Many people are inspired by beautifully furnished offices, where everything is literally created in order to work productively. But, unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to acquire this kind of job. True, there is good news – you can competently organize your workspace both in the kitchen of a one-room apartment when working remotely, and in the office, where a third of your day passes. You just need to follow some guidelines and readjust a little. How to do it? The answer is in this article.

 

Stimulating environment

How to organize your workspace

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Creating a stimulating environment is the first and one of the most important tasks, says Dan Kennedy, author of Tough Time Management. The organization of the workspace should fulfill its direct function and stimulate your productivity. Make sure that everything you need for your work is around – a stack of paper, stationery, etc. If you use all this often enough, it makes no sense to store the necessary things somewhere far from the workplace and every time, losing your mind, get up from your chair and go for a pencil and a sticker that are on a bookshelf at the other end of the room.

But not only convenience, which will be discussed later, is an indicator of a stimulating environment. You can also, using simple tricks, tune yourself in the right way and motivate. In psychology, such techniques are called "triggers". In fact, in the plane of interest to us, these are material objects that in a certain way affect our perception. For example, watches remind you of time, deadlines, deadlines. Therefore, psychologists recommend always keeping them in a prominent place – this will contribute to concentration. In fact, your triggers can be anything – a motivating screensaver on your desktop or a picture on the wall, a small toy or an amulet. It is important that they remind you of tasks, plans and aspirations.

 

Convenience

How to organize your workspace

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Convenience is a decisive criterion for the organization of the workspace. In other words, you should be comfortable and cozy working. And if, following the advice from Feng Shui books, or inspired by examples of other people's jobs, you start to change your familiar environment, the main thing is not to make things worse. Experience acquired over the years is the best teacher, and it is worth listening to in the first place.

Putting things in order on the table, correctly arranging the necessary materials is one thing, but organizing everything from scratch is quite another. If you're comfortable reclining on your couch, needing only a laptop and a power outlet for tools, and still achieving your goals, don't listen to any productivity experts and optimizers who tell you that a workplace is a certain way furnished office. Or at least a large desk and related furniture. Work is already thought of by many as something limiting, so creating additional rigid conditions and frameworks for yourself is not a good idea.

 

From perfect cleanliness to Augean stables

How to organize your workspace

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It should also be taken into account here that it is far from always possible to organize the space specifically for oneself, but, on the contrary, one has to adapt to the existing realities. And when there is some freedom in this matter, and there is freedom in office work, and even more so in freelancing, you can be at the mercy of extreme measures.

For example, from school we are told about order and a clean desktop. This is a good requirement. Only with a significant caveat – “cleanliness” and “order” are different for everyone. We will talk about the content of these concepts further. But already now we note that the success of your work does not depend on whether a cup of cold coffee is standing at the monitor and paper clips are scattered around or not. We remember that the main thing is convenience. But it's still worth keeping clean. And when the search for a flash drive or the right document on the table turns into a multi-level quest, you know – it's time to get out.

 

Individuality

How to organize your workspace

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There is a certain stereotype, an example of how an ideal desktop should look like. On the left is a table lamp, on the right is stationery. We do not undertake to argue that this is bad advice. But they may not be right for you.

Obviously, an architect's workplace is different from a writer's workplace. Moreover, no two jobs are exactly the same. And organize your space should be based on the specifics of your work and personal preferences. Therefore, it’s not worth it just because of the love of cleanliness every evening to remove all the “extra” from the table, but to get it out again in the morning. This will save you a lot of time.

 

GTD by David Allen

How to organize your workspace

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Getting Things Done (more common abbreviation GTD) is a technique for improving personal efficiency, developed and described in the book of the same name by David Allen, an expert and consultant in matters of time management and personal productivity.

The main advantage of the GTD system and the techniques proposed by its author and the requirements for the process of organizing the workplace and the work process as a whole, unlike many other authors, is that it is built “from the bottom up”. They were just what the average person needed, and included the necessary tips for improving productivity, right down to explaining where the trash can should be. So if you're looking for a clear step-by-step guide detailing every step of creating an effective workplace, Allen's writings will definitely come in handy.

 

Nothing extra

How to organize your workspace

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Let's make a reservation that this is not about cleanliness, but about the absence of unnecessary things in your workplace. A broken computer mouse, a notebook written half a year ago, a book cover – all these things may be dear to you, like a memory, but as tools they absolutely do not justify their presence. In relation to such items, a simple rule should be applied: "if in doubt – throw it away." Well, or at least remove it from where you work.

 

Feng Shui

How to organize your workspace

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Feng Shui can be treated in different ways: share the philosophy or reject it skeptically. But many large companies have recently been willing to spend money on specialists who, with the help of this Eastern teaching, are seeking to harmonize the relationship between a person and the objects surrounding him.

Not everyone can hire such people for themselves, and it doesn’t make sense, but if you have a free minute, read a couple of articles and notes about feng shui. It won't take long and can help you come up with new ideas and solutions that might be useful and interesting.

 

Share your rules and techniques for the proper organization of the workplace. In this case, any experience is valuable and can be useful to someone.

Source: 4brain.ru