Use these tips and your existing furniture to form a healthier work environment.
(edited, original posting date: March 27, 2020)
A cheap and stress free guide to working from home.
About two weeks ago we got three heart breaking news within 30 minutes of each other, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and there were three things trending: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson were diagnosed with COVID19, all restaurants and bars were to close down, and the rest of the NBA season was put on hold.
This is where things start to turn upside down for Americans.
Those who had office jobs were asked to work from home to prevent the spread of this awful virus. An estimate of 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment. Others, working for an “essential business”, are adding protective gear to their uniforms to help prevent the spread. Everyone has been affected by the pandemic.
I was curious. How are folks staying motivated to work?
I was hoping that biophilia would help create a better working atmosphere in a space where we tend to have our minds wander to things happening in our personal lives, but as I was conducting interviews with bus drivers, nurses, grocery store clerks no amount of biophilia was helping these workers reduce stress that an epidemic brings.
In a city, public transportation is a necessity, allowing people that have no other source of transportation to get work, grocery stores, and other essential businesses. During a time, where the government is asking people to stay indoors, buses, trains, and street cars are almost empty, grocery store clerks are frustrated that they have to come into work knowing that they might come into contact with a potential COVID19 carrier, and nurses are doing anything they can including covering themselves with garbage bags to keep themselves safe.
So if you are working from home, please be mindful and stay away from large crowds as best you can.
We can all agree that we are living in a weird moment right now, and how we go about our days might affect someone if we aren’t careful. We are all in this together and we will come out of this together, which is why I created a biophilic guide to working from home to try to help in a time like this.
Find a place to work that has a window nearby, allowing yourself to pause at some points in your work and connect with what’s happening outside. I sometimes work on my living room couch, it has a great view of trees, pedestrians, and the occasional flock of birds.
Have your spot be located in a place where you won’t be distracted. Make sure the T.V. is turned off, put your phone on do not disturb and perhaps play your favorite streaming playlist of sounds found in nature to experience non-visual connections to the outdoors, or my personal favorite, Lo-Fi beats. These sounds help keep our minds from wandering off to places where it shouldn’t be and keeps us focused on our current work.
Now it’s time for the fun part; filling up your work space with plants and greenery. The obvious choice is for some flowers in a vase, but have some fun with it; whatever you choose treat yourself with respect and know regardless that plants are going to make this journey from home so much better and feel better. Maybe you buy some fake plant decorations and sprinkle them around your desk, or maybe your style’s more minimal, and find an empty vase and it’s beige and goes well on your black desk and you go around your neighborhood and find some native plants to fill it up with.
Next, work in a room that has proper thermal and air flow. If you live somewhere where you tend to get more sun, it’s always nice to crack a window and have fresh air mix in with the air you’re working in. If you have a ceiling fan, put that on at an appropriate speed and let the fan and the air dance around you while you work.
Let's say you’re one of the unlucky ones and live somewhere where the sun tends to hide more. A great air treatment can be a purchase of essential oils and a diffuser. Remember, each essential oil has different properties and can have different effects on people.
Hopefully the window you’re next to lets in plenty of light because we want to make sure it doesn’t glare on your computer screen and prevents you from seeing your work. In a situation where not a lot of natural light is getting into the room we want to reinforce that with diffuse lighting.
And when you’ve been working hard at your new biophilic workstation it is important to stand up and stretch the legs and move your body. If you need to make a phone call or are stuck on a problem, taking a walk outside is a great place to acquire some head space, then back to the grind you go.
If you like these tips and want more information on the effects of biophilia and it’s health benefits set up a consultation! We learned that biophilia helps reduce stress in the workplace. However, it also has other health benefits which can even prevent and stop certain diseases, unfortunately there has yet to be evidence that it stops COVID19. But let’s end on a positive note, I love seeing people read my blog posts and I love it even more when you share your DIY home-office using these tips on your Instagram accounts. And don't forget to tag us using the handle @harrys_r00m!
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