Maximizing Happiness in Your WFH Space

While keeping your desk surface clean is important, it’s only a small piece of the home office puzzle. Yes, having the right desk is important, but you may want to think beyond that when designing your ideal work from home space. See below for a few ways you can increase your happiness with some small shifts in your mentality and the addition of some home office essentials.

Positive Momentum Stacking

You’ve probably heard it before, but there’s a method to the madness about making your bed every day. Nikita Kazakov discusses why military soldiers do it here, but the TLDR is that building little routines to help start your day fuels positive momentum. See if it works for you by spending 5 minutes at the beginning of your workday decluttering your office desk. Maybe you left a coffee mug on your standing desk from the day before or have mail “for later” piling up. Regardless of what it might be, a clear surface helps clear your mind and is a great way to promote productivity in your work from home space.

Shed Some (Natural) Light On the Situation

In a survey discussed by the Harvard Business Review, access to natural light and the outdoors ranked highest on the list of important office perks among 1,614 participants. While it can seem like a no-brainer, finding a space in your home with access to windows and natural light is one of the key home office essentials, and can have a dramatic impact on your productivity and overall mental health. And while we aren’t here to cause drama with your roommate or partner, working from home and owning your office means there’s most likely less competition for that prime-time window seat!

Make the Biophilic Breakthrough

There’s a reason companies like Apple and Amazon make a point of including thousands of trees or literal walls of forest fauna when designing their new offices — workers are happier and more productive with plants around! One of the first studies into the effects of office plants was conducted in 2014 and yielded some fascinating results:

• On average, plants made participants more satisfied with their working environment.
• Participants perceived there to be an increase in their ability to concentrate.
• Participants perceived there to be an increase in air quality.

Don’t know where to start? When choosing the perfect plant as part of your home office essentials, The Spruce can help point you in the right direction. It’s all about finding a plant that interests you, brings you joy, and can survive and thrive in your work from home space.

Getting Your Ergonomics Just Right

While we cover this more thoroughly elsewhere on our site, ergonomic office furniture is well up there on our list of home office essentials. Office desks, chairs, and accessories that work with and for your body are the building blocks of your ideal office space, and while it’s important to think beyond these elements, they certainly can’t be ignored.

Start Creating Your Ideal Work from Home Space

We hope you find these simple tricks will get your home office off to a great start! To learn more about home office essentials and work from home tips, check out our blog or reach out to our experts with your specific questions.