Speaker 1: You've had breakfast, clean the kitchen, goten dressed, and you're
Speaker 1: ready to head out for work, except that your city
Speaker 1: is in lockdown right now and heading out really means
Speaker 1: heading to the dining room table. So how do you
Speaker 1: make your home feel like a workspace when it's time
Speaker 1: to work? Well, Lucy Fagans from the Design Files can
Speaker 1: help with that. I have followed the Design Files for
Speaker 1: many years and have received so much inspiration from Lucy's work,
Speaker 1: So I wanted to know what does Lucy's home office
Speaker 1: set up look like and what tips can she share
Speaker 1: about how we can all improve our home office given
Speaker 1: that we're probably going to be spending quite a bit
Speaker 1: of time in it for the foreseeable future. My name
Speaker 1: is doctor Ramantha Imba. I'm an organizational psychologist and the
Speaker 1: founder of behavior science consultancy Inventium, and this is how
Speaker 1: I work a show about how to help you do
Speaker 1: your best work. So let's start by hearing about what
Speaker 1: Lucy's home office setup looks like. I must say my
Speaker 1: home office setup is not ideal in that I don't
Speaker 1: have a spare room or a study so, like probably
Speaker 1: many people, I am unfortunately working from the dining table
Speaker 1: most of the time, which is certainly not what I recommend,
Speaker 1: but you know, these these are the we're all having
Speaker 1: to make do in this current time, particularly in Melbourne.
Speaker 2: So my home office setup.
Speaker 3: Is all my computer gear on my dining table, along
Speaker 3: with a notepad and some stationery and a lot of
Speaker 3: post it notes. But I do sort of like to
Speaker 3: set it up in quite a considered way every morning
Speaker 3: and pack it down every evening, so that I really
Speaker 3: do feel that, despite the fact that I'm working from
Speaker 3: the shared living space, that it's sort of it doesn't
Speaker 3: dominate the space.
Speaker 4: That's interesting.
Speaker 1: So what do you mean when you say set it
Speaker 1: up in a considered way in the morning.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I have found I guess how long have
Speaker 3: we been doing this now in Melbourne? You know, I
Speaker 3: kin't even count, really, I think, you know, initially I
Speaker 3: just left my big computer screen plus my laptop at
Speaker 3: the end of the dining table every night, and you know,
Speaker 3: obviously there's some efficiency to not having to put it
Speaker 3: all together every morning. But in fact, what I've found
Speaker 3: is that the ritual every morning of unpacking my workstation
Speaker 3: and putting it together just as I you know, as
Speaker 3: I like, in a sort of familiar way every morning
Speaker 3: is a really good ritual that helps get me in
Speaker 3: the mindset for work, and then of course packing it
Speaker 3: down also helps get me in the mindset for home
Speaker 3: life and dinner prep and family time. So I do
Speaker 3: find that that book ends the day if I do
Speaker 3: a bit of a setup and a pack down. And
Speaker 3: the trick to that then is making the setup and
Speaker 3: pack down very easy by having a designated crate or
Speaker 3: box or draw nearby where where everything can go in
Speaker 3: a sort of quick five minute pack down.
Speaker 4: So what are you storing all your stuff in?
Speaker 3: I literally have a crate like a nice a nice
Speaker 3: one from Moodie, I think, but you know any great
Speaker 3: like you know storage place that has a nice looking crate,
Speaker 3: and I think it's just really important to have that
Speaker 3: one designated box or crate that is just for that purpose.
Speaker 3: And the only thing that doesn't fit in it is
Speaker 3: my big screen, So unfortunately that does sort of just
Speaker 3: get relegated to, you know, under the sideboard, sort of
Speaker 3: just tucked away.
Speaker 2: But everything else, my keyboard, my mouth, all those.
Speaker 3: Bits and bobs are all and my laptop all sit
Speaker 3: in the crate and they will just sleep there at
Speaker 3: night when I, you know, finish up and then in
Speaker 3: the morning I get them all out again.
Speaker 1: Now I want to know what are some simple and
Speaker 1: ideally cost effective tricks that people can use to improve
Speaker 1: their physical environment where they're working from, whether it be
Speaker 1: a dedicated study or the kitchen table or the dining
Speaker 1: room table, to lift their mood and just the vibe
Speaker 1: of the place.
Speaker 3: I think it is about trying to identify what little
Speaker 3: cues you can bring into the home space whilst you're
Speaker 3: working from home that help your mindset and help you
Speaker 3: get more easily into your work mode even though you
Speaker 3: are at home, and so those things are it sounds obvious,
Speaker 3: but setting up your desk just as you have it
Speaker 3: at work and not sort of compromising on things like
Speaker 3: you know, yes, you do need a big screen probably.
