Upgrade Your Environment for More Productivity

** In collaboration**

Image sourced from http://www.pexels.com

You may have already heard of the importance of your environment in terms of the effect it has on productivity, yet many times we put up with less than productive working environments due to the feeling that we don’t have enough time to upgrade our environment with so much stuff to do.  Yet, that feeling of “having so much stuff to do” which often comes from a cluttered and chaotic mindset could be more to do with your environment that you realise.
You’ll have probably heard the term “tidy house – tidy mind” which means the reverse of “cluttered house – cluttered mind” is also true.  Now, when it comes to your working environment it’s imperative you feel calm, focused and at peace – which is very hard to do if you are working in a cluttered and chaotic environment.  Indeed, the external clutter and chaos of your home office, for instance, might be the reason you feel like a headless chicken reacting to a huge to-do-list rather than responding in a more considered and careful way.
When you consider the huge amount of research and investment that goes into creating the perfect practice in terms of patient waiting rooms and consultation areas – it’s clear that the environment has an impact on our psychology.  Now, when it comes to working, you want to be clear, focused and alert yet calm and balanced.
There are ways you can achieve this within your home office, and this article looks at a number of those principles:

DECLUTTER YOUR ENVIRONMENT
The most important thing you need to do to upgrade your working environment for more productivity is to declutter your space; this includes walls, as lots of post it notes or letters attached to a noticeboard, or even artwork on walls, can lead to a feeling of clutter.

Then, in a similar vein to decluttering is that of organising your home office so that you know where things are and can rest easy with the peace of mind that comes from having things in a place they belong – rather than strewn out to the point that searching for anything can take several minutes or even hours in extreme cases.  The same principle applies to your desktop.

2.  ENSURE THERE’S PLENTY OF LIGHT

One of the most vital components of a focused and productive space is that of natural light, so be sure to choose a room that benefits from as much natural light as possible; of course, you don’t want direct sunlight hitting the room as this can be distracting when it comes to working on computer screens and also makes the room too stuffy (see next tip) but having an abundance of daylight really does help people to focus.

3.  FRESH AIR

You’ll want to make sure your space is not too hot and stuffy; as this feeling of stuffiness can lead to agitation, fatigue and a lack of focus.  In this sense, having a room with windows that open fully can be useful.  Fresh air tends to be much better for you than air conditioning, yet, if there are simply no opportunities to receive cool fresh air, then air conditioning is a must.