RWL183: From Clutter to Clarity: Building a Remote Work, Work Space in a Compact Living Area

Hey, it's Alex from Remote Work Life. Thank you for joining me today for today's tip of the day, and today we're going to talk about the importance of designating a quiet, organized workspace and having inspirational elements in that remote environment. And this is, I guess, particularly, particularly relevant, especially if you're working from home, because you can essentially create a bespoke office that suits your needs and fits you. I'd actually want to share something personally for myself and hopefully help you to put this into action yourself. So when I first transitioned to remote work, I struggled to find a dedicated workspace that helped me to be productive and that was inspiring to me. In fact, my workspace was quite uninspiring, I would say. It was just basically a desk in my front room next to the TV. At that particular point I didn't really understand the importance of having a designated quiet space, because I just really wanted to get into work and the kind of work I was doing didn't necessarily require me to be on the phone at that particular point. So that was my setup. So it wasn't until I, I guess I transformed a corner of my home into a quiet, organized workspace with elements that inspired me. So I had things like plants, I had natural light coming through the window. I had a picture of my kids. I had a picture of my mom, my sister, for example that I began to experience the benefits of remote work and that's quite intentional about the design, and it helped me to stay focused and motivated throughout the work day and that helped me to increase my levels of creativity, actually, and it helped my overall well-being, I can say. So what I'd say to you is take on, take on the, I suppose, the idea of having an environment that's that suits you and, as I said, especially if you're working from home and they're just five things I want to share with you that might help you towards that. So set up a quiet environment yourself.

Speaker 1:
2:23

Choose a space in your home that's free from distractions and has minimal noise. This can be a spare room if you have one, or a corner of a room or a well-insulated area. I know that. You know I live in London, so space is definitely an issue for many people living in London. So it's not always possible to have your own or a dedicated office space, but if you do have a corner of your room that's dedicated to your remote work, then try and make it, as I guess, as inspiring as you possibly can. You may even want to have a fold-up desk, for example, so that you can, once you've finished your day when I say not inspiring as you can, but as quiet as you can, so that when you finish your day you can then just fold it away. So yeah, you want a nice, quiet space, quiet environment, I would say.

Speaker 1:
3:23

And number two on my list is create an organized setup. So keep your workspace tidy and organized. Invest in storage and desk organize, for example, to maintain a clutter-free environment. Because, again, I used to be quite bad at that. I used to have pens everywhere, I used to have books and files all around me, envelopes, for example and I didn't really understand or I didn't really, it didn't really I don't know what the word is. I didn't, it didn't really occur to me that's the word I was looking for that this could cause me to be unproductive or cause me levels of sort of any kind of stress. But I began to realize that if I've got like five letters in front of me that I've opened and rubbished, and I've got files of paper, everything is just cluttered. Then it felt like my mind was also cluttered. So, having that organized setup and having you know places where I could file things away definitely helped, and those inspirational elements I referred to before. So incorporate inspirational elements in your space. So, for example, you might be inspired by art or plants or natural light or pictures of your family, of your friends, of people who you know, of people who you respect. So put inspirational elements and these elements can help to boost your creativity and your motivation as you work through the day.

Speaker 1:
4:53

Comfortable office furniture Again, I started off with just a chair that I got, in fact, no, I started off with my dining room, at my dining room table, working from home, and I thought, yeah, that's fine, or just any old chair, but I quickly realized that that was not the way forward. So I'd recommend that you invest in a comfortable chair and desk that support a good posture. I use a sit stand desk and a comfortable chair, which, which helps support my posture I stand up when I can, and that that I mean for you. If you can get that that investment in comfortable furniture this can help to reduce physical strain, especially if you're working long hours. Number five my list is those personal touches.

Speaker 1:
5:43

Add personal touches to your workspace. Again, it's linked to the inspirational elements, but things like photos or mementos to create a sense of familiarity and comfort. So you may even have your journal on your on your desk or near your desk. That's could be part, could become part of your morning routine to do a bit of journaling before you start your work. So adding those personal touches is always going to help as well, or should help. So by designing a quiet, organized workspace with inspirational elements, you can create an environment that fosters productivity, creativity and contributes to your overall well being, and it's essential to treat your workspace the same level of intention and care as a traditional office environment. I say that once before, I'll say it again. It's really important. So thanks again for tuning in today. I hope that was useful. If you need to reach out to me, I left my LinkedIn profile link and in the show notes and in the show notes below, and you can connect with me via remote work lifeio.