Speaker 2: And a laptop.
Speaker 3: If that's the way you work at work, that's also
Speaker 3: the way you should work at home. Yes, you need
Speaker 3: an ergonomic chair, very boring but important. You know, if
Speaker 3: you're sitting on a good chair all day at work,
Speaker 3: you should absolutely be sitting on the same quality.
Speaker 2: Chair at home.
Speaker 3: And beyond that, there is a lot to be said
Speaker 3: for esthetics that the place should feel nice if you've
Speaker 3: got things that you love in your space, definitely integrate
Speaker 3: them into what you're seeing as you're sitting at your desk.
Speaker 3: So whether that be orienting your desk to capture some
Speaker 3: of a view out of a window, ensuring you're getting
Speaker 3: a bit of natural light sunlight throughout the day, and
Speaker 3: sort of feeling the time passed throughout the day, so
Speaker 3: feeling the difference in light between morning and afternoon. And
Speaker 3: you know, things that you love, a favorite plant or object,
Speaker 3: things that you bring you joy should certainly be part
Speaker 3: of what you're sort of seeing when you're sitting at
Speaker 3: your work space.
Speaker 2: For most of the day.
Speaker 4: I want to dig into a few of those things.
Speaker 1: What are some I guess non essential work items that
Speaker 1: you have in your workspace that bring you joy.
Speaker 3: You know, it's really funny, This sounds so silly, but
Speaker 3: I bought a beautiful painting sort of last year late
Speaker 3: last year, and it hangs on the wall behind me.
Speaker 3: So if you can imagine when you're in a zoom meeting,
Speaker 3: which we spend a lot of time you know, doing
Speaker 3: at the moment, or having meetings online.
Speaker 2: I see this painting behind me.
Speaker 3: It's basically the backdrop behind me every time I'm in
Speaker 3: a meeting, and it really does bring me so much joy.
Speaker 3: And you know how when you're in a meeting like that,
Speaker 3: you do, for whatever reason, you spend a lot of
Speaker 3: time looking at yourself.
Speaker 2: I don't know why.
Speaker 3: That's not just me, but you sort of just have
Speaker 3: this periphery of what you look like in the meeting
Speaker 3: or something. And so having that painting as my sort
Speaker 3: of backdrop for me that does. Actually, it has definitely
Speaker 3: elevated how I feel about being in my workspace.
Speaker 2: And it was a blank wall and now it's.
Speaker 3: This beautiful, big, colorful backdrop, and I feel like, not
Speaker 3: only does it bring me joy to sit in a
Speaker 3: space and look at that artwork, but when I'm having
Speaker 3: a meeting, I feel like it reflects me.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a person. It's like when you put
Speaker 2: on a new jacket to where to work.
Speaker 3: It's sort of like your environment at the moment is
Speaker 3: becoming an extension of the way you present to your workplace,
Speaker 3: to your clients when you have meetings.
Speaker 1: And have you got anything in front of you sitting
Speaker 1: on the desk slash dining room table that is, you know,
Speaker 1: not essential for work, like you know, a keyboarder or mouse,
Speaker 1: But is there for you know, emotional reasons I do.
Speaker 3: I have found myself through lockdown, especially in Melbourne, buying
Speaker 3: fresh flowers every week.
Speaker 2: I know that's it's definitely.
Speaker 3: A bit indulgent, but I guess we're all saving money
Speaker 3: on many of the other things that we're not allowed
Speaker 3: to do at the moment.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I do tend to buy fresh flowers every
Speaker 2: week and have them right there.
Speaker 3: It's pretty much right in front of my laptop screen
Speaker 3: on the table, and those little things certainly do bring
Speaker 3: a lot more joy. Now you mentioned an ergonomic chair,
Speaker 3: and I feel for most people that brings up images
Speaker 3: of quite hideous black things that you'd find in an office.
Speaker 3: What are some brands that we can investigate that do
Speaker 3: ergonomic chairs that don't look hideous?
Speaker 2: It's hard, I agree with you.
Speaker 3: The best, you know, really good quality chairs that you
Speaker 3: do tend to find in workplaces are pretty ugly and
Speaker 3: also really expensive many of them. So Ikea actually do
Speaker 3: some really good options. And in fact, I did a
Speaker 3: little call out on my Instagram last week in preparation
Speaker 3: for this chat, and a few people recommend to their
Speaker 3: Ikea ergonomic chair But the other thing that I really
Speaker 3: like is there are some really good vintage.
Speaker 2: Desk chairs out there.
