Most people will confess to experiencing some kind of workplace stress. Stress about deadlines, stress about quarterly reviews or stress about co-workers. Stress is usually just part of work, but you can create even more stress for yourself when you let excessive amounts of clutter build up on your desk. Cleaning your desk is the simplest way to reduce a small portion of your work place stress. Here are some ways that you can clear the clutter from your desk and create a more relaxed atmosphere

1. Sort and Toss- If you sort through the papers on your desk you will find that most of your clutter can just be thrown away. Sorting will be a good way to find out what is important and what is destined for recycling or trash.

2. A Place for Everything- If all of your supplies are lying haphazardly about your desk you are making things harder on yourself; without a place for everything you will have a hard time finding what you’re looking for and important things are more likely to be lost.

3. Don’t Procrastinate- Try to give immediate attention to mail and other incoming documents. The longer you put this action off, the larger the pile of stuff will grow.

4. Email- Although emails don’t clutter your literal desk top, they do clutter your computer and can be rather irksome. Waiting until your inbox boasts 200+ emails is counter productive. When your inbox is so full you are forced to devote a greater amount of time, which you may or may not have, to the dreadful task of sifting through all the emails, which may stress you out. Devoting a little bit of time each day or every other day to your inbox will help you to stay abreast of all that is happening and will prevent inbox overflow.