5 Design Elements for a Focused Office.
It’s a well-known fact that our environment has a direct impact on our mental clarity. We can influence our capacity for focus and productivity through various design tools. Thoughtfully incorporating certain design elements into your workplace can allow for more focus to flow through the environment. Here are some great ways of keeping focus in the office:
Integrating Nature Elements
Nature brings the essence of peace and clarity to the mind, which has a direct impact on focus. Whether it's bringing in plants, organic materials or artwork featuring natural scenery, all will help create a sense of calm clarity. Nature & natural elements in particular are strongly linked to stable focus and attention. Of course, outdoor workplace environments are ideal, but not everybody has access to outdoor spaces. If the structure of your building or office space comes with limited windows or lacks natural views, you can take inspiration from Biophilic designs by incorporating more plants or natural colors in your office.
Having Separate Spaces as Breakrooms
Having separate times & spaces specifically carved out for rest or breaktime, is a great way to increase the mind's capacity to stay focused for longer at the workplace. Cues in our environment build connections and associations in our minds--linking specific activities to specific environmental cues over time. Have you ever worked in your bedroom before? Working where you usually sleep can bring the work mindset into a space designed for rest, making it harder for the mind to switch off at the end of the day when it is time to sleep. On the other hand, sleeping in your office wouldn't be a great idea either (no matter how comfortable your task chair is) because your mind would then have a harder time staying focused during your work hours as it would start associating it with a place for rest.
In order to stay focused, the mind needs clear boundaries between work and rest spaces. Having breakrooms is a significant space element when it comes to cultivating more focus, because it helps our brains to build associations between environments and activities. In other words, we are less likely to get distracted in a work-oriented space if we know that there's a separate space for taking breaks. Breakrooms also create the opportunity to recharge in-between tasks. Taking breaks is highly important in keeping our minds focused, recharged and creative.
More Natural Light
Studies prove that exposure to daylight helps our circadian rhythm and boost our mood. Keeping the mood regulated is an important part of focus and productivity. Daylight goes beyond the realms of sufficient lighting, sunlight exposure is necessary in order to reap the benefits. One way to expose employees to more daylight is to set workstations to be no more than twice the height of the window from the perimeter.
Ergonomic Seating
Seating is everything. Ok, maybe not everything... but, without high-quality ergonomic seating as well as appropriate seating in the right spaces, focus and productivity cannot reach its optimal level. Poor seating causes muscular tension, health issues, irritability & an overall negative experience at the office. The reason for this, is because-- let's face it, for better or for worse, most of our time at the office is spent sitting down. We already know the negative impact that sitting for prolong periods of time has on our minds and bodies, but couple that with unhealthy seating choice, and you have a real problem on your hands. Less aches & less pains will lead to less distractions, more focused time and increased productivity!
Keep It Clutter-Free
Clutter is a recipe for lack of focus, irritability and brain fog. There are so many ways the average office can get cluttered. Investing in a good organizational system with smart storage solutions definitely pays off. If you're finding that your office just "looks" cluttered even when everything seems to be relatively in order, it might be those ...wires! Disorganized, exposed wires create the sense of clutter even in a relatively tidy environment. We've got organizational solutions for this problem. Check out a few of our product recommendations below to keep those wires out-of-sight and out-of-mind as much as possible!
