Did you recently start working from home? Did your excitement at a ten-second commute quickly turn to dismay, as you watched dirty dishes, crying babies, and general chaos invade your workspace? Is your office really just a laptop on a table—or worse, a couch?
Never fear! You’re not alone, and help is on the way. Remote work has never been more relevant, and while your environment definitely shapes how you work, the good news is that there’s a lot you can do to make sure it helps you work well.
Did you know that working in your own space can actually benefit your productivity? Research has shown that a sense of personalization in your workspace can positively impact happiness and job satisfaction, resulting in a more productive you.
But be careful—just because your workspace is inside your home doesn’t automatically make it personalized. To put this tip into practice, be intentional about setting up and decorating your home office. If you’re jammed into a corner of the living room or surrounded by your kids’ schoolwork, your space isn’t going to feel like yours.
Designate an area (or two) in your home for work, and set them up in an inspiring way. This doesn’t have to be super complicated—think family photos, a vision board, or a print from an artist you love on the wall. To take it a step further, choose objects that you’ll enjoy looking at every day, even functional ones. This could include a beautiful lamp, a vase you keep full of your favorite flowers, or a set of colorful office supplies.
One of the major challenges of remote work is work-life separation. To maintain your sanity, you’ll need clear boundaries about where and when work happens. Otherwise, you risk plunging yourself into a confusing and distressing state where you’re never fully present at work, but never clocked out, either—truly the worst of both worlds!
To work productively from home, you must minimize distraction. You should make this a priority even if it feels challenging: the research is very clear in that privacy and distraction-free work are crucial to productivity and avoiding burnout.
Even if you’re working with limited resources, you can still carve out your own space. If you aren’t able to commandeer an entire room, orient your desk and chair in a way that promotes separation, and bear in mind where likely sources of distraction in your home could be coming from.
If you’re really tight on space, you’ll need to get a little more creative. Try thinking in terms of time—what hours can you block out when you’re most likely to get peace and quiet? The personalization tip from above comes in handy here, too. In one study, employees working in low-privacy workspaces reported the highest levels of emotional exhaustion—but only if those spaces were generic and impersonal.
If you’re not sure which end of the spectrum you’re on, test it out! Do you feel more inspired surrounded by the physical aspects of different projects you’re working on (AKA, piles of paper and maybe a few sticky notes), or are you happiest with a cleared-off desk? Do you need a stable, rigid organizational system, or do you prefer just going with the flow?
Whatever type of organization you choose, staying consistent is everything. Get ahead of clutter by having places for all your commonly used objects, like a storage box for cables and a jar to hold loose pens. Also be wary of overly complex systems, as they can end up taking more time to maintain than they’re worth. Often, simple solutions like a two-tray filing system are all you need.
If you have any questions or comments, email me
at [email protected] and they will be included in the market update.
OR if you would like more information on our unique systems and programs, call us
at 425-236-6777 or visit our website www.GeorgeMoorhead.com
GEORGE MOORHEAD - Bentley Properties
[email protected]
Direct: 425-236-6777
14205 SE 36th St., Suite 100, Bellevue WA 98006
www.GeorgeMoorhead.com