Speaker 3: So I've got a vintage Eames desk chair new They're
Speaker 3: like two thousand dollars or something, but you can get
Speaker 3: them for i don't know, well under one thousand dollars
Speaker 3: if you look for vintage ones. So definitely worth looking
Speaker 3: for vintage chairs desk chairs as well. But yes, it's
Speaker 3: I do feel there's still we could do with some
Speaker 3: more options.
Speaker 1: Definitely, definitely. I quite like Steelcase. They do some interesting
Speaker 1: Ergonovic chairs. I must say they're a bit on the
Speaker 1: xy side, but I'm a bit of a fan. Now
Speaker 1: you mentioned the importance of natural light. What can we
Speaker 1: do to bring light to our workstation at home if
Speaker 1: there are no windows nearby, or maybe if my window
Speaker 1: looks out onto the wall of an apartment block or
Speaker 1: something depressing like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it really is challenging and natural light.
Speaker 3: It's all very well to say, you know, have natural
Speaker 3: light in your space, but it's either there or it's not.
Speaker 3: You can't sort of invent it. I think, you know,
Speaker 3: hopefully your room has a window. Most rooms do. I
Speaker 3: think it's a legal requirement. So it's it's really just
Speaker 3: about maximizing what's there. So have a think about the
Speaker 3: window furnishings and you know whether or not you've got
Speaker 3: any obstructions to the light.
Speaker 2: It can work if you have.
Speaker 3: A mirror in the space to reflect a view, so
Speaker 3: if you can't position your table to you know, be
Speaker 3: exactly where it should be for the best sort of
Speaker 3: access to natural light.
Speaker 2: It can work if you have a.
Speaker 3: Full length mirror or something that actually reflects that view
Speaker 3: into where you're sitting, or that you enables you to
Speaker 3: see out of the window or to see a bit
Speaker 3: of greenery and sky even if you're not able to
Speaker 3: face the window.
Speaker 2: Oh and where do.
Speaker 1: You put the mirror? Do you put it opposite the
Speaker 1: window or by the side of it? How do you
Speaker 1: work that?
Speaker 3: It's really a situation where if you study really only
Speaker 3: enables you to sit with your back to the window,
Speaker 3: then you would place the mirror in front of your
Speaker 3: desk or potentially to the side of the window, so
Speaker 3: that you're catching a glimpse of the window behind you
Speaker 3: even though you're not face the window.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Are there any lighting solutions that you've found a good
Speaker 1: for just bringing in more, I guess artificial natural light
Speaker 1: into the environment. Like I'm thinking, for example, I've got
Speaker 1: fairly good natural light in my study, and I'm really
Speaker 1: lucky that I've got a room that contains my study
Speaker 1: that is not where all the living happens in my house.
Speaker 1: But I've been experimenting with the Phillips Hugh lights and
Speaker 1: automating goes, and I've kind of got this strip that
Speaker 1: sits along the window seil, which is quite good for
Speaker 1: bringing in light that feels quite natural. So what have
Speaker 1: you seen that are some good lighting solutions to bring
Speaker 1: in more natural feeling light.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't tried that.
Speaker 3: I feel like you're so much better at really doing this,
Speaker 3: you know, like test driving things like that. I think
Speaker 3: in general, I would say overhead lights. So the sort
Speaker 3: of down lights or existing light that's in your house
Speaker 3: as it is, are likely to be the most harsh
Speaker 3: sort of most I guess least like natural light light
Speaker 3: in the house. So what is a good idea generally
Speaker 3: is to bring lamp light of any description into the room.
Speaker 3: So whether that be a desk lamp and you know,
Speaker 3: a floor lamp or a table lamp on a sideboard
Speaker 3: or something if you have one or two additional light
Speaker 3: sources lamps in the room alongside the overhead lighting in
Speaker 3: the ceiling, it just gives you that much more control
Speaker 3: over you know, changing the light levels throughout the day
Speaker 3: as well, because it does change a lot, and I
Speaker 3: think we might I've certainly noticed being in my house morning,
Speaker 3: noon and night, rather than just it in you know,
Speaker 3: before and after work, you start to notice things like,
Speaker 3: you know, it's really dark at certain times of day
Speaker 3: and really bright at other times of day, and even
Speaker 3: things like temperature. So if you have multiple light sources
Speaker 3: in a room, then it really does enable you to
Speaker 3: play with the light throughout the day and just be nuanced,
Speaker 3: I guess, in how you light the space rather than
Speaker 3: have this one blanket of light that is just constant
Speaker 3: all day and sort of doesn't give you that sense
Speaker 3: of progressing from morning through the afternoon.
