Offices can take all kinds of different forms: they can be a corner office in a corporate building, your own bedroom or home office, your car or a transformed garage. No matter where you work, you have to be aware of how much of an effect the space you’re in can have on you. It can reduce or increase your productivity, make you come up with new ideas or put you in complete writer’s block. Not to mention that it can be a hazard if not organized correctly! So, here are some top tips on how to get your office space to work for you:
Good Organization
The first thing that any office needs to be is organized. If you don’t know where everything is, you’ll be spending more of your time looking for missing items and files than actually working. And this doesn’t just go for your desk but for your desktop as well, if you do most of your work on your computer, it needs to be just as organized as your surroundings if you want to be efficient. And the first step to organizing anything is throwing out the things you don’t need. Make a big overhaul and get rid of the things that you are keeping because “you’ll need it one day” and “you never know.” Once everything you don’t need is out, start arranging things in a way that makes sense to you. For every item, ask yourself where the first place you’d look for it is and put it there. It doesn’t matter if other people think it’s weird that your drawers are color-organized rather than by utility – if it works for you, that’s all that’s important.
Idea-Inspiring
No idea has ever arrived without a bit of a boost and some brainstorming. If you are only surrounded by white walls, you won’t be able to get that “ding”. Fill your space with books, posters and quotes that inspire you to create something new. Equally important: make sure you have somewhere to write those ideas down. One of the best investments in your office will be a big whiteboard that you can write your ideas, create mind-maps and brainstorm on. You should also have a notebook with white space on your desk and a cup with pens for those smaller, immediate ideas and notes. Having things to inspire you will help, but being overwhelmed by them will just create a block, so try to balance it out and give yourself space.
Pleasant Atmosphere
We all need some specific conditions to work, and if we’re lucky, our office will automatically give us all of that – but we’re often not so lucky. You’ll be placed in an office with no windows, next to a noisy neighbor, with five other people and it’s up to you to make that space work. For starters, you want to make sure you’re thinking clearly and breathing fresh air. Offices can often be stuffy and a lack of fresh air can lead to sleepiness, lack of concentration and an overall drop in productivity, on top of increasing the number of allergens in the room. The best thing you can do is to get an air purifier for allergies which will help reduce any allergies, get you more oxygen and make you feel awake and ready for work. You can also light some incense or scented candles, just make sure that everyone in the office is okay with the scent if you’re in a shared office.
Divide Your Workspace From Your Private Space
If your office is a part of your home, if you own a small business and you spend a lot of time at the office or if you simply tend to socialize at work with colleagues past your working hours, it’s important to make a division between where you work and where you don’t. Not having a clear line between the two can lead to you slacking off and not working when you’re supposed to, as well as working way into your free time. When you sit at your desk or enter your office, you need to have a “work begins now” feeling, and vice versa when you exit. This means no watching Netflix in the workspace, and no reading work emails in your bed.
Have A Routine
Having a good working routine will help you be more productive and get through your day. If you have set goals for every day, it will be easier to get through them, and if you have small rituals, like morning coffee and a lunch break with friends, going from one ritual to another will help you get through the days when you feel like you aren’t up to anything. A well-structured space and a well-structured day will make you the most productive you can be.
Get Organized
Some people tend to lean towards a “creative mess,” while others want to keep everything as minimal as possible. If it’s your first job and office, you’ll need a bit of time to get everything together and learn what works for you, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll see the change in productivity.
