One of the biggest challenges in workplaces - and even home offices, when you think about it - is the fact that so many people have to work with limited deskspace.
This could be because of the size of the room itself, and how large a desk it can accomodate, but in office spaces, it could also be because digital practices are being embraced, and this tends to reduce the amount of space an individual can get to do their work.
With less space, it becomes harder to do your work productively, especially because of the problem of clutter and the lack of possible movement.
While it is an inconvenience, it doesn't mean that you can't work with a smaller desk. There are plenty of solutions available.
Here are some ways of getting the most out of your limited desk space.
Working With Limited Desk Space
Go Digital
One of the best ways you can work with a smaller desk space and still maximize your productivity is to look for digital solutions to things. While going digital is technically one of the reasons people have smaller desks to begin with, there are still ways to go even more digital.
For example, instead of a stack of papers lying in a corner of your desk, taking up space, you could opt for a tablet instead, with digital versions of all your important documents saved so that you don't need to keep them on your desk. Having a hard copy is always recommended, but this can stay stored in your shelves or cabinets unless you really need them. Until then, the softcopy should do the job just as well.
This is also a lot more efficient since it means that reading through the documents and sorting through them becomes easier. Saving any items on the cloud also means that you can access them from anywhere.
Declutter Regularly
One of the reasons your desk may seem smaller than it actually is could be clutter. While clutter is inevitable when you have a lot of things to work with, it doesn't mean that your desk should stay cluttered.
Even if you need to work with a lot of things at once, you should clean your desk at the end of the day. Put away any files and documents that you were working with and arrange your things to how they were before you started.
You should also make sure to arrange your things while you're working as well. When your documents and files are all over the place, they'll take up a lot more space than if you placed them strategically to make it easier to work and keep your desk clean.
Use Smaller Equipment
If your desktop space is being limited by the size of the things you're using, you can opt for a smaller version. This is easier said than done, because - for example - if your computer is large, it's not all that easy to just replace it.
However, you can scale down on certain other things, like getting a smaller stationery organizer on your desk that can free up some space.
Make More Space
This is also a lot easier said than done. Not to mention, if you could make more space, you'd have done it to begin with, right? Not necessarily. Plenty of people simply go with what they have instead of trying to find alternative ways about it.
Making more space isn't actually as efficient unless you have a solid storage and declutter strategy with which you keep yourself organized, because otherwise you'll just end up with this new space cluttered as well. However, if push comes to shove, you can do something about it.
For example, you could get shelves installed on the wall near your desk if there aren't any already - or in a home office, you can get an extra smaller table to keep next to you to turn your desk into an L-shaped one.
You could also use the under desk space that typically goes ignored as storage. While this isn't a very good long-term solution for storage, it does pretty well with getting things out of the way to get some urgent work done, and then keeping your things back on the desk until you find a better space to store them.
Manage Your Cables
You'd be surprised by how much of your desk space gets taken up by cables and cords going across. From computer cables to phone chargers to USB connectors for peripherals - there are all sorts of cables on our desks and we tend to organize our things in a way that seems to cater more to those cables than to our work.
The best way to solve this problem is to reroute all of these to the back of or under your desk where they stay out of sight. Keep them off the tabletop, but also make sure they are organized underneath it. You can use cable ties to keep them together, and use cable managers to make sure they don't go all over the place.
In some cases, you can get rid of the cables altogether - such as by using wireless charging or connection options. This way, you can keep your desk space clean.
Get A Monitor Mount
When it comes to desk space, nothing takes up as much space as your computer. Not just because of the computer itself, but also because of how you adjust and arrange yourself to make sure that you are comfortably viewing the screen.
Laptops obviously take up a fair amount of space - even more so if you are also using peripherals with it. Monitors take up less space, but this still becomes a lot when you consider the placement of the monitor.
One of the best ways to make a lot of space on your desk all at once is to invest in a monitor mount. These are excellent, because they allow you to make space on your desk and give you a lot more features and options around how to work with your computer than you'd have if you were just sitting at your desk.
And as a huge extra bonus, a monitor mount is also great for ergonomics. Not only does your desk stay clean and cluttered - and thus, helps with your mental health - but the ergonomic benefits of a monitor mount will help with all the various aches and pains that come with office work and keep you physically healthy too.
FlexiSpot Single Monitor Mount
The FlexiSpot Single Monitor Mount is one of the best options for this.
This monitor mount comes with a fully adjustable arm that lets you rotate, extend, tilt or swivel the monitor with as much as a light touch, so you don't have to do anything special to get your screen to where you want it to be. All you have to do is push it in the right direction and it'll get there.
This monitor mount comes with a 360 degree rotation, which is useful when you have to work with things that look better with different orientations. It can also help with collaborative work, such as showing a colleague what you're working on for team input. It can also help with fixing the angle to be able to see the screen better depending on your sitting position.
The FlexiSpot Single Monitor Mount also comes with a cordless desktop option by incorporating a cable management system which makes it easier to keep your wires and cords under your control and make your workspace look less messy and cluttered. This way you get to work a lot more productively than you would otherwise.
This monitor mount is also very easy to install. You can use the C-clamp option, or the grommet option, depending on whichever works for you. All it takes is a few minutes to set up your monitor mount so you can start using it for work pretty much immediately.
The mount also has a fairly high loading capacity. It can hold up larger monitors with heavier weights, which helps in workspaces where larger monitors allow you to work productively and ergonomically. The screen size range is fairly wide, and so is the weight capacity.
The frame of the mount is made of aircraft-grade material, so you don't have to worry about your equipment falling over in the middle of your work and possibly destroying your desk with it.
Not only is this monitor mount perfect for freeing up your desk space, it also brings with it all of these benefits to make your work day more productive than it would be otherwise.
