How to improve the work environment to achieve better productivity

Productivity is the heart and soul of your work, and one of the most important ways to increase it lies in the way you prepare and structure your own work environment. Because of the psychological impact of the matter on your mood, which in turn is reflected in the extent of your completion of the work.

Dear reader, we are keen to increase the rate of tasks that you accomplish daily and become more productive, so we share with you a set of tips and ideas for improving the work environment that you can take to achieve this goal.

Ideas to improve the work environment

1- Pick furniture that is suitable for the work environment.

Most jobs require long seating on a desk and for long hours. Causing back and neck pain and problems if you spend long hours in one position using a bad chair or uncomfortable furniture.

Of course, you do not want to suffer from backache or other health problems related to the spine at a young age, so you should make sure to choose a comfortable chair that maintains the correct position for your back in the work environment.

You can search for what is known as a medical chair, what distinguishes it from the regular chair is that it has a structure that helps keep the back upright in the right sitting position.

As for the office, there should be space for your foot if you want to extend it instead of staying in a position for a long time, which affects your knee, and not to be too high to become uncomfortable for the shoulder and arms in order to use the computer.

The main criterion here for choosing furniture is comfort and functionality, not the lustrous look and feel.

2- Choose the right place for the work environment

A suitable place should be chosen carefully for the work environment, and there are criteria to determine whether or not the place you have chosen is suitable.

What are the criteria for choosing the right place for the work environment?

1- Good lighting

Lighting is a very important component of personal mood formation, so you should pay close attention to this aspect. It is important that the lighting is sufficient and bright enough to suggest action and support mental activity.

It is also important to avoid yellow light, as it is uncomfortable to the eye. It is also important to adjust the lighting of the computer screen so that it is comfortable for the eye, so the lighting of the computer screen should not be too high to hurt the eye, and it should not be too dim.

In the case of working in the evening periods, the computer screen should be set to night mode.

2- Good ventilation

It is best for the workplace to have a balcony or window in which fresh air enters to change the room’s air daily, and for good ventilation.

Also, it would be nice if the working environment could be exposed to sunlight. The stifling place that the sun does not see will make you choke and you will not be comfortable with it.

3- Calm

Noise causes nervous tension, headache, and distraction, which will prevent you from carrying out your tasks, so it is important to choose a quiet place away from street noise and others.

Carefully search for the location of the above-mentioned three criteria, and if two out of three are available then try to provide the third as possible.

3- Add more personality to the work environment

Adding some personal items and belongings to the work environment can increase your emotional connection and engagement with the work.

But it is important to carefully select those items so that your space does not become a mess, as this distracts your mind and makes you feel uncomfortable while working.

So it is also very important to first get rid of things that you don’t use often and occupy space on your desk.

As for the personal things that you can add to the work environment: Setting a favorite calendar you buy yourself with a set of pens of your favorite colors will help you arrange your time and remember important dates.

Or you can put a picture of your family in a small frame on your desktop, which will motivate you more to work, and some also put things that mean something to them personally or carry a beautiful memory.

It might be a small doll or something handmade or a notebook, while others write motivational phrases on a sheet of paper and install them in a place where they can see them clearly.

It is also possible to print pictures that express your future dreams, such as the car you want to buy, or the home you dream about living…

It is worth noting here that you can also add a personal touch to your computer, by setting an appropriate background and setting your favorite browser the way you prefer.

4- Keep your office clean

The cleanliness of the work environment is one of the most factors affecting productivity. If you sit in a messy place, you probably only think about how messy the place is and how quickly you can clean it, which can be very messy so you don’t feel the need to clean it now and lose your desire to work.

Instead, cleaning your desk every day after work is done, and getting rid of things you don’t need, will help you get to work more the next day.

The view of the clean office will give yourself comfort, and it may be your motivation to do the work while you do not feel like it.

In addition to cleaning the office, preparing a list of what you have to do the next day will save you from tomorrow’s time thinking about what you need to do, and preparing for it.

Some tasks or actions may require prior steps that had to be taken on a previous day, so you will not be able to perform those tasks and you will delay them for the next day.

Imagine your office is a new document or folder that you just created on the desktop, the empty folder will allow your mind to focus better and with less effort.

Now imagine the same volume is full of various types of files, including pictures, videos, and books, then you will find it difficult to find the file you want, and the same applies to the office not organized.

5- Make room to keep the phone out of your sight

Smartphones, tablets, and other tools can help you stay organized effectively with custom apps, but they can also be a great time-consuming and distraction.

In the era of fast technology, many screens compete to get our attention, and to overcome the temptation of those screens and notification sounds, it is necessary to allocate a space in the work environment where the phone and other smart tools can be kept.

The stairs are the best place in the work environment to keep such tools.

However, are you afraid that your resolve will weaken and extend your hand to the stairs and open it before finishing work? If you have these concerns, you can do the following:

1- If there is some lock for the stairs or a key to close the stairs, close it and keep the key in another room until you feel lazy just to go there just to bring the key to open the stairs and waste minutes of your day.

2- You can use one of the applications that prevent you from accessing your phone for a certain period that you define yourself, during which you can only access your phone for certain applications or several seconds.

One of the best of those applications that I recommend to you is the lock me out application, as this application is distinguished by not having access to the phone except for several seconds.

6- Get some plants in the work environment

Adding some live elements to your work environment, especially green, will refresh you and give you a sense of life. Green, according to studies, is a grainy and comfortable eye color that creates peace and quiet and reduces pressure.

It is even used in the treatment of nervous fatigue, and many companies have recently resorted to providing employees’ offices with some plants because of their positive impact on the psychology and productivity of employees.

And if you can’t get plants in the work environment, you can paint at least one side of the room with your preferred shade of green.

And if you can draw or paint, or if you can hire a specialist to paint your favorite plant or add at least a few leaves on the wall, this will give a better final look to the work environment.

Finally, if you have another idea in your work environment, let us know in the comments below.

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Thanks for reading
BrainFood+ Team.