Home is where the heart is. For many people spending up to 80% of their week behind a workspace does not stir up thoughts of relaxation. With the added drive of needing to complete a job thoughts concerning the feng-shui (if you will) of your workspace rarely receives enough attention.
Consider the rationale behind a Spring Clean. Getting rid of clutter or cleaning up your home can give anyone a mental boost. The same idea can be applied to your workspace to create a more positive mental balance. Have you ever tried to work on a desk with just too many loose pages? Rifling through them until OOPS there goes your coffee mug because it was unsteadily placed on a magazine from two weeks ago… Which reminds you, don’t you have to read one of those articles to make small talk with one of the associates? Suddenly your mind is reeling and stress levels are rising.
Stop. Take a breath. Reflect on what kind of work environment would be more conducive to your mental health. Here are a few examples of how changes to your work environment can impact your mental wellbeing.
In a Napo 2008 survey, 27% said they feel disorganized at work. Of those, 91% said they would be more effective and efficient if their workspace was better organized. 28 % said they would save over an hour per day. And, 27% said they would save 31 to 60 minutes each day.
Before throwing out everything you see on your desk, accept that you actually may not be sure what is important and what is not. For one week take note of objects or important pages which you use daily. These are items which are intrinsic to you performing at your best. After the week is up, dispose of everything on your desk except for these indispensable items.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed in the work place? Take a moment and write down a To-Do list. It markedly helps your mood if you write out smaller steps rather than listing massive projects. While completing these smaller tasks may make your list longer, once you start ticking them off (at a pace!) you’ll feel a mental boost by seeing how much you have achieved.
Research has found that the presence of potted plants in offices reduced fatigue, stress, dry throats, headaches, coughs and dry skin. So it’s definitely a win-win: better mental health and overall better health in general!
While these are just a few small changes you can carry out to improve you work environment, they have far reaching effects on mental health.
