Why not spend some of that “spring-cleaning” energy on our work lives?

“This time of year isn’t just about raiding your closets and drawers at home,” writes Alyse Kalish for The Muse. “It’s the perfect time to declutter your work life a bit, too.”

Kalish provides three ways to clean your work computer for better productivity.

• Clean up your desktop. This includes deleting unneeded items from your computer home screen, such as screen shots, outdated files and notes. To clear more space, remove any apps or programs and empty your trash or recycling bin. And while you’re at it, sort and arrange the remaining files so they don’t overlap, and change your desktop background.

“You can try an inspirational quote, a picture of family or friends (or if you’re me, your pet), or something peaceful to take you away from the dreariness of your office,” she writes.

• Declutter your browser. If you leave tabs open for days, consider bookmarking them or adding these links to a digital to-do list, write Kalish. If you are a link hoarder, try to organize those bookmarks into folders and remove links that are no longer relevant or that you haven’t used. Now’s also the time to make sure your preferred browser is up to date.
• Get organized. If you’re feeling energized by all of this digital cleaning, move on to the hard tasks like creating a filing system for your files. Start by organizing things by year, and then add subfolders for projects, people or programs, whatever makes sense for your work. And if you still have time, update all of your software and apps – it does wonders for your battery life, writes Kalish.