The Pinterest boards all make it look so darn easy, don’t they? They make that minimal, monochrome aesthetic look like a complete walk in the park when in reality, it’s all coffee stains, unruly stationary and piles of paper as high as the ceiling.
If you want to improve your productivity and mental wellbeing though, it might be about time you gave your home office a little bit of TLC.
Here are some simple pieces of advice to ensure your freelance career or days spent working from home don’t end up like the sequel to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off:
Bring a bit of the great outdoors inside
Introducing natural elements into the interior environment has been scientifically proven to have a positive impact on not only mental wellbeing and stress levels but physical health too.
Including green plants into your home office will increase oxygen levels and help to purify the air you’re breathing. This will then aid cognitive function and also help prevent certain muscular and cardiovascular diseases. Just don’t forget to water them regularly!
Take measures to declutter the place
You’ve all heard the whispers that a tidy desk makes for a tidy mind – well the rumours are true!
A clean, organised working environment can work wonders for your motivation, engagement and creativity levels so make sure you stay on top of your tidying.
Some things that might help are:
- Keeping your décor minimal and remove unnecessary items
- Dedicating the space to work and work only – don’t use it as a secondary walk-in wardrobe
- Clearing your desk away at the end of every day so you can arrive to a fresh, tidy workspace next time
Clearing out your paperwork and making the transition over to cloud-based bookkeeping and digital accounting is another great way to declutter the place.
Have plenty of snacks and water to hand
Okay, so the apocalypse hasn’t hit. You don’t need to barricade yourself in the office with enough supplies to see you through the next two months.
We do, however, recommend keeping some energising snacks and plenty of water close by to boost brain power and stop you making unnecessary trips to the kitchen just to avoid your unread email inbox.
Oh, and whatever you do, don’t put a TV in there!
Netflix & Chill is called ‘Netflix & Chill’ for a reason. If you’re daft enough to put a television in your home office then don’t come sobbing to us when you’re three seasons deep in Friends and haven’t even touched your to-do list.
Keep the popcorn moments for outside working hours so you aren’t tempted to click play on ‘just one more episode’. It will only hinder your concentration, send your productivity levels plummeting and fuel procrastination.
Have you recently transformed your home office into a den of productivity and motivation? Come and share your tips and tricks with us over on Twitter or Facebook to help out anybody who might be wanting to refresh their own workspace!
