Whether you are working from your company office or from your pajamas at your new home office, wellbeing in the workspace is a constant discussion topic. Here are 12 tips to make sure you are physically and mentally sharp every time you punch the clock, to perform at your best and avoid work-related burnout.
Stand, Sit, Stand
An adjustable height standing desk allows you to stay in shape and reduces the number of dull aches and pains you would typically get sitting at a traditional desk at the office or a table chair at home.
You don’t have to stand all day long. A cyclical ‘stand, sit, stand’ rotation during the day is the optimal way to keep your body moving. Human beings need motion and having a height-adjustable desk allows for the movement that our bodies crave.
Less pain during your workday means higher productivity. Getting an adjustable height standing desk may jack up your productivity and even land you that new promotion you’ve been eyeing.
Stay Hydrated
Everybody knows that water is essential for everything from waking up on the right side of the bed to being our bodies’ lifeblood. During your workday, keep a water bottle on your desk. Add some sugar-free flavoring to the water if you need some extra motivation. Set the alarm on your phone every hour to remind you to drink up. Hungry? Make a broth-based soup to add some water to your diet even when you need to eat. Are you interested in exactly how much water you should be drinking every day? Check out this hydration chart.
Light Exercise
Exercise is one of the best ways to feel good in all aspects of life. Exercise gives immediate cognitive and physical benefits to those who exercise for as little as 15 minutes. Benefits include a boost to your mental health and weight loss goals, better sex, and better sleep.
One of the most common exercises you can do during your workday is walking. Walk around your office, go down a few flights of stairs, and come back up. Instead of taking a smoke break or eating lunch in the breakroom, go outside and walk around the building if you can.
Are you interested in a more intense workout at the office or around the house? Take a look at these workplace exercises you can accomplish at your desk or in your cubicle.
Have Healthy Snacks Nearby
It’s normal, and we’ve all done it: It’s 2:30 in the afternoon, and you missed lunch due to back-to-back meetings or Zoom calls. Instead of going for some fruit, nuts, or a protein-packed lunch, you shuffle down to the vending machine and grab a bag of chips, a plastic-wrapped sandwich, and a soda.
Eliminate the need for a junk lunch by bringing some healthy snacks to the office and place them right there on your desk.
Here are 33 awesome snack ideas to keep things fresh during the day.
Bring It To Life
Did you know that biophilia, defined as an innate need to connect with nature, can be directly correlated to better performance at work when implemented correctly?
A recent study suggests that having plants in the office not only increased productivity by 15 percent but also increased concentration and workplace satisfaction.
So go out to your neighborhood garden and scoop up a plant or two. Set it at your workspace and spruce up your design with a living, breathing companion. You’ll be glad you did.
Light It Up
If you don’t already know why access to natural light is so important, here are some of the numerous ways natural light affects your wellbeing.
If you are currently working from home due to the global pandemic, set up your workspace next to your biggest window and allow the sun’s rays to illuminate your world.
If you are currently working at your company’s office, you can implement a few tricks to mimic natural light, even if you don’t have direct access to a window.
Choose some bright white lightbulbs for your desktop light source or simulate a skylight by installing a series of LED bulbs set behind diffuser panels on your ceiling.
Spend The Extra Dollar
If you work a 40-hour workweek, that means you spend nearly 24 percent of your life every week working. If you have an office-based job, that means you spend as much time at your desk as you do in your bed. Your wellbeing will skyrocket if you enjoy going to your workspace.
Fill your area with things that make you creative, happy, and comfortable. Get an upgraded computer if you work from home or if it’s allowed at your organization. Spring for a personalized calendar, a whiteboard, a world map, awesome pens, or a basketball hoop trash can.
If you are having problems thinking of some excellent new additions to your workspace, check out these 30 things that will surely make your office days more enjoyable.
Take A Break
Taking adequate breaks during the day is essential to productivity, creativity, retaining information, and focus. Take some time to unwind in the middle of the day when you feel yourself becoming stressed out, unable to concentrate, or becoming numb to the task at hand.
By taking a break, you can process information and reflect on what you learned with internal reflection and thought. This, in turn, allows you to make more informed decisions. Being able to take a break during the workday is a skill and should be practiced every day. You’ll feel more invigorated, happy, and productive.
Practice Mindfulness
Stay in the present moment and realize and appreciate aspects of your day and your workspace that give you joy. Give 100 percent to the current task at hand. Try not to focus on your email mistake earlier this morning or that presentation you have to give in a few hours.
You never have another “right now,” and it passes by in the blink of an eye.
Appreciating a visit to the boss’ office or an email containing harsh criticism of your performance is hard to do. Staying in the present moment and giving 100 percent to your current interaction will serve you better than justifying your actions based on past or future performances.
New to the practice of mindfulness? Here are a few tips to get you started today.
Manage Stress
Some of the most common workplace stressors are interpersonal communication with team members or clients, disorganization, physical discomfort, and extreme multitasking.
To decrease stress and increase wellbeing in your workspace, stay organized, avoid conflict, get comfortable, and listen to soothing music when it’s appropriate to do so.
Your area is your own. By organizing it the way you work best, it promotes action. You get things done. By bringing in comfort items from home, or by making your workspace feel like a second home, you’ll reduce stress and handle it better when it pops up.
Don’t make your workspace a place that brings you dread, hopelessness, and fear.
Communicate With Your Colleagues
Teamwork is a large part of many modern-day job descriptions. You work with different colleagues from different departments during different parts of the day. There are often scheduled meetings throughout the week, and you are expected to come to those meetings with meaningful contributions.
The same can be said with inter-office communications while working remotely. Video meetings have replaced roundtable discussions across the globe. That is why communication is critical.
Ensure you communicate with your colleagues and bosses about your changing wants, needs, as well as practical changes to daily, weekly, and monthly meetings and workflows.
By speaking up, you can effectively communicate your successes and struggles to your team to optimize wellbeing on a day-to-day basis.
Take A Vacation
Sometimes, the best way to improve your wellbeing regarding your workspace is to get away from your workspace.
Humans are not programmed to go to the same workspace five times a week for the rest of our lives. We need a total reboot.
We need to get away from our desk, chair, people, the computer, the phone, and all of the responsibilities we take on.
When you take a vacation, take a vacation. Don’t feel guilty about leaving your colleagues behind. Don’t feel anxious that you are missing an email or two.
Sit on the beach with a margarita in your hand at that all-inclusive resort. Take a road trip around the country. Go to the spa in the fancy hotel for a while.
And do it without your phone glued to your hand.
Your body, mind, soul, and loved ones will thank you for it, and so will your employer when you get back to your workspace.