Making Your Home Conducive To Work
During The COVID-19 Pandemic
Now that the COVID-19 coronavirus is upon us, many people find themselves working remotely from home. While one’s daily commute will decrease, it it possible that one’s daily clutter will increase. This is true, especially if we don’t have dedicated office space in the home. If the home is designed for living outside of work hours, it’s very possible that we find ourselves trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, causing undue stress. We may spend more time trying to control our paperwork and other created mess than what we save by not commuting.
Create a home conducive to work...
In this scenario, we are well served planning ahead and creating a home that is conducive to work. Maybe we can’t spare a whole room for a dedicated office, but we can find an area away from the rest of the house and all the noise and distractions where we can set up a workspace that is sufficient for our needs, with adequate light and space to focus and conentrate on the tasks at hand.
Tidy Desk and Mind...
In order to achieve success at what Marie Kondo describes in her aptly titled new book, “Joy at Work”, we should focus on the conditions that we provide for ourselves, to better appreciate the work we do. Following her advice, we can “overcome the challenges of workplace mess and enjoy the productivity, success, and happiness that comes with a tidy desk and mind”.
Use as little paper as possible...
Ideally, we would want to use as little paper as possible to avoid having to find a way to organize it and store it. Based on my experience with clients, paper is one of the hardest categories of clutter to conquer because of the sheer volume that can be produced in little time, and more importantly because of the required effort to go through each piece of paper to ascertain its importance. Even those with the most efficient filing systems let paper get the better of them over time because there are not many people who enjoy committing themselves to the maintenance of files. According to the Kon Marie method, paper is the third category to tackle in de-cluttering a home, as it occupies so much of the mind causing stress and anxiety.
Dealing with communication
The digital age has given us digital communication, and one would think that it would cut down on paper consumption. It hasn’t. Now we have to deal with endless emails and discussion threads in addition to the paper. Finding a way that works for you in dealing with these communication threads is life saving in keeping track of all the conversations.
Adjusting to home as a workplace...
Since more and more, in addition to being where we live, our homes are becoming workplaces as well, blurring the line between work and refuge from work. With this new reality, it is imperative for us to maintain that sense of tranquility in our homes that once was non-negotiable. We can work and live in the same space, but the trick is to create and maintain harmony between the two entities, in the same way members of the family, while different, live harmoniously in the same room.
We all know it is not easy to find joy at work, but with a little planning and regular maintenance, everyone can give themselves at least a bit of a reprieve from the office, which is now in their homes.
For more info on tidying up your desk, click on the link below.
