5 Tips to Optimize Your Workspace

March 4, 2015 ‐ Sylvaine HughsonPosted by ‐ Under: Peak Performance

Creating a beautiful, functional, and enjoyable workspace is vital, especially if you are someone who spends a lot of time at the office. This is not a luxury – it’s a necessity. Enjoying where you work can provide a variety of benefits – it positively impacts your health, mood, stress levels, immune function, and even your longevity from a career standpoint or otherwise. Below are five of my favorite tips for enhancing your workspace.

1. Organize Your Space

Clear your desk and minimize the chaos – this is an important upfront investment. Knowing where everything is and feeling organized will boost your self-confidence, lower stress levels, and enhance your overall sense of well-being. Your streamlined workspace sets you up for success and allows you to be far more productive. Set aside 15 minutes at the end of each day to organize your desk, delegate tasks where necessary, and prepare for the next morning. I promise you’ll be glad you did.

2. Enhance Your Lighting

Changing the quality of the lighting around you is one of the quickest and most effective ways to powerfully transform your experience at work. Especially in winter when daylight is naturally scarce – switching out a few bulbs here and there can make all of the difference. I learned this first hand while working long hours in television 14+ years ago and have never looked back. I recommend using Full Spectrum light bulbs which mimic daylight and as a result can help improve mood, increase productivity, support regenerative sleep, and reduce eyestrain.

3. Green Your Office

Bring an element of the outdoors inside to help connect you to the natural world and enhance your well-being. A healthy indoor plant can improve the general air quality of your office. Personally I try to make it a weekly ritual to treat myself to fresh flowers – this simple act is one way I nourish myself, especially in winter.

4. Inspire Yourself

Listen to uplifting and energizing music as you work – use headphones if playing it out loud will disturb others around you. Bring in a photo of the next place you wish to travel to so that you can remind yourself, on a daily basis, of the adventures that await… Plan a lunch or coffee outing with colleagues whose company you enjoy once a week to catch up and relax.

5. Reclaim Your Work-Life Balance

The key to optimizing your productivity is to create an opportunity to replenish yourself by reclaiming your work-life balance. When you are “on” and in professional mode – dig in and flex those muscles. When you are enjoying time on your own or with friends and family – engage fully and focus on the experience. Returning to the office fully refreshed is vital to maintaining long-term peak performance, career longevity and satisfaction. Take care of yourself first, and everything else will follow…

Here’s to optimizing your workspace!