Enhance Your Office, Enhance Your Mood
By Erin Giebler-Hill, for Revive Your Life
Bring some color into your life...
At the beginning of every week you leave the comforts of home and the memories of your weekend to go off to work. If you work in an office, this means you’ll spend the next five days enclosed in a colorless, halogen-lit box…the office building. You’ll walk halls lined with speckled floors searching for a break from the monotonous.
It is quite possible to turn your office or cubical into a place to escape. You spend a lot of time there, so it should be some place you can be comfortable and happy - a place to recharge, get creative, concentrate and get some work done. However, pleasantries and comfort aren’t the first things builders and planners think about when designing an office space.
“Specifically, in commercial design, a company is first concerned about the efficiency of the space,” says Christie Rosati, director of design and space planning at an office design and furniture company. “Placing in the number of people required, allowing enough individual space for each person, while planning the overall layout within furniture codes [is necessarily first].”
Rosati said colors and fabrics are taken into consideration after the space has been laid out efficiently, but said most office workers place their own items in their offices allowing for a “more comforting space where the person is more likely to complete their duties with accuracy and efficiency.”
You may assume that because you are at work, in an office you don’t technically own, you are at the mercy of its bare white walls, tan desks and flickering lights. However, this is not the case. By rearranging the space, adding your own special touches, and bringing in color, you can make it your own and make it comfortable.
It is not recommended you start tearing down walls, but by using what is available, you can transform your office into a more interesting and productive environment. First, if you have a window, face it. Natural light has been proven to enhance moods and prevent depression. Even though it is more beneficial to get outside in the light, having it shine on your face through your window will still give you a boost. If you don’t have a window to sit by, try to get outside for a few minutes or sit by a window in the building to do some of your work.
Make sure your desk is well-organized. There’s nothing like clutter and the frustration of not being able to find something important to put you in a bad mood.
“I try to keep everything organized and, at least, the top of my desk clear so that things seem less chaotic,” Courtney Duzyk, a graphic designer and artist said.
A lot of offices offer supplies to help you organize your desk, like book shelves, filing cabinets, folders and desk caddies. If you want to add a little more flare to your desk, you could go to an office supply store for some funky faux-leather or colorful, patterned accessories.
Also, no one should mind if you bring in some extras, like a small area rug, a fancy desk lamp or decorative throw for the back of your chair.
“I think flowers and plants are nice additions if you’ve got a green thumb,” Duzyk said. “Something alive is always good. It’s a way to relate to nature while you’re stuck in your office or cubical all day.”
Make sure you check with your boss and your officemate, if you have one, before you begin a complete office overhaul. Some offices may prohibit certain items from employees’ offices, like lit candles, or have rules for items you bring in, like taking care of your own plants or cleaning out your own mini-fridge. If you work in a cubical, be considerate of those around you and make sure your special touches do not become interferences for them.
Color is also a great way to enhance your space and your mood. You certainly can’t paint the walls of your office a calming powder blue or peppy sunshine yellow, but you can incorporate mood enhancing colors in other ways.
“I enjoy blue,” Duzyk said. “The desktops on my computer at work and at home are both blue.”
Duzyk also recommends tacking some colorful pictures or fabrics to a bulletin board or the wall (again, check with your boss). These can be small clippings, a calendar, large photos or even posters. Depending on your situation, your opportunities to introduce color can be limitless.
Finally, there’s nothing like bringing in reminders of home to comfort you during a stressful day at the office. Photos of yourself having a great time on vacation, your children and significant others, your pets, or a beautiful sunset you captured on a lovely spring day from your backyard will allow you to escape for the seconds you need to regroup before coming back to your task with a stronger focus.
The most important thing to remember is that even though you may feel the office atmosphere is bringing you down, you can add to and enhance your space, to the extent your company allows, and make it stimulating, comfortable and somewhere you’d like to be for eight hours, five days a week.
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These are all very good tips. I think that everyone that works at a desk or in a cubicle should do everything they can to make it a positive environment. Any boss who disagrees is selfish, because we spend such a gigantic chunk of our lives at work, and work should be enjoyable.
Personally, there’s no windows where I work. There’s no bare walls, and I share my workstation with 4 other people, so I can’t do any of this. It’s still good advice though.
I have to agree that our workspace has a huge impact on how we feel and our productivity.
With that, though, don’t try to make yourself feel great better by decorating you cubicle if you hate your job.
I like the tips here. I’ll definitely be back. : )