🛑 Festive Anti-Procrastination: 5 Tricks to Decorate Your RTA Desk and Stay Productive in December 🎄

Hello, hard-working home-officers!

Let's be honest: December is a battleground between your work to-do list and the Christmas carols playlist that is begging to be played. Procrastination lurks with promises of hot chocolate and wrapping presents. We need a strategy!

We’ve talked about how an RTA desk is the foundation of your Home Office and a smart investment. But in December, it needs a little injection of "focused joy" to keep you anchored in your tasks.

The key: Decorate just enough to feel festive, but not so much that you get distracted.

Here are my 5 design tricks to transform your desk into a productive and wonderfully Christmassy workstation:

 

1️The Productivity Micro-Tree (and Symmetry) 🌲

A large tree in the living room is beautiful but distracting. The solution for the desk is a small accent.

• The RTA Trick: Place a mini Christmas tree (12-16 inches tall) in the opposite corner of your dominant hand. This adds symmetry and prevents it from being the first thing you look at.
• Festive Minimalism: Decorate it with a single strand of white lights and neutral ornaments (wood, matte gold, or white). The goal is texture and light, not overwhelming color.

2️The (Limited) Festive Focus Wall 📌

If you have a pegboard (or cork area) above your RTA desk, use it for December organization, not decoration.

• Replace the Art: Temporarily remove distracting wall art and replace it with to-do lists and a calendar printed in a festive (but readable!) font.
• Hang What's Functional: Use hooks to hang your headphones or office scissors. Only add one tiny touch: a dried pine sprig or a minimalist holiday card. Organization, not saturation!

3️Textured Baskets and Storage 🧺

This is where we integrate the theme of storage and the festive feel.

• Goodbye Plastic: Replace your plastic organizers with wicker, felt, or jute baskets in winter colors (charcoal gray, off-white, forest green). This adds cozy texture without being visually noisy.
• The Gift Hideaway: If your RTA desk has drawers, use one to temporarily store small, wrapped gifts. Closing the drawer means closing the distraction!

4️Warm Ambient Lighting (and Focus) 🕯️

Bright light is good for focus, but warm light is essential for December comfort.

• The Task Lamp: Keep your main desk lamp for concentrated, direct light.
• The Side Glow: Add a small accent lamp (or a safe LED candle) with a soft, amber light. This creates a cozy cabin atmosphere, but keep your working light intense to avoid eye strain and drowsiness.

5️The Rule of Three Accents and Scent 👃

To prevent decorating overload, use the Rule of Three Accents and leverage your sense of smell.

• Maximum Three Decorative Items: Choose only three small holiday objects: the mini tree (point 1), a scented candle (point 4), and perhaps a small reindeer figure or an ornament hanging from the lamp. That’s it!
• Scent, Not Distraction: Use a diffuser with a pine or eucalyptus essential oil instead of sweet scents. These aromas are associated with mental clarity and focus, plus they smell like Christmas!

 

Your RTA desk doesn't have to be a boring place in December, but it shouldn't be a Christmas bazaar either. By integrating decoration in a functional and minimalist way, you’ll manage to be productive and perfectly festive at the same time.

Now, get to work (and enjoy the smell of pine)! Which of these desk tricks will you try today?