Rearrange your office desktop and furniture to be happier at work

by Jen (March 6, 2008)

I recently helped a friend rearrange the items on her L-shaped desktop at work because the switchboard she uses was parked so far back on the wide side of the desk that she had to lunge forward to answer the phones. Since this is the task she does most often during the day, I suggested putting the switchboard on the narrow side of the desk, where it’s not even an arm’s length away, and putting the new flatscreen monitor and keyboard on the wide side. She did it, and told me when I wrote this up to say that she was “so excited about coming into work” the next day - it made that much of a difference.

It’s easy to come at something with a fresh eye and see how it can be improved. The reason this change didn’t occur to her is because until recently she had a big non-flat monitor that could only fit in the corner. She replaced the big monitor with the flatscreen, but didn’t consider her other options.

Just like decluttering, rearranging your workspace to suit you better is energizing. Take a fresh look at your desktop and ask yourself, “Why is that there? What if I put it over here?”

Basic rules of thumb:

• Start with the equipment you use the most. For many of us, that’s the monitor, keyboard and mouse. Your main device needs to be at a good ergonomic distance and height.
• Now move onto your secondary piece of equipment. Let’s say you have a scanner. Do you like to do your scanning next to the keyboard and monitor so you can work with software on your computer? Or do you prefer to have your scanner in another corner - next to the shredder, perhaps?
• What about the phone? Most of us park it right next to the keyboard, but that’s not your only option - especially if you use email more often.
• Don’t forget drawers and walls: keep things in the drawer nearest the equipment where you use it. You can get wall file holders to put items in arm’s reach when a drawer isn’t close by.

You may feel limited by the cords on your equipment, but you can get extender USB and serial cables for more options.

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Posted in Organization, Work
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