Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to aim
Speaker 1: for a self contained workspace, an area that provides everything
Speaker 1: you need to do your job and that well contains
Speaker 1: your work stuff so that it's not spilling into other
Speaker 1: parts of your home. One of the obvious and huge
Speaker 1: upsides of working from home is that you don't have
Speaker 1: to commute. You're not traveling to and from your office
Speaker 1: with such a huge efficiency gain. Sometimes we don't think
Speaker 1: about maximizing efficiency with our home offices themselves, but it
Speaker 1: is kind of nice not to have to commute and
Speaker 1: I'm putting that in quotes around your house to do
Speaker 1: various work tasks. Ideally, you can arrange your home workspace
Speaker 1: such that you don't have to run around. If you
Speaker 1: have a printer, for instance, it's most efficient to place
Speaker 1: it near the desk or table where you work, unless
Speaker 1: family members who use the printer more need it elsewhere.
Speaker 1: Think about supplying your workspace with other tools you need too.
Speaker 1: When you find yourself leaving your workspace to retrieve something Kleenex, advil,
Speaker 1: a highlighter, snacks, a sweater, just bring an extra of
Speaker 1: that item back to your workspace and store it there.
Speaker 1: This saves you time on future occasions. It means you
Speaker 1: don't have to break your concentration too, say, blow your nose. Plus,
Speaker 1: minimizing the need to leave your workspace reduces the likelihood
Speaker 1: that you'll get waylaid by someone in your household or
Speaker 1: distracted by a household task. You can increase your time
Speaker 1: spent on task when your workspace contains everything you need,
Speaker 1: which brings me to the second part of this tip,
Speaker 1: not just having what you need, but actually keeping your
Speaker 1: workspace contain. If you're lucky enough to have a dedicated
Speaker 1: home office, you already have a contained workspace. When you
Speaker 1: stop working at the end of the day, you can
Speaker 1: shut the door, and that's great. But a lot of
Speaker 1: people are making do these days, creating workspaces wherever they can.
Speaker 1: I'm fascinated by the images on Instagram and Pinterest of
Speaker 1: closet workspaces, amazingly functional and often attractive work areas that
Speaker 1: fit within smallish closets. I think this is brilliant. Inside
Speaker 1: the closet you have a work surface of some sort,
Speaker 1: maybe some shelves or drawers. Some of these closet workspaces
Speaker 1: even have a lamp or potted plant or art. While
Speaker 1: you're working, you sit facing the closet with everything you
Speaker 1: need at arms reach. When you're done for the day,
Speaker 1: you place the chair in a corner, shut the doors
Speaker 1: to the closet, and see no evidence of your workspace
Speaker 1: at all. No mess, no disorder, no nagging to dooosdroom
Speaker 1: is your bedroom again or your living room your living room?
Speaker 1: The office is closed for the day and invisible because
Speaker 1: it's totally contained. As you go through your workday today,
Speaker 1: identify any supplies you need to be more self contained
Speaker 1: in your workspace, and at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: consider how you can contain your work. Maybe your workspace
Speaker 1: will be the next marvel I see on Instagram, or
Speaker 1: you'll just boost your productivity while adding calm to your
Speaker 1: home environment after hours, which would be pretty marvelous too.
Speaker 1: What are your workspace hacks? How do you keep your
Speaker 1: work area well stocked and well hidden? You can let
Speaker 1: me know at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New Corner
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