Physical Screening and Working at Home
Look at the amount of room you have available for personal space. Places where you can relax, meditate, exercise, read, study or listen to music. If you can’t have a complete room -consider screening an area of the room. A screen needn’t be a solid floor to ceiling partition but may be a folding screen which you can put away when not in use or when you need to use the entire room. Make or find a screen which appeals to you. Consider natural materials such as wood or bamboo or cover in a pleasing fabric.
A bare wood screen covered in photographs, concert tickets, or other memorabilia is a great way to evoke fond memories, or you could cover it with inspirational sayings and affirmation. Books on decoupage will show you the best way to go about this. Alternatively you could place a rug in a corner of the room and place one or two decorative potted ferns around the area to define this as your space.
Working at home
Working from home poses fresh challenges even if you are fortunate enough to have a dedicated room to operate from. To avoid the are (and your mind) becoming cluttered, organization is the key. If you often need to refer to certain information, pin it up where you can see it without having to rummage through lots of other paper. Put motivational statements where you can see them too, for those moments when you’d rather be anywhere else but there!
If space permits, a small filing cabinet is useful, or a box file. Keep your desk ‘work like’ too. Don’t let home effects stray onto it. And keep the floor free of clutter you need to be able to move around freely and easily.
Your office
In general your ‘office’ needs to be:
�¯�¿�½ Well-ventilated
Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ A room you’re comfortable in
�¯�¿�½ Pleasantly decorated so it provides additional interest in think breaks
�¯�¿�½ Clutter free
Choose restful colors and fabrics for your office dÃ?¯Ã?¿Ã?½cor and anti-static floor covering if possible. Have things around you which you like and, if practical, have access to music – although not from another room.
Chair
Choose your chair carefully, Ideally it should have:
�¯�¿�½ A five-castor base to give maximum stability and maneuverability
�¯�¿�½ Height adjustable seat and back
�¯�¿�½ An adjustable back float
�¯�¿�½ Well padded seat and back
�¯�¿�½ A deep seat which reaches to just before your knees
�¯�¿�½ No arms or height adjustable arms which must be able to fit under the desk surface.
If your feet don’t touch the floor when you’ve adjusted the chair, use a foot rest. Sit close into your desk (to avoid unnecessary stretching), allowing your weight to be evenly spread across the body and shoulders, with your hips parallel to your desk or keyboard to avoid keeping your body at an unnatural angle.
Desk
�¯�¿�½ Working surface needs to be waist height
Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ It must be deep enough to support a computer at correct distance which is about arm’s length.
�¯�¿�½ There should be plenty of leg room giving unrestricted movement.
Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ The desk should have a matt non-reflective surface – not highly glossed or polished.
Out of sight, out of mind
Wherever possible, keep your working environment separate from your home environment. It’s difficult to relax in the evenings if you’re still facing the pile of paperwork you should have finished yesterday. Create a situation where you can ‘close the door’ on your work – even if it’s simply sliding a screen in front of your desk or throwing a blanket over box files. Operate an out of sight, out of mind policy once you’re finished for the day.
