Some may not have the luxury of doing this — if you work in an environment where you can't have your own personal office — but if you have the ability to do the following, it will greatly improve your productivity.
This can swing one of two ways: Either you want to personalize your office, or you want to keep it sterile.
It's been said that working in a zen-like environment, with minimal personality and clutter, is often the best environment to work in.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.