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Motivation Is Overrated, Willpower Is Limited
Motivation is not constant. Willpower is a limited resource. Perpetuum Mobile kind of productivity doesn’t exist. And you deserve to spend some quality family or “me time” after 8 hours of work even especially if you work from home.
The fact that you work from home doesn’t mean that you should be at work 24/7 always prepared for the next project, professional task, or assignment. In fact, the opposite is true: setting crystal clear work-life boundaries will help you to make work from home benefit your lifestyle. And the easiest and most effective way to draw a clear line between professional and personal life while working from home is to organize a perfect workspace.
To help you with that in today’s post I’m sharing 7 workspace organizing hacks that will drastically improve your work from home experience, boost your motivation for success and increase your life satisfaction.
So without further ado, let’s dive in!
conquer your office clutter
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Clutter has many forms and dimensions. It can manifest itself in physical form when your floordrobe gives you anxiety, a digital form when after installing another app your smartphone got slower, an emotional form when you lose control over racing thought, broken but fixable clutter, or a sentimental clutter when you can’t get out of your head past (unwanted) memories.
Different types of clutter, however, have one thing in common: the power of distraction. They literally can take you over. And when it happens, your mental focus is compromised and your productivity flow is completely destroyed.
To avoid this happening you need to declutter regularly. Your workspace, digital space, and mental space have to be clutter-free if you want to be productive, effective, and focus on your tasks.
- mental clutter - do a brain dump before putting yourself into work
- physical clutter - have a space for uncategorized stuff
- digital clutter - declutter your digital devices regularly to avoid frustration, stress and confusion
Set Dedicated & Personalized Workspace
When you are new to work from home experience, you might think that working from bed or kitchen is a good idea. But I can guarantee you that if you set your workspace in your bed or your kitchen table at least three things will happen:
- Boundaries between work and life will become increasingly blurred
- Resisting over-snacking will become a real issue
- Associate your bed with work will negatively impact your sleep quality
How do I know that? Well, because I’ve made that mistake and I’ve learned my lesson. Now I know that relying on willpower is a recipe for failure. Even people who have extremely strong willpower and a lot of self-control will struggle to stay productive and control their focus in unfavorable environmental conditions. Besides, why make things difficult when you can easily create a favorable environment making working from home work FOR you!
The benefits of having a curated workspace are undeniable. First of all, setting a designed workspace helps you to draw a crystal clear line between business and personal life. Second, having a home office space decreases the level of distractions to a minimum. And finally, a dedicated and personalized workspace can help you to reach a flow state and maximize your productivity levels without much effort.
- clean
- organized
- practical
- functional
- aesthetic
Make Inspiration Visible
Making inspiration visible is a powerful strategy to unlock your true motivation to work hard smart, harness your willpower, and trick your brain into being productive. There are many different ways, tools, and techniques to let the inspiration flow in but from my personal experience I can tell you that a mind map is absolutely the best one!
Creating a mind map of your professional monthly projects will help you visually collect knowledge, consolidate information from different sources, create crystal clear ideas, narrow down your goals, and redirect your focus on your top priorities. But there’s more, a mind map if done nicely can become a powerful source of inspiration that will keep you going when obstacles appear and you will be close to giving up.
When creating a mind map don’t over plan. Choose from 2 to 3 (maximum 4) work projects. Then set individual mini-goals for each main project and write your ideas, activities, or question that will help you to get a crystal clear vision of how you’re going to achieve these goals.
keep your to-o list in visible place
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According to scientific research, our short-term memory can hold approximately seven separate items for less than half of minute. This is due to the fact that human brains are not designed to remember things but to process them. So if you’re having a hard time memorizing multiple information at once or you „easily” forget what’s on your never-ending to-do list, it’s because it is simply impossible.
Relying on your memory is a quick way to get overwhelmed, confused, and stressed out. So stop fighting your brain’s natural tendencies and write a detailed, prioritized, and organized to-do list that you will keep in a visible place, next to you, on your desk. The rule is simple: get what’s in your head onto paper or you will forget it.
A written list is an amazing tool to determine your most important tasks, categorize your to-do’s, and organize your information. Keeping things out of your head will help you to organize your thoughts and focus on doing the right things, at the right time, in the right way, and in the right order. And if you put your to-do list along with your daily schedule and calendar in a visible place (at your hand) the success of getting things done is guaranteed!
This workbook (53 pages) is designed to help you maximize your productivity and increase your effectiveness without sacrificing your life balance.
Whether you work from home during the Coronavirus Pandemic or thinking about starting a side hustle, this workbook can help you build a more thoughtful work-from-home strategy, bring structure to your workday and create a healthy work-life balance.
