Your workplace is where you spend a big part of your day. You probably spend at least 6-8 hours a day in your office, so naturally, you should make your workplace as comfortable and practical as possible. And why shouldn’t be fun, too?
Maybe you have a home office or maybe you go to work but the good thing is that you can add some changes wherever you work that can make your life easier. Here a list of things you can consider:
1. Set your goals
This is not an actual thing to add to your workplace but it is highly important if you want to be effective and productive as much as possible. If you set your goals at the beginning of every month, week and day, it will be much clearer to you what you need to do and when and how to prioritize all those goals. Most of us have the tendency to get carried away – we believe we can achieve a lot in a short period of time and that it will be of high quality. Well, it’s not like that in real life. If you have a couple of big projects coming, they will probably be overwhelming, so it’s important to stay motivated and focused every step of the way. In other words, you need to break a big project into smaller goals so that you can feel good about yourself every time you achieve one of those goals. You can have a board installed on your wall to keep track of the project through individual goals and to check them by hand when you complete them – it will make you feel great about yourself.
2. Avoid multitasking
Multitasking may sound effective but it’s actually the time when you make more mistakes, which actually takes you a lot longer than it should. The reason behind this is that every time you stop with one task to concentrate on the other, you lose sight of what you were doing in the first place. When you go back to the first task, you’ll lose some time while trying to figure out where you stopped and trying to regain your focus. Monotasking is a much more effective approach – not only it is quicker but it also gets your creativity going. If you are in need of new ideas, the best way is to focus on one task and let your brain focus only on that for some time. So, once you decide what task you want to focus on, surround yourself with everything you’ll need in order to do the task. It will also prevent you from having to interrupt your focus. This means you should work on just one screen – turn off all the others and also remove your cell phone. If you notice you are reading the same sentence over and over again, that means your brain and body need a short break. Physical movement will do you good. If you can, add a Pilates ball or a running track machine – you can stretch your back on the ball or do a couple of exercises on it or you can stretch your legs by having a speed walk on the machine. It will boost your energy and make you more focused when you sit back on your chair.
3. Have a stress-relieving gadget
No matter what your job is, you will definitely feel stressed from time to time. Sometimes the problem can be is that you don’t have much time to take a big break and go outside to have lunch or to go for a relaxing work to clear your thoughts. There will be days when you will simply have to stay in your office and deal with the stress there. That’s why it’s important for your office to have a few items that can relieve your stress in a couple of minutes so that you can back to work as soon as possible. For example, some people find a Pilates ball a great addition to the office. Others find an anti-stress ball a very effective tool. You can have a corner of the office with scented candles and relaxing music set up in the CD player whenever you feel you need a couple of minutes to relax. If your job needs you to stand a lot, then you should prevent too much stress for your feet by getting an anti-fatigue mat. Stores like Mat Shop offer various mats that not only prevent the feeling of fatigue in your feet but are also very durable for offices with high traffic. The point is to find out what works for you when it comes to relieving stress while at work.
4. Expand your knowledge
You should never stay at the same level, so the best thing for your brain is to read something new every day. Have a shelf in your office with interesting books or magazines on different subjects that interest you. Whether you want to stay up-to-date regarding your niche or you want to learn something new that is outside your field of expertize, you should remind yourself to keep on reading by installing that shelf in your office. Not only that reading helps you learn new stuff but it is also a nice distraction of your everyday work when you need to step away from your daily tasks.
5. Enhance collaboration
If you are a part of a bigger team, you need to exchange ideas with your colleagues whenever possible. Maybe you have a specific room for this, but even if you do, why not arrange a part of your office where you can sit with a colleague and share ideas, experiences and problems? It’s easier if the two of you can sit and relax while simultaneously try to come up with a solution together.
Final comment
It is clear now that your workplace can easily be turned into a place of productivity, fun and effectiveness if you have the right approach and if you fill your working space with things that actually help you do that.