Speaker 4: And where are some good retailers or good brands to
Speaker 4: check out that do some good lighting solutions.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like I wouldn't even know where to
Speaker 1: start other than my Phillips, who which I do recommend, But.
Speaker 4: Where can we go for things that are a little
Speaker 4: bit more beautiful than that?
Speaker 3: Cult is a great stocks of all different furniture and
Speaker 3: lighting and good lamps lamp lighting, which is great as
Speaker 3: well if you're renting your home, you know you need
Speaker 3: things that can be moved around and can work in
Speaker 3: different spaces.
Speaker 2: So cult has a great range.
Speaker 3: And one of this brand, say stock is Hay which
Speaker 3: is a really quite good affordable one of the more
Speaker 3: affordable brands in Good Company is an excellent retailer here
Speaker 3: in Melbourne, but they have a really good online store
Speaker 3: as well that has a lot of different lamp lighting.
Speaker 3: Some of their favorite lamps if there's are no Gucci lamps,
Speaker 3: which are a range of Japanese lamps that are paper
Speaker 3: you know, they look like sort of those paper sort
Speaker 3: of Chinese lantern sort of material over the lamp, but
Speaker 3: in more sort of beautiful considered shapes, and that is
Speaker 3: really lovely diffused light. You know, when you have a
Speaker 3: light source that has a paper or fabric cover, it
Speaker 3: really is a nice soft diffused light. It doesn't look
Speaker 3: harsh and it's a very versatile sort of lamp that
Speaker 3: can be used in the living space, in the bedroom
Speaker 3: or in a workspace.
Speaker 4: Amazing.
Speaker 1: I'll link to those in the show notes and if
Speaker 1: there was just like one thing that you'd recommend people
Speaker 1: change about their home office set up to bring some
Speaker 1: more joy and spark into their life.
Speaker 4: What would that be.
Speaker 2: I find it so hard to think of just one thing.
Speaker 3: I asked my followers this last week, and all the
Speaker 3: answers were very sensible and a bit boring, and they
Speaker 3: were all about ergonomics, so having that ergonomic chair and
Speaker 3: also the height of your screen, which I know is
Speaker 3: again very dry, but making sure that your laptop is
Speaker 3: on a stand and things are at a height that
Speaker 3: allows you to sit up right rather than slouch all day.
Speaker 3: So that's the boring but important answer to that question.
Speaker 3: But the other thing I would say is it is
Speaker 3: worth investing in pieces that do spark joy and that
Speaker 3: personalize your space. So the example I gave before of
Speaker 3: having an artwork on the wall, you know, that's the
Speaker 3: sort of thing that really elevates the way you feel
Speaker 3: in your space. And I am a big proponent for
Speaker 3: getting your zoom backdrop right for your own sort of
Speaker 3: sense of joy, but also so that you feel really
Speaker 3: confident in the way you're presenting to people.
Speaker 2: That you're having meetings with. For me, it's like don't
Speaker 2: just look about what's in front of you on your desk,
Speaker 2: but think about what's behind you and what people are
Speaker 2: seeing where they chat to you online as well, because
Speaker 2: you'll feel better if your space reflects you.
Speaker 4: Amazing.
Speaker 1: I love that, and Lucy, for people that want to
Speaker 1: connect with you and the Design Files, what is the
Speaker 1: best way for people to do that?
Speaker 2: Thank you so much so.
Speaker 3: Our website is the design files dot net and we're
Speaker 3: on all the socials at the Design Files.
Speaker 4: Amazing. Lucy, it's been so good to chat.
Speaker 1: I feel like we've probably both followed each other's work
Speaker 1: for quite a while but have never spoken, so this
Speaker 1: has been absolutely lovely.
Speaker 2: It really has.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me and I love
Speaker 3: your podcast, so yeah, it's a thrill to join you.
Speaker 1: I hope that you're feeling all inspired to maybe make
Speaker 1: one or two changes to your home office and bring
Speaker 1: more joy into your space now. If you are looking
Speaker 1: for more tips to improve the way that you work,
Speaker 1: I actually write short fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool
Speaker 1: things that I've discovered that helped me work better, which
Speaker 1: range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I'm loving
Speaker 1: and software that I've just discovered, so if you're keen
Speaker 1: to receive that newsletter, sign up at Howiwork dot co.
Speaker 1: That's how I Work dot co. How I Work is
Speaker 1: produced by Inventium with production support from Dead Set Studios.
Speaker 4: And thank you to Martin Nimba who does the audio.
Speaker 1: Mix for every episode and makes everything sound so much
Speaker 1: better than it would have otherwise.
Speaker 4: See you next time.