A Guide to Organize Your Workspace – How to Declutter

Imagine a workspace where everything you need is within reach every tool , every file easily available for you to access .

When you organize your workspace , it removes the barriers from getting your work done and speeds up the process between your thought and your creation .

Developing a streamlined system might be daunting to tackle at first , but the extra time you'll create for yourself in the future is absolutely worth the investment .

Hello , I'm Matthew Encina .

In this video , I'll share an overview of my organization system which I use to keep my gear files and workspace .

In order before I begin , I wanted to thank audible for sponsoring this video .

I'll share more on that later .

The problem with cleaning up is that things just get messy again .

I'll be honest , I hated cleaning .

But the reason why is because I didn't have a system , I had too many areas where I would just dump miscellaneous things into because I didn't know where to put it over the years that turned my closet and drawers into a messy avalanche of tangled randomness that caused me a lot of decision fatigue .

Every time I had to put something away and frustration when I had to retrieve something .

This was a constant interruption and often killed my momentum on projects .

I would get distracted trying to find a tool or a piece of reference .

I knew I had somewhere back then .

I wasn't cleaning .

I was hiding things .

What I was missing was a standardized place for everything .

A streamlined workspace that helped me to do my work and was easy to maintain .

After watching a lot of youtube videos , reading some books and looking up inspiration , I was ready to get organized and just maybe find joy in cleaning because my background is in design .

I tackled the problem .

Well , like a designer , I thought of three key things when organizing my space , the function , the purpose of the space , the flow , how easy it would be to access my tools and familiarity , knowing where things go without even thinking about it all with the goal of making everything around me intuitive .

Now that you have an idea of my approach , I'll share the organization process .

I took step by step step one , audit your workflow .

What do you do in your workspace every day and every week ?

What tools do you use most often take note and prioritize your efforts and tools .

This will be the main function of your space , I write film and edit content .

So I prioritize that as the primary function of my space step two , remove everything to assess what you have .

This is the messiest step but is a necessary one to optimize your space for me .

This took several weekends to do .

I tackled one area of my office at a time , the drawers , the closet and then my shelves step three reduce and simplify , get rid of and donate anything .

You don't need good questions to ask yourself .

Does this bring me joy ?

Is it important to keep ?

Have I used it in the last year ?

And the best question if you didn't already own this , would you buy it right now ?

If you answered yes to any of those questions .

Keep it .

If not , it's probably time to part ways with it to minimize your paper files .

I recommend sorting through what you have and digitizing as much as you can for safekeeping .

I use a document scanner on my phone to convert files into PDF S for the physical documents .

You do keep , I recommend getting a filing cabinet and using a set of pre labeled tabs to help you sort your files .

Step four , take inventory , create a list of everything you have and group similar items together note which groups of things you'd want to be most accessible that help you with the function of your space .

Step five measure and plan out your space , create designated areas in your office for where groups of things will live .

Consider the flow of how you'll use your tools and what you'll need access to make sure that walkways and anything you need to reach for isn't blocked for me .

I measured out my available space .

I took photos with my tablet and sketched out my plan .

I drew out about five different configurations until I settled on one step six , compartmentalize with more storage , use bins , trays and boxes to store your groups of items .

This makes it easier to pull things in and out of your available spaces .

I recommend buying from the same manufacturer because the various sizes of bins are typically designed to work with each other .

I also added a few extra shelves in my office to expand my storage in the vertical space .

I was under utilizing step seven label , everything .

Labeling , assigns a home for your stuff so you can quickly retrieve items or put them away in the correct space to label my bins in boxes .

I simply used masking tape and a marker .

I found that having everything labeled is especially helpful for bins that rarely get accessed like old photos and Mementos .

Step eight adjust as needed just because you set everything up doesn't mean it's in the ideal location , live in the space a bit and make adjustments as you work in it when you can find things without even thinking about it .

That's when you know things are just right .

That's when things become familiar .

Once I completed this process of organizing everything , the real test would be how well I could maintain it .

Don't be fooled .

Into thinking my place looks immaculate all the time .

It isn't .

I work a lot in it and it can get a bit messy and dirty .

Luckily , with an organization system in place , maintaining my home office has been much easier .

I no longer have to think about where something goes because everything has a home .

Now , I enjoy cleaning .

I reset my office at the end of each workday , which only takes about five minutes to do .

I love arriving to a clean work space every day so I can begin my work distraction free whenever I'm doing tasks that don't require a lot of brain power like cleaning .

I like to spend that time ingesting information to feed my mind .

That's why I love using audible , the sponsor of this video to listen to audio books that stimulate my brain .

Recently I started listening to Centralism , the Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg mcewan in it .

He shares practical ideas on how to set your priorities straight and how to eliminate low value distractions .

So you can focus on what truly matters in your life .

I recommend it if you need help developing a filter to determine what's important towards your goals and what isn't while most of us are spending more time at home these days .

Audible is giving its members more content to enjoy members can now download all of the Audible original monthly selection as well as unlimited access to guided wellness programs that can help you wind down in stressful times .

Audible , also launched stories dot audible dot com where anyone anywhere can stream hundreds of titles completely free .

You don't even need to be a member .

Just click stream and listen .

If you're looking for new ways to enrich your time at home alone or with the family , I recommend checking out audible go to audible dot com slash Matthew Encina or text Matthew Encina to 505 100 to get one free audiobook , unlimited audible originals and a 30 day free trial .

I hope this overview of my organization system and process was helpful to you .

Feel free to use this as a starting point to develop a system that suits your working style .

Remember , your systems are a constant work in progress that change and evolve with you .

Make sure to adjust and refine as you go .

If you want to see a full tour of my workspace , I'll leave a link in the description as well as additional links to everything featured in this video .

If you have any questions about what you've seen here , leave me a comment and I'll do my best to answer them with that out of the way it's time to get back to work .