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Form and Function – A Workspace that Works

by Innov8tiv.com

Photo by XPS on Unsplash

We have all been in those drab offices – filled with grey, dry air, and they smelt a little bit musky too. It is awful – and really hampers your creativity too.

So when you break from the 9-5, the last thing you should do is have an office or workspace that feels similar.

It can take most people a while to get into their stride with their work and workspace.

Why do you need a good workspace?

A good workspace is where you can experiment, push the boundaries of your work, deep think, walk, pace, and more.

You might have regular clients and regular deadlines – or you might be free-flowing and creative when the mood takes you.

What matters and what is crucial is that your work is something that grows and becomes better because of your workspace.

A good workspace will switch your brain into work mode when you walk through the door.

So what are some of the considerations that you need to pay attention to when you are designing your office?

Seating

Never underestimate how powerful and comfortable a good chair is. If you work at a desk, you need an ergonomic chair and adjustable. It should support your back and neck.

If you don’t need a formal office chair, look for a comfortable and still supportive chair. Something that you can read, think or sleep in for hours.

For larger home offices, or where you will need to meet clients, consider their needs too.

Equally, if you know that you can work from a couch, do so. It has to be about what fosters your creativity and work ethic.

Walking

While you already know that you should be going out to walk at least once a day, sometimes our brains need to disengage for a moment and pace.

Or you had a big win, and you need to dance around for a while.

Don’t be tempted to pack out the room with so much furniture there is nowhere to pace, walk or dance.

It is a small thing, but if you notice in between deep focus moments you need to move around – make sure there is space for it.

Natural Light

Natural light is good for us in general, but it can keep you more productive motivated and produce higher quality when it comes to your work.

Natural light is also more beneficial for creating true-color works. If you are often working with a range of tones, then artificial lighting can give you the wrong impression of the work.

Equally, if you have a product-based business, the natural light will enable you to create beautiful images to help you market your products well.

Air

Workspaces have a habit of being hot and stuffy or a little stale in terms of air. However, since you are working at home, you can install a big ceiling fan for those days that are a little on the hot side to keep the air circulating.

If your view from the windows isn’t pretty, you can add some frosted window stickers to allow light in – and not see the distracting view.

Two Screens

While staring at a screen all day isn’t the best thing for you, having two screens is very useful.

It might take a minute to get used to, but two screens make it much easier to look at references, keep emails open on a different screen, and be more efficient with what you do.

Having too many tabs open on your computer is already inefficient, and it can slow down your processes quite a lot. To minimize the impact of multiple tabs and switch between them all the time – get a second screen.

Try to get a much bigger monitor than what you might usually use.

Photo by Elsa Noblet on Unsplash

Inspirational

What you find inspiration for can vary wildly from person to person. Writers can find inspiration from sports stars; painters can find inspiration from words.

Find what sparks the inspiration and motivation within you and surround yourself with it.

If it happens to be the great outdoors, then you can find room for plants – both real and fake in the space.

Whatever it is that motivates you and gives you the inspiration to dig deeper, find it, and spread it all over the walls.

Visual

The walls are the perfect place to track your progress and set goals. A simple cork board can be the answer to many problems. You can create a vision board that can help you concentrate on what it is you want in life – and how you can get there.

This can extend outside of just your work and create a map for your life.

Some people prefer to separate their business goals and life goals and use separate boards; you need to decide what is going to work best for you.

Clean

Your workspace can have neither form nor function unless it is clean. A clean workspace means you can get all of your tools with ease; you can take the last-minute meeting – in person or video calls.

A clean workspace is your gift to yourself. Don’t overload your desk with things that don’t need to be there. Store everything non-essential away in boxes drawers – or remove it from the space entirely if it isn’t useful to you.

Set up tomorrow

If you finish work at the same time every day, but you leave tabs open, notebooks open, and other things that you need to tidy in the morning – stop!

Instead, make sure that you set up your tomorrow. Close tabs, write a to-do list, and generally give yourself an easy start.

The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today – Elbert Hubbard.

Your workspace should enable you to work freely and comfortably – but have everything in it that you need to do the job well. For more great tips on how you can make your home office work for you, check out this great post next: Time for Renovations? Breathe New Life to Your Home Office – Innov8tiv.

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