Make Your Work-desk Well Defining to your Personality

A work desk of a person is a reflection of his/her personality and his/her style of working. Convenience of the individual while working is the most important factor about condition of work-desk and this depends on differences individuals have with each other. Once a boy of my family began arranging things on my work-desk that often is scattered with books, loose papers, a number of pens and pencils, etc leaving little space for putting any thing new or even hands on the table. I had to ask him not to touch anything because I work in this condition and know where to find what in case of a need. The computer case often remains open for checkups and temporary re-setting. In-spite of my knowing that this looks shabby, I can’t help it. This reflects on my own personality as highly disorganized yet functional in-spite of heavy odds before me. I confess things could be organized better even in my home office now. 

I am not just what is projected here. During my working in official positions, my desk used to be clean with no pending papers of other things. Of course, there used to be staff to take care of my office organization to suit the needs of all concerned.

Ideally speaking, there can’t be a standard setup or arrangement of things for a work-desk. It is related to psychology of the person rather than an idealized layout. It also depends whether the work-desk is for an individual or belongs to many for joint operations with the two situations demanding quite different prerequisites. In a joint working environment, things should be rule-based for everyone to understand and comply with considerations of mutual convenience.

The branch of psychology that studies optimization of working environment for a good performance is known as ‘Environmental Psychology’. This science deals with working furniture, color arrangement, sitting postures, illumination, house-keeping, etc of the work-desk and is more relevant to group-working rather than working of an individual, although some features may be equally beneficial for both the situations. 

Some common, yet generalized, considerations for work-desk may be enumerated as that follows.

Avoiding Disturbances

Other persons not directly related to your work either unnecessarily disturb your working or distract your attention from work. So the first requirement of a work-desk is its isolation from general view. If some passersby can’t be avoided overlooking the work-desk, their passage must be on the right side. If a person passes at the back, the performer is induced by his/her curiosity to look at who is passing. If the person passes through the front, he/she disturbs in the working. The left hand side is always more convenient for illuminating the desk, leaving only right side for the passage.

Have Restricted Freedom

Freedom is not the only thing desired by a person, it has to be a disciplined or restricted freedom without hurting or disturbing others. In an official set up, where many others are concerned and affected by your working, mutual convenience and discipline bear more importance than in a home office. Therefore, work-desk in an official environment must be well organized with things at their preconceived locations. Cluttering on the work-desk of one person adversely affects working of related persons too. So issue clear-cut instructions to others and follow them by yourself on your official work-desk setup. 

Coloring your Environment

Firstly, I must admit that presence of women adds not only color to the office environment, senior women induce discipline and sincerity in the male colleagues too. Consider this point while designing a setup for your office. Red color has psychological connotations of danger, therefore, it need be minimized in the office environment. Addition of some evergreen plants suitable for growing slowly in the shade are highly recommended, provided these do not add inconvenience to working of any body and should not become a work in itself. 

Feel Comfortable

A feeling of being at home through physical as well as mental comfort at the work-desk is of great value to a performing individual. Sit in the environment calmly, and ask yourself if there is a feeling of discomfort, find its cause and eliminate it with care to others' comforts too. 

Free space in an office adds to a happy feeling to all apart from providing personal spaces to all individuals for their working. Let persons walk to you with a smile with making up their minds on the meeting. Your smile at every visitor adds convenience for an amicable dialog. 

Illumination, Ventilation and Noise Control

These three factors influence performance of a person to a great extent. Light in the front of the person must be avoided with its optimal position being on left top side of the desk. Ventilation must be through but not directly impinging on any body. Noise control is important for an office but it can not always be avoided in industrial environment. For a big industrial complex, locating offices in a separate block helps. 

Talks of official persons with their respective visitors must not cross-heard to enforce confidentiality and privacy. This requires gaps in between various tables. Cross-walking must be minimized through use of inter-com gadgets.  

Your Definition

Let your work-desk be your definition and a person visiting you even for the first must know by looking at your desk who you are and how is is your working. This makes you and the visitor comfortable with each other and a lot of time in mutual understanding is saved. Moreover, with your definition clear to the visitor, either he/she will directly talk business with you or leave you without wasting your and his time sitting with you. 

Undoubtedly, this definition of yours should be of a performing individual who sees directly into the eyes of the person in front and talks in no ambiguous terms. This must be reflected by smart look of your work-desk with no superfluous things nearby.