This week’s blog post comes to us from Carmen Comsa, an entrepreneur and content marketer for Massageaholic.com . Her ultimate mission is to bring massage therapy closer to those who want to build habits for well-being. Learn more about Carmen in her bio below.
Stress has a huge impact on productivity and health. According to a research study published by Eastern Kentucky University, 30% of workers diagnosed with workplace stress suffer from back pain, 51% experience fatigue, 44% battle headaches, 30% struggle with muscle tension, 23% experience appetite changes, and deal with 13% dizziness. While having a home office and working flexible hours help to decrease the effects of work stress, making your home office work as enjoyable as possible will have a positive effect on productivity and will help you to achieve a stress-free work life.
Get Comfortable
Considering how much time people spend working, it makes perfect sense to turn the home office into a comfortable and pleasurable environment. While some stress factors such as noise and people issues are eliminated when people work from home, muscle tension and back pain are not on that list unless you’re making a conscious decision to make your home office ergonomically correct. Also, never underestimate the power of a foot massage! People enjoy foot massages while on vacation, however, why not get a foot massager and enjoy the relaxing effects any day of the week? The more relaxed and comfortable you are, the better!
Get Organized
Keep your home office organized if you want to have a clear and focused mind while working. Make a habit of maintaining your desk clean and organized, use storage boxes for paper files, put half-read books on the bookshelves, and don’t keep coffee cups on your desk unless you’re actually drinking coffee. Another important thing to remember – your home office is not a storage room so don’t use it to store old books, old clothes or anything else that can be stored in the basement or in a storage room.
Get Playful
If you want to be more productive, you have to allow yourself to have some fun during the day. Spend your breaks doing something relaxing and fun instead of wasting time browsing the internet or reading your emails. There are many fun and relaxing activities you can do during a short break. For example, you can play short puzzle games, do an actual puzzle, and enjoy an adult coloring book. Or anything else that you find enjoyable. All these activities help you decompress and they promote creative thinking.
Get Inspired
Turn your home office into a place that inspires and motivates you. Decorate your desk with personal items and pictures that bring back good memories, make vision boards, use stick notes to write down motivational messages or quotes from your favorite artists. Simple things that excite you or motivate you are great for productivity. Plus, it’s fun and nice to be able to take a quick break from stressful work to read an inspirational quote or to look at vacation pictures that make you smile.
Get Moving
During longer breaks, walk away from your computer and get moving. Walk around the house, go outside to enjoy the sun, do some stretches or do a 15 minutes yoga routine. Exercising boosts endorphins and an increased level of endorphins leads to happiness. Being happy makes you less stressed and more productive so it’s always good to do a little exercise. Plus this flexibility in schedule is a huge perk of working from home, take advantage of it!
Do you work from a home office all or even part of the time? Share how you’ve worked to make this both a fun and functional space by leaving a comment below.
About the Author: Carmen Comsa is an entrepreneur and content marketer. In a former life, as a corporate business executive, she relied on yoga, reflexology and other alternative practices to fight stress, anxiety and find balance. At Massageaholic.com she’s on a mission to bring massage therapy closer to those who want to build habits for well-being. You can follow her on Facebook and Pinterest.
