Have you heard of term, ‘the crab walk’ which is in aid of clearing your desk? It is a term coined by Flylady (one of the old-time organising guru’s on the web). The procedure is very simple.

Crab walk - Step 1

Stand in front of your desk, bend the knees, have one arm out horizontally in front of you, and start walking sideways. This means, you basically take everything on the desk with you into a large plastic container next to your desk. You want to have a container of around 52 litres for most people. Of course, if you are worried about your papers and items being broken, you get the gist of this exercise and can simply lift items up and gently place them in the box next to you.

The idea of this exercise is twofold;

It gives you a sense of what a clear desk is like and in the next step it will give you a chance, to analyse what should really be on your desk in the first place.
If you require an item as you work, you can simply take it out of the box, and place it on the same spot it used to be, or find a new home for it.

Crab walk - Step 2

In the second step of this exercise we are left with a box full of stuff, which we can now slowly analyse overtime, spending maybe 10 minutes a day picking up 1 item and making a decision. Everyone’s desk is a reflection of one’s personality and preferred way of working, so really take the time to look at how you work. Do you pile things on top of each other or add items in a cupboard?

When you work through papers find a structure that will allow you to pile, but still have some sense of order, so you know which papers are where. If you are very visual, make sure you create a system in which items can be left out. This only works for a limited amount of visual cues, after 5 or 6 papers, you brain goes into overload and it loses its desired effect. If you, however, place one or two items of paper on your desk, to deal with tomorrow or when you come back, this system might really work.

You will most likely find that you have excess material as well, books you have read, materials you have outgrown, notebooks, and pens galore. This is helpful to know as you are standing in the stationary shop, you can visualise the piles of things that are now grouped and it will help you refrain from buying more.

Over time items will find their rightful place on your desk again. Doing this exercise a couple of times a year will make a huge difference to the way your desk looks and hopefully to how you feel when working on your desk.