Maintaining efficiency and productivity is so much more than outfitting your office with a computer and run of the mill desk. Whether you work from home or in a large corporate building, there are various ways you can design your personal work area to better suit your responsibilities and improve personal workflow. Put these décor ideas to practical use in your office and see your work capabilities greatly improve.
Bring the Outdoors into the Office
As humans, we have a subconscious, deep connection to nature, and spending the majority of our lives inside stuffy, sterile offices is not conducive to mental peace. Many studies have found numerous benefits inherent in plants, and incorporating nature within your office may sharpen mental clarity improve overall mood. Plant a money tree in a pot and place on a windowsill, keep a hanging terrarium in the corner of the room, or sign up for a weekly deliver of plants or flowers. There are various companies that provide free shipping on your flower delivery order, which translates to an inexpensive and stress-free way to bring the outdoors inside.
A Colorful Addition
Use color to your advantage and head to your local home improvement store to pick up a can of paint. Various colors impact the human psyche in different ways, and with a little insight into what shades promote energy, clarity, and happiness could see you improving your office space through a few coats of paint. Many offices rely on the boring bland hues of white, grey, and beige to coat the walls, but these do little in the way of promoting productivity. Instead, try out more colorful versions. Try green if you’re looking to create a calm atmosphere in a stressful environment. Check out yellow if you’d like to energize your work space, or contribute to a greater sense of overall wellbeing with the use of a light blue (hint: blue has earned itself the distinction of being the most productive color).
Some Peace and Quiet
For a few years, startups focused on collaborative work spaces, but found an inherent distraction problem in this setup. Offices are bustling and the various activities of different departments can result in a great deal of distraction. If you’re finding it hard to focus on account of office chatter, whirring machines, or any other vocal distraction, consider purchasing some noise-cancelling headphones.
Body Support
Sitting for more than eight hours a day has an extremely negative impact on your body, but in today’s professional sector, most of us are subject to long hours in a seated position. If you find yourself suffering from back aches or leg issues at the end of a long week, make sure you take preventative measures to mitigate pain. Instead of sitting in a normal office chair all day, switch to a balancing ball office chair. If that’s still not enough movement, invest in a VariDesk that will allow you to sit and stand whenever you please while working.
Become More Organized
Organization can have the biggest impact on productivity, even if you believe you function better with a little bit of mess. While projects that require increased creativity sometimes excel in disorderly spaces, productivity immediately plummets when the mind has to intake high levels of clutter. At the end of each day, give yourself a 15-minute period to organize your physical supplies and the digital documents you may have used throughout the day. This might mean placing papers in a storage system, deleting read emails that you no longer need, or organizing documents into folders on your desktop. The next day you’ll appreciate your foresight.
Let the Light In
If you’ve been blessed with an office that has windows, don’t block that valuable natural light with curtains or blinds. Natural rays can have positive effects on mood and productivity. If you don’t have a window in your office, buy light sources that will mimic natural light and incorporate them through different layers; i.e. a floor lamp, desk lamp, and even twinkle lights incorporated within your shelving.
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