1704: [Part 1] 10 Ways to Relaxify Your Workspace by Steve Pavlina on How to Reduce Stress While Working

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Work Daily, 10 Ways to Relaxify Your Workspace, Part 1 by Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com. Some people claim they work well in a high-stress environment, but I'm not one of them. My productivity is highest when I'm fully relaxed. With inspiring goals, I still feel a positive urging to get my work done, but the pressure to work stems from passion instead of fear.

[00:00:24] Last year, I made changes to my home office to better relaxify it. I know relaxify isn't a word, but it should be. I enjoy being in my workspace, and I can work productively for many hours without feeling like I've lost my humanity. When considering changes to your workspace, here's rule number one. If it feels right to you, it's right. That rule is primary. My specific suggestions are secondary. With that in mind, here are 10 suggestions for creating a more relaxing workspace.

[00:00:52] One, make your workspace look attractive to you. When I walk through a typical corporate office building, I see the most dreadfully sterile workspaces. It doesn't look remotely human. Do people get hired to work there or assimilated? Must a professional workspace be a sterile sea of beige and gray? Remember that where you work, you also live. Given the amount of time you'll be living in your workspace over the course of your lifetime, it makes sense to add some visual appeal.

[00:01:19] The first time you see your workspace each day, you should feel good about it. It should be attractive to you. Really, it should be your favorite place in the entire building, house, or campus. If you're in your workspace right now, please step outside for a minute and then re-enter it while paying close attention to your sense impressions. What's the very first emotional response you can detect? Do you feel stressed? Overwhelmed? Bored? Apathetic? Focused? Peaceful? Is this an emotion you experience often while working?

[00:01:47] Now choose the emotion you want to feel and experiment with different visual elements to see how they alter your feelings. Try new furniture or photos, posters, mirrors, flowers, knick-knacks, toys, statues, rugs, artwork, crystals, etc. If you have the necessary control, you can also tweak the lighting in your workspace to create the right type of mood. I know a programmer who works in a completely dark room with no windows and he loves it. 2. Clear out the clutter

[00:02:17] One look at a cluttered workspace and you get a sense that the person working there is stressed, overwhelmed, and disorganized. Years ago, I read about a study that concluded most managers will not promote a person with a messy workspace into a position of responsibility. It's assumed that if you can't organize your physical environment, you're probably incompetent to a certain degree and can't be trusted. And if layoffs happen, you can imagine who the most obvious targets are. But even more critical is the effect a cluttered workspace has on your focus.

[00:02:45] It's difficult to feel centered when you're surrounded by unfinished tasks that constantly remind you of what you haven't done yet. Ideally, the only paper items on your desk should be directly related to the current task at hand. Store everything else in drawers, shelves, or cabinets. Many people notice a dramatic improvement to their productivity when they try this. For how-to tips on organizing your workspace, be sure to read my 2005 post called Getting Organized. 3. Add Plants

[00:03:14] Plants are a wonderful way to add life to a lifeless workspace. Use only living, oxygen-generating plants, not those lifeless fake ones. Water them as needed to keep them healthy. Over time, you'll find that your plants begin to resonate with you and become a reflection of you. Dying plants equals dead career. Fake plants equals appears successful but empty on the inside. Healthy plants equals healthy career. Lots of plants equals abundance.

[00:03:41] Bring yourself back to nature by adding some plants to your workspace, and you'll find yourself enjoying the environment much more. I currently have three plants in my office, and I'll soon add more. Two are lucky bamboo plants. Are they really lucky? Well, since I bought them last year, the income I received from this site has increased by about a factor of 100. So, who knows? I added a small mirror behind them as well, which doubles their visual presence without taking up extra space. Maybe that doubles my luck, too.

[00:04:10] 4. Make it smell good Australian dentist Patty Lund has his staff bake fresh muffins for his patients daily. Think about how a dentist's office usually smells. Now imagine walking into one that smells of blueberry muffins. Along with other changes, this reportedly helped Lund increase his income by a factor of 10. I'm not suggesting you add a Holly Hobby Easy Bake Oven to your workspace, but there are plenty of practical ways to make it smell better than cleaning supplies.

[00:04:37] A while back, I read that certain scents have a measurable effect on productivity. If I recall correctly, lemon and lavender produce the most significant positive results. Personally, I love scented candles, especially those 3-inch by 6-inch pillars. They not only make my office smell good, but the colorful candles and decorative candle holders add visual appeal as well. My favorite aromas are vanilla and lemon. I have almost a dozen scented candles in my office at any one time. I find it worthwhile to pay for good quality candles.

[00:05:06] Now, I'm no candle expert, but I've noticed that the cheapest ones tend to burn unevenly and become terribly misshapen as they burn down. They also don't produce a very rich aroma. Occasionally, I'll burn some Tahitian vanilla incense, but I use that very sparingly and wouldn't recommend it in a corporate environment because you'll stink up the whole building. I burn it right next to an open window, which dilutes the scent and keeps the room from becoming smoky. If you don't like candles, there are other options for improving the smell of your office.

[00:05:33] You can get a diffuser and fill it with essential oil, add some potpourri, or even try sliced lemons. Be careful when considering chemical air fresheners, though, as there are reports they can pose health risks. 5. Hear that in tomorrow's episode. You just listened to Part 1 of the post titled 10 Ways to Relaxify Your Workspace by Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com. Hey Sandra, we haven't seen us yet long.

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[00:06:31] And again, we're going to hear the rest of Steve's post in tomorrow's show. So do make sure you're subscribed and you'll get that episode automatically. Steve was actually one of the very first authors that we started narrating here across all of our different shows. So if you listen to all of our shows regularly, you're going to hear his articles across each of them. And we still haven't run out of content from Steve.

[00:06:51] And speaking of him being one of the first authors, the very first time we narrated anything from him was episode three of Optimal Living Daily, our first show, which aired way back on December 14th, 2015, which is hard to believe. And of course, it is all thanks to you, the listeners, for listening every day, for subscribing, and for sharing the shows with your family and friends as well. But that's going to do it for today. Hope you have a great weekend if you're listening in real time. And I will be back here with you tomorrow.

[00:07:20] That's where we're going to finish up this post and where your optimal life awaits. because we're not going to be finished with you tomorrow. So thank you for sharing all of our friends. Bye bye.