Declutter your desk to prevent "Irritable Desk Syndrome"

I was fascinated to read a recent survey by NEC-Mitsubishi that found the nation's office workers were being hit by "Irritable Desk Syndrome" They found that long working hours, cluttered desks and poor posture are making people ill.

Around 40% of the 2000 people questioned said they were infuriated by too much clutter and paper on their desks and could not be bothered to do anything about it.

Don't be like them - remember a clutter-free organised desk with all your notes and material properly filed will save you time, reduce your stress and ultimately free up your energy for your work.

So here are my top tips for decluttering your desk

• Take everything off the surface except large items like your computer screen and empty your drawers. Admire the clear space – feel how calming and de-stressing it is. It could be like this every day.
• Desks are for action not for storage. Be discriminating about putting things back on the surface of your desk.
• Time to be honest and ruthless. As you pick up each item ask yourself is this truly relevant and useful? Do I actually need to keep it? No? Chuck it.
• Dump the post-its and scraps of paper. Don’t keep important information on scraps of paper, unfiled index cards and a sea of post-its. Use a notebook instead to record all your ideas and to-do lists.
• Clear your desk at the end of each day. If time is short just scoop all papers up into your action tray and sort them out first thing in the morning.