What springs to mind when you think of ways to be more productive at work? Honing your excel skills, self-discipline, power hours, better planning? These can all help, but it’s not just about what’s directly in front of you. A huge contributor to our output is what’s around us. Our surroundings can have an enormous impact on how we feel and work. Trust us, these tried and tested ways enhance your office space and will have you on track to fly through your to-do list.
1. Add a splash of red
Try adding a small dose of red to your work station. It may sound odd but red is the first colour the naked human eye sees on the colour spectrum so it can instantly wake up the brain. Hence why you see ‘red’ as a danger colour (think stop signs, warning signs etc). So try adding a red pen pot, a red vase etc on your desk to stay motivated.
2. Don’t forget plants!
Plants are a really great addition to a work space as they subconsciously connect us with nature according to many studies, one particular very interesting one from Leitrice Eisman discusses the effects of plants on people. So adding a plant or two on your desk can aid relaxation and reduce stress. They’re also great for people who are naturally messy desk people as they counteract the chaos by balancing out negative space!
3. Position your desk near the window
Place your desk opposite or adjacent to a window, as the gentle influx of light and movement aids productivity and is much much better than facing a wall – this is also one of the rules of feng shui as placing a desk opposite a wall is said to stunt creativity and productivity.
4. Hang a mirror
if you don’t have the luxury of placing your desk opposite or adjacent to a window, simply hang a decent sized mirror on the wall above your desk – this will reflect light, shape, movement etc from the room and mimic the boosting effects of having a window nearby.
5. Think about lighting
Try and position your desk in a place where it gets the most natural light as possible, this is because better light can help us study, read and write up to 18% faster. If you have to work in a naturally darker space such as a basement flat or a dingy room at the back of a house, simply use halogen overhead lights which are the closest light to natural light. However, this can be quite garish, so it’s important to ask some mood & task lighting such as a floor lamp or desk lamp to balance out the lighting scheme – any interior designer will always tell you that lighting is crucial to all schemes!
6. Add artwork
if you are creating a work space at home and want to feel energised in the space, and ready for the work day, try adding art-work that represents some form of kinetic energy – for example, a person moving, waves, trees blowing, a bike moving or even something architectural with steps in – when you look at these, your brain will think of energetic thoughts and promote a boost of energy rather than looking at something dull or monotonous such as still life.
7. Incorporate abstract art
Abstract art is said to promote creativity so try adding in artwork in your home office such as matisse, picasso, jean cocteau etc based prints which emulate this if you want to feel inspired and let the creative process run free at home.
8. Have a tidy up!
Lastly, an obvious one but keep your space clean and tidy. Out of sight, out of mind! Have a designated clutter drawer if needs be to hide away every day unsightly clutter!
We hope these handy tips will help you to enhance your office area in effort to whiz through the working day. and be more creative or productive. As always, we never recommend brands that we don’t absolutely love or trust!
Gude at Synsera Homes
Some great tips, thank you for sharing. I agree, lighting (especially natural light) makes a HUGE difference to my productivity.