The Importance of Having A Tidy Work Space

As someone who has been a university student for the past three years and an A-Level student for the two years before that and now works a lot from home with my blog, it's fair to say I spend a hell of a lot of time sitting on my little bum at my desk. I think that's the same for a lot of people these days anyway as we spend more and more time online and do more things on our computers, whether it's playing games, doing work, catching up with the news or doing some shopping. As I said in my previous post about how to tidy your work space, as we spend more time at our desks, a tidy workspace becomes more and more important. HP have been helping me get my desk in order and it's made such an impact on my productivity, my motivation and, as my desk is in my room, my overall wellbeing and here's why it's so important to have a tidy workspace.

IT HELPS WITH ORGANISATION AND PRODUCTIVITY

This may be obvious but in my opinion this is a biggie. Organisation is the root of all productivity and if you have stuff strewn all over your workspace (and let's be honest, it's easy to end up in that situation!) it can really impact your work. It's so stressful hunting through piles and piles of stuff to find that one sheet of notes or the pen that you just had or the flight tickets you just printed off. My HP DeskJet 3720 has helped unbelievable amounts with my organisation of not only my desk but my filing, my documentation and my photos. Because it's so small and pretty, it sits nicely on the edge of my desk meaning that when I print my photos or my documents out, they're literally right next to me to grab and file or put where they're supposed to be and because the papers print out on my desk and not on the floor, they don't have footprints all over them where I've accidentally stood on them or a rip in the corner because my pesky dog stole it from the printer!

IT HELPS IMPROVE YOUR OVERALL WELLBEING

As my desk is in my bedroom, this is especially true for me but even if you have a separate office room for your desk, having a tidy workspace does wonders for your overall well-being. I know for a fact that I sleep better when the space around me is tidy and I just don't get as stressed out or panicky about deadlines or essays when I know where everything is and the space around me looks clean and organised. There's nothing quite like the stress levels of a panicked student sifting through masses of books and papers trying to find that important sheet of lecture notes! I love how my desk looks at the moment. My HP DeskJet sits nicely on the edge, my MacBook is as pretty as ever, my peonies (or "paninis" as Karl was asking for in the florists!) are blooming beautifully and my lavender candle is burning brightly. Perfecto. 

THERE'S STILL ROOM FOR MESSY CREATIVITY

Some people will undoubtedly say that a messy desk is essential for creativity to flow but having a tidy workspace does not by any means mean that this can't happen. In fact, in a way, having a tidy desk means there is actually more room for messy creativity. If everything has a place on the desk, you can make as much or as little mess as you want while you're actually working and then it won't be such a headache to clean up when you're done and you won't find yourself putting the tidy up off for as long, resulting in a cleaner, more hygienic workspace. After all, no one likes to tidy up but organisation and cleanliness means that it's easy and quicker and you're less likely to find a week old cup of tea hidden under a stack of papers at the end (yup, been there.) 

I'd say since having a tidy desk, my creativity has improved greatly. My HP printer has meant that I can print out as many snapshot photos as I want and as a result, I've filled in my scrapbook more, filled my travel book in as soon as I've got back from holiday and I've been actually more motivated to do my filing (still though *ugh*) as I know it's going to be easy to print off what I need and file it. Easy peasy. 

Overall, I think having a tidy desk is incredibly important for productivity on the whole, especially if you're in a job or course or whatever else that requires focus on goals, deadlines and organisation (yep, that means you students!). My HP DeskJet 3720 has been a major kick starter for my tidiness journey and so far I have noticed such a huge difference. I have more space, I feel less stressed and I don't dread sitting down to do some work anymore.

If you want to win your own HP DeskJet 3720 with a year's supply of ink, make sure you enter HP's competition! All you have to do is upload a photo of your desk, workspace or shelf to Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #HPShelfie and I'll be choosing a winner at the end of July and another winner at the end of August so make sure to get those entries in! 

Let me know if you think having a tidy desk space is important and don't forget to show me your #HPShelfie! 

Amy x

*this post is in collaboration with HP. All words and views remain my own.