Being productive has a lot to do with your state of mind and your surroundings. Both of these factors are heavily influenced if you have a lot of clutter around you. We can definitely cleanup our room and shelve our books to de-clutter our surroundings, but we often overlook the importance of de-cluttering our technology.

I hope these tips would help you as they have helped me:

1. Clean Your Desktop:

Your desktop is the first thing you look at when you start your computer. If you have a clean , pleasant looking desktop, you will want to sit on your computer more and be more focused. Here are some tips to do that:

• Delete unused Icons (that includes all those shortcuts that you use rarely).
• Create Folders (I try to avoid putting any file on my desktop. If it’s not relevant to any existing folder, I put it in the ‘other’ folder).
• Use a soothing background theme or wallpaper (something that relaxes you).

Your browser is probably the first application you use. It might look clean to you, but you will be amazed on how some small things can make your browser add to your focus:

• Create folders for your bookmarks. I know Chrome and Firefox have this feature built-in.
• Delete bookmarks that you rarely use. Instead email them to yourself and put them in a special folder.
• Make sure you like the font you are using. Many people don’t know that you can chose the font and font size for your browser.
• Use a theme. There are hundreds of themes for firefox and a number of skins available for Internet explorer. Use one that will make you relax.

3. Clean Your Inbox:

If you are like me, you spend a lot of time checking your email. Cleaning up your inbox is probably one of the most important things you can do to put your mind at ease:

• Take action on every new mail. Read it, delete it or put it in a folder. Leaving unread emails in your inbox always keep the “oh i still have to take care of those emails” in the back of your mind and adds to your unrest.
• Minimize widgets. I have a long list of labels and google docs on my gmail, but I always keep these widgets minimized to de-clutter.
• Group similar labels by using colors. It will make finding information super easy.

I know these aren’t huge things but you will see and feel a significant difference in your productivity if you implement these changes.