January is Get Organized Month. Getting organized at work can set you up for success in the coming year. Taking 15 minutes to tidy up your desk in the workplace or your home office can work wonders for your wellbeing.

My take on tidying up and remaining clutter-free:

A pile of file folders on your desk looks messy. If the same folders are on your desk everyday (more than 5 or 10 or more) it can look like nothing’s getting done and you’ve dumped them there. There’s a difference between looking busy and being busy.

In the 1990s a coworker maligned me for this very practice: Keeping file folders I wasn’t using on my desktop. Keep only the papers and documents for the current project at your fingertips.

As for decorating your work desktop: Keep it Simple. I wouldn’t place pens in a mug atop your desk as it could be tempting for a coworker to steal—okay take—a pen.

On my desktop is a wire bin on the left and on the right a wire 3-tray inbox system. Three family photos on the desk. A quote magnet. A metal cup with bookmarks so this librarian can hold her place in the books she reads.

The decorative items should not be placed where it will be hard to move papers and other items around them.

Right on cue in Get Organized Month I tidied up my work desk. Threw out papers trolling in the inbox for months. Rearranged where the decorative objects were placed on the desk. Removed one object from atop the desk.

The goal is health harmony and happiness at work and at home. Harmony is a pleasing arrangement of parts. Congruence is when the inner and outer elements agree in our life.

“Ship-shape” is a worthy goal. Decades ago, I browsed the Intrepid Air Sea and Space Museum in Manhattan. Fascinated I was with the neat and tidy compartments of a submarine.

Trust. I’m no fan of having a messy desk and being proud of the disorder. This is my take on living tidy. Some of my followers could be OK living with a little mess. To each our own.

Yet if getting organized appeals to you why not take the time this month to tidy up?