commercial offices started to appear, but also many homes were equipped in desks. As the PC was invented, desks had to become bigger and have additional drawers to make more space.