I’ve never really been a fan of the art. But I haven’t fully rejected it either. I have made some serious notes over the past year pertaining to it – and to productivity around the office.
When I worked in Seattle, I was in a very open office with lots of natural light, plenty of plants, and a fountain/koi pond in the middle of the room. Everyone was very productive, and I had a lot of fun working there. Even regular data entry seemed easier to do because we had the wonderful white noise of the fountain paired with the calming atmosphere of a plant every few feet around our desks. The lack of cubicles helped a lot, too (I’ve never been a fan of cubes).
When I started working for myself, things were a bit different. I started working out of my home office (my bedroom) but quickly moved to the living room because it was more open and offered better lighting. That lasted all of a week before I found myself traversing daily to a cafe downtown. There the combination of people, good music, and the fountain/stream outside made my work so much more bearable.
Now I’ve moved to a new office in town. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t offer too much in the way of calming atmosphere, plants, or water features. Yes, there are a couple of gorgeous Japanese maples in the courtyard, but most of my work is online and the wi-fi doesn’t extend that far. So my white noise is supplied by an iPod (yes, I have over 2 hours of white noise tracks), the water feature is entirely in my head, and the plants are outside the window.
And my work has suffered. I find myself staring longingly out the window at the trees rather than musing about my work. So on Saturday, I broke down and bought a tree. It’s a small “money tree” plant that can sit on my desk. It might not be the veritable forest I had access to in Seattle (that took me an hour each week just to water!), but at least it’s a start.
Take a minute and evaluate your workplace. Think about all of the environments in which your work has been exemplary – think about all of those where it was lackluster and dull. What are the common threads of each category of workplace? What can you do today to make your present environment the most conducive to productivity? Whether it’s a thousand-dollar fish pond or a ten-dollar plant, I guarantee the investment will be worth it!
