Jan. 3rd was National Clean Off Your Desk Day

January 3rd, the first Monday in January, was National Clean Off Your Desk Day. This special day originated in 1982 with Anne Chase Moeller in response to her father's need to organize. A messy desk at a home office or downtown office is not necessarily the sign of a creative mind, as the cliché states. A cluttered workspace can show lack of organization and efficiency.

Begin the Clean off Your Desk celebration by separating all pieces of paper correspondence into three piles - Action/Archive/Shred

Action - These items need to be taken care of. Organize them by what is most important first to what is least important. Start at the top of the list, and over the next week, see that every item has been properly acted upon.

Archive - These items don't necessarily need action, but they are important for records sake. Organize them into files that have been ordered alphabetically. If you need a file index in order to find them again, create it while you are placing files where they should go.

Shred - self explanatory. Any form of paper document that does not need an action taken or does not need to be kept for record's sake should be fed into the shredder. No exceptions. This includes old magazines, newspapers, advertisements, out of date materials, and old sticky notes.

Maintenance - Office employees and employers should take time at the end of everyday to use Action/Archive/Shred to properly organize what gets plopped on their desks. Think of how much time can be saved.

Anything that's not made of paper - office supplies, equipment, coffee mugs - should be put in its proper place.

Expand National Clean off Your Desk Day organization efforts to work, and personal computers.

Take a look at files on the computer. Delete files you will not ever use again. Or store files on a flash drive that are valuable but not of use currently.

Computer owners should be asking themselves these questions when organizing the information stored in the home and office computers: Are there icons on the desktop that are no longer active. Is anti-virus software current? Is it time to renew the anti-virus subscription? When was the last time your computer was checked and cleaned? Are there any new upgrades? Is it time to purchase a new flash drive because the current one(s) have very little space left?

What about URLs stored in bookmarks or favorites? Are the links still active? What should you do with links to sites you haven't visited in months or years? Could you better find them if they were organized in folders?

I'm sure Anne Chase Moeller didn't have computers in mind in1982 when she came up with National Clean Off Your Desk Day. At the time, shared an office with her father, William DeRoy Chase, author of Chase's Annual Events. Chase's Annual Events is a directory of all the special days, weeks and months of the year. Would you believe Chase had a messy desk? His desk was so cluttered, Moeller spread a towel over it to work. She came up with National Clean off Your Desk Day, and added it to the directory. Clean Off Your Desk Day was celebrated for the first time in 1983.

Great tips for becoming a more organized and efficient worker, visit this site: http://www.organizingresources.com/pressreleases/cleandesk.htm
For information about Anne Chase Moeller:
http://tishiasavestime.com/today-is-national-clean-your-desk-day/