How to create your optimal home working environment

With the new academic year just a few weeks away, what steps can you take to ensure you look after your wellbeing at work, ahead of the autumn term? Here I focus on your home working environment and share 5 tips to create a nurturing and productive workspace.

1. Tidy your home/office space.

If you have the luxury of a space at home to call your own, now is the time to tidy or reorganise it so that your space is inviting, comfortable and personalised to your needs. I purged mine recently - so my sort out may have been a bit more drastic than yours as I moved from employment to freelance work. My shredder was put to good use.? Clean your workspace before replacing/re-organising remaining paperwork.

• If you don't already have one, treat yourself to a houseplant. Plants can improve your mood and reduce stress and anxiety, boost energy levels and improve air quality. If you have allergies, a fake plant will still provide the visual benefits.
• If you don't have a suitable chair, ask your employer if they can provide one for you. It's imperative that you're comfortable and that your posture is correct, to avoid back pain and neck and eye strain.

2. Invest in a wall planner

• It's helpful to be able to see the pattern of your work over the course of a year. Add all known activities such as meetings, open days, evening commitments and identify any pinch points. This can help you to anticipate when you'll need to manage your time more carefully. If you have a series of late evenings or weekend commitments, make sure you block out time in advance to recuperate. Consider starting the day later where you finish in the evening, so you don't exceed a day's work.
• Add in deadlines for key pieces of work. Block out time to ensure you hit your deadline. It's much harder to do this once term begins.
• Once you've plotted your key commitments, why not schedule your annual leave? Seeing the whole year laid out can help you spot opportunities to book time off.? Procrastination will mean you'll find it harder to take the time off in 1-2 week blocks later on.
• Using a different colour marker pen, add in non-work events. Capture social and fitness activities, family commitments and 'me time.' Writing these down can help you stick to healthy routines and safeguard important out of work activities. It's then easier to decline requests which impact on your commitments.

3. Consider investing in a paper diary.

• I personally find an academic year diary useful. By viewing a week at a time you can plan in detail what you'll need to do each week/day. Even better, at the end of each week you can make a note of all the things that have gone well or capture completed tasks/projects. Trust me when I say this saves significant time when you come to prepare for your annual review meeting.? Online alternatives may of course suit you better.

4. Make the most of time management tools.

• I use Trello to keep a list of everything I need to do with deadlines. I then transfer the activities I need to focus on each day, to a 'Today' list (as opposed to a 'to do' list). The day goes at the top of the page. The number of minutes available for each day goes at the bottom of a 'time' column. You then write down what you plan to work on that day and what meetings you're attending. Each activity is allocated an amount of time. You then check that the time you've allocated to activities doesn't exceed the total for that day. Remember to build in time for lunch and coffee breaks.
• By sticking to the time allocated to tasks, I'm more likely to shut my laptop down at the end of the day- and can generally complete the things on my list.? It takes practice to get the time allocations right; you may need to move a task to the next day's 'Today' list. But it gets easier. It also helps avoid the overwhelm of looking at your much longer list of things to do. This helps keep you focused on a day at a time and your work feels more manageable.

5. Treat yourself to some new stationery.

I always like to start the new academic year with some stationery treats. I have an assortment of highlighter pens, coloured crayons, felt tips and an A3 artist's pad for creating Mind Maps. I enjoy the physical process of writing with a pen. I have a favourite ink pen and colour-co-ordinated notebooks, diary, pencil case and laptop bag.

• I also have an affirmations calendar and cards and some sparkly stickers which a friend encouraged me to use when I was especially pleased with something I'd done. I'm already enjoying using these in my diary. It's a good way to remind yourself that you're succeeding, as working remotely can feel isolating.

Creating an inviting space makes you feel positive about spending time there. The happier you are in your space, the better you'll feel and the more productive you'll be. Enjoy the small pleasures that can be had take by creating your optimal home working environment.

Work–life balance is not just a buzzy, self-help term that real business people laugh at. You need it.

Stephanie Ruhle

First published on www.thecareercatalyst.co.uk

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