How Optimizing Your Physical Workspace Creates Time

The physical workspace is the most important environment that you have, and setting it up properly is crucial to you being maximally productive. In the previous posts, we went over exactly how to create an optimal and functional physical workspace. 

Step 1 tells you the exact Supplies needed to be productive
Step 2 shows you how to Declutter and Purge your current physical workspace
Step 3 helps you Create an optimal physical workspace
Step 4 shows you how to Organize your Physical Files

Now after organizing your physical workspace, you may be thinking: “WOW, I am done. This is what productivity feels like… being organized!”

Actually…. being organized is just the beginning of productivity. I think of organization as a means to allow you to obtain true productivity resulting in the completion of the most meaningful tasks in your life. This, in turn, decreases stress and creates a sense of purpose in our lives.

From my experience, an optimized physical workspace serves two main functions:

1. Allows the processing and execution of Shallow Tasks in a practical and rapid manner. 
2. Allows efficient completion of your Most Important Tasks with absolutely no distractions and using only the absolutely necessary items. 

The Physical Workspace Allows Processing of Shallow Tasks Rapidly

The biggest reason we can’t complete our Most Important Tasks, is because we are submerged with shallow tasks. We then end up continuously doing these shallow tasks all day long since we do not have an efficient way of processing them. 

These include digital and physical tasks. Shallow Digital tasks examples are emails, text messages, social media, etc. Shallow Physical tasks examples include sorting or dealing with miscellaneous documents, patient lists, journal articles, random notes, legal documents, mail, etc.

The reason most people have clutter in their physical workspace is that they have no way to effectively process their physical items. For example, you have an important document that you would like to save, but do not have a designated process or place where you can place it. You tell yourself, you don’t have “TIME” to give to place it in a proper place and it just ends up on your desk. Does this sound familiar?

The end result is that physical items start to pile up. Once the cycle starts, it is hard to find time to tackle all of the clutter that has accumulated (as you saw in Step 2). This leads to a “cycle” of unproductiveness. 

An ideal physical workspace will allow you to place those physical items in a designated area (2-tray system) and have a process of dealing with them extremely fast using simple tools such as a scanner, shredder, and trash can.

Productivity stems from being able to rapidly process shallow tasks such as physical and digital clutter so that you can truly focus the majority of your time completing your most important tasks!

The Physical Workspace Allows Completion of Your Most Important Tasks

Most Important Tasks(MIT), as defined by Leo Babauta in his book Zen to Done, are tasks, that when completed will significantly elevate your life or personal well-being. Examples of MITs are tasks such as studying, learning a complex topic, starting a side hustle, writing a book, writing a manuscript, blog posts, etc. 

Often these tasks are the ones that require us to be at the peak of our productivity (Productive Flow State) in order to complete. These MITs and are extremely difficult (or impossible) to complete when distracted.

Have you had “writer’s block” or difficultly with focusing while studying? That is a result of the inability to achieve a productive flow state caused by mental, digital, and physical distractions. 

If you feel like you have been having difficulty completing the most important tasks in your life, I can guarantee that creating the perfect physical workspace with no distractions will give you the best chance of completing your Most Important Tasks! 

I hope you enjoyed this post! Click here for an overview of all 12-steps to help you achieve a productive life.

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