Creating My Productive Workspace

If you work from home, or even if you just have a hobby, you need to a space for your ventures. I have an actual office in my house, but I never liked working in there and I couldn't put my finger on the why. It's a large space. Not much light, but it has a bookcase and a couch and a desk that fits both my PC and laptop.

First, I thought it was that there wasn't enough light. So I put a desk lamp on there. Still, I wasn't working in the office.

Then, I thought, "maybe if I had a bulletin board to post my ideas on."

Still, I was left feeling annoyed and uninspired by this space: there were visible wires everywhere, and the space felt small, cramped, and cluttered.

I should mention that merchandise marketing (displays) is part of my profession; I went to school for it and everything. As I was staring at the office one day, my merchandising skills kicked in and I realized that my space wasn't telling my story: I needed to create a space that represented me through a display of things that really matter to me.

I rearranged things, change photos, decluttered, and covered wires with tubing (my cat was eating them and the amount of wires was driving me insane). Here is what I learned: the less I had, the less distracted I was and the better I felt about being in my office. But something was still missing. I solved the problem of not wanting to be in the office, but now I had another problem: I didn't want to stay in the office for long periods of time.

I decided then to make my office not just a place of creative work but also a place of peace and harmony. That's when I moved all of my "woo-woo" stuff into my office. I bought a diffuser (please keep your pets and diffuser separate as many essential oils are toxic to animals) and a salt lamp. I decked my space out in the things that filled me with joy and peace and voilà! I had a space I craved to be in.

My advice then is this: whatever space you are trying to create at home, create it around a feeling. I realize now that I need to feel at peace if I'm going to be working on creative projects.

I'll do many more posts on meditation, but please know that in order to get started meditating, you don't need anything but yourself. You can meditate from wherever you are right now, reading this blog post (and thank you for reading this blog post). Meditation comes in many forms from focused breathing to saying a prayer.

Now, I'm sure having your meditation space near technology is some big no-no, but it really works for me.

I'm not going to sit here a lie to you all- I am a super beginner at meditation so I'll only be sharing resources I've found helpful until I feel confident enough in my own practice to share that with others.

The place I found most comfortable in starting was through the work of a woman named Gabby Bernstein. I like her work because she shows you ways to meditate that don't have to be about just sitting in silence or focusing on breathing.

I found great success starting with her work. For me, her introduction to meditate was far less daunting; I could talk, I could repeat words, I could focus on visualization etc. Gabby's meditations paved the way for a more quiet sitting as I've progressed in my practice.

This space for me doesn't just create a sense of peace, but it also creates a space that I want to dwell and work.

If you're having trouble with a workspace, try visualizing how you want to feel in the space and go from there. As always, if you need someone to bounce ideas off of--I'm here!

xx

j