INCLUDED:
- Tips for Working from Home Effectively
- Tips To Stay Organized & Motivated
- Tools for designing your own schedule, rock your to-do list and create an ideal daily routine
- Time Management Tips (The Eisenhower Box, The Pareto Principle worksheets included)
- Yearly, Monthly & Weekly Goal Setting (+ Goal Progress Index)
- Yearly, Monthly, Weekly Planner
- Daily Plan & Schedule
- Monthly & Weekly Organizer
- Time blocking method schedule
- Daily Routines for successful entrepreneurs
- Work Task Checklists
- Powerful Work-Breaks Planner & Checklist
- Yearly, Monthly, Weekly Project Planner
- Creative Worksheets
- Password Keeper
- Healthy Meal Planner
- Flow State & Mindful Motivation Checklist
- Professional Skills Development Tracker
- Healthy Habit Trackers
PERFECT FOR:
- Entrepreneurs
- Small Business Owners
- People currently working from home due to Coronavirus
- Work from home Moms & Dads
- Direct Sales & Network Marketing
- Online Shops
- & more!
Best Productivity Apps In 2021
- Asana work management here
- Notion the all-in-one workspace here
- Trello - project management app here
- Any.do - get seriously organized here
- Todoist - task management software here
- FocusList iOS / Android - productivity app that helps you get more DEEP work done
- Y Productive here
- TickTick: ToDo List Planner, Reminder & Calendar (Android / iOS)
- Hours - Time Tracking App Online here
- Toggl - Free Time Tracking Software here
- RescueTime: Fully Automated Time Tracking Software here
- Google Calendar
Opt For Vertical Storage
How many times you’ve made a mess only by digging one document up out of a huge pile of paper? What about wasting time looking for one industry-specific book because you needed to check some information? Not to mention trying to find a lost pen disappeared somewhere in all your office supplies?
It’s incredibly frustrating - To waste your valuable time and energy trying to control your workspace horizontal clutter.
The solution to that problem is quite simple: take your storage vertical! This simple strategy will not only help you to free up available space but also make access to your paperwork, documents, and office supply easy. Store things vertically and you will avoid distractions, frustration, and unnecessary waste of time.
create a dedicated workspace
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/holisticlifebykate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/conquer-your-office-clutter.jpg?fit=276%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/holisticlifebykate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/conquer-your-office-clutter.jpg?fit=600%2C651&ssl=1" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7">Create Multi-Sensory Work Experience
Do you want your home office workspace to be inspiring, creative, and exciting to be in? If your answer is yes, then you will love the idea of creating a multi-sensory work experience! In other words, when setting up a designed workspace address all five senses: touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste!
And this is how you can easily do it:
Touch
- choose a comfortable office chair (and cozy pillow)
- invest in a comfy mouse pad
Sight
- add proper lightening, opt for lots of natural light to feel happy and energized
- find your optimal screen height
- put your vision board with career goals above your office desk
- next to your vision board, you can place your mind map
- invest in some fancy office supplies
- place your family & friends photos on your office desk
Sound
- create a FOCUS playlist on Spotify to trigger your most productive state
- invest in noise-canceling headphones (life-changing if you live in a noisy area)
Smell
- home office scented candles or essential oils
- powerful air-purifying plants like Aloe Vera, Peace Lily, Bamboo Palm, Weeping Fig, Cast iron plant, and of Boston Fern
Taste
- always have a bottle of fresh infused water (or simply water) on your desk
- invest in vacuum-insulated, multipurpose coffee and beverage mug(s) to avoid walking over to the kitchen to drink something
Maximize Your Productivity Levels Worksheets
Keep It Minimalistic
When creating a productive and comfortable workspace at home it’s easy to overdo it, overcomplicate it and of course, overpay for it. None of these “over-kind of stuff” will help you to maximize your productivity levels, facilitate tor each flow state or increase your motivational energy. In fact, just the opposite would happen.
Because too many things create clutter and clutter has the potential to ruin your workflow within seconds. Thus, if you want to create a functional, practical, and organized workspace you need to avoid maximalism in workspace design and opt for a minimalistic approach.
Minimalism is the antidote to chaos, clutter, distraction, unnecessary complexity, anxiety, and overspending. A minimalistic workspace is the key to staying productive, motivated, and focused on your work.
- minimalistic to avoid confusion
- esthetic to avoid chaos
- neutral to avoid distraction
- functional to avoid unnecessary obstacles
- practical to avoid wasting time and energy
Grab Your Free Printable Workbook
Posts On Living Your Best Life:
- How To Upgrade Your Life For Maximum Results & Happiness
- How To Figure Out What You Want In Life: 12 Simple Exercises
- Discover 10 simple ways to train your self-discipline muscle
- Use best time management apps to keep you on schedule at work
- Organize your day around your goals
- Use the Eisenhower Box to identify your top priorities and avoid the urgency trap
- Create and maintain a powerful morning routine
- Develop morning rituals to make your motivation flow effortlessly
- Create motivation through action
- Start before you are ready
- Improve your decision-making process
- Overcome your self-limiting beliefs that block your progress
- Balance productivity and happiness
- Cultivate self-care routine
- The 3 x 8 rule for Perfectly Balanced Day & Life
- Create rituals to induce a flow state
Stay positive
Be Mindful
and organize your workspace for maximum productivity and wellbeing
xo Kate
