Turning Your Home Into a More Healthy and Productive Space in 2021

If your home has become your office of late, maybe it’s time to look deeper into making a more healthful environment where you work

—

The work-from-home revolution of 2020 may have been dramatic, but it was hardly the first time that employees had tried working remotely. Nevertheless, the size and scope of the adjustment was truly enormous, and the first goal for most enterprises was simply setting up a scenario where their employees could still communicate and collaborate in some form or another.

As the initial weeks of the pandemic stretched into months, though, the remote work world began to settle in and many workers began thinking beyond the basics. How could they improve their new home-bound professional lives?

If you’re still facing an indefinite amount of time working from home, it’s about time that you stop holding out for that nebulous “return to the office.” Instead, generate some assistance for yourself on your own. How? By turning your entire home into a more healthy and productive space for the upcoming year.

Organize Everything

One of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your home’s productivity, in particular, is to organize. This doesn’t just mean putting a few things away. It’s a serious call to action that should include:

Decluttering your spaces by identifying what items are important and then storing, repurposing, donating, or recycling what’s left.
Making sure everything important is kept in a specific place near where it is typically needed.
Setting boundaries and dedicating areas of your home to things like work, school, sleeping, and recreational areas.
Establishing consistent routines, especially to start the day.
Setting up schedules that keep your household on track and aware of everything that is taking place.

Organization is one of the best ways that you can effectively increase your household’s productivity. In addition, it can help provide a sense of calm that is great for your mental health, as well.

Address Digital Clutter, Too

Along with organizing your physical spaces, you also want to address your digital ones. This starts with how your electronics are set up. Make sure cords are tidy and chargers are kept in a single place.

In addition, take time to organize your online files. So many work and school activities take place online these days, that it’s easy to end up with a severely cluttered computer desktop, pages of apps on your smartphone, or a messy Google Drive folder. Take the time to clean up and organize your digital spaces so that everything is easily available when it’s needed.

Make Time for the Basics

Sometimes you have to put your health first and productivity will follow. This is especially true with three basic areas of health:

Eating: Put in the effort to ensure that you’re eating purposefully and making healthy food choices throughout each day.
Exercising: It’s easy to slip into a state of lethargy when you’re working from home, which means you have to make a concerted effort to exercise regularly.
Sleeping: Make sure that you’re allowing yourself to get at least seven hours of quality sleep each night.

With these three areas in mind, review your living space and see if it’s equipped to help you stay rested, nourished, and fit. Do you have a good sleeping space set up? Can you exercise either inside or outside on a regular basis? Have you equipped your pantry with healthy food options?

Address Mental Health

If you want to be more productive and healthy in your home, it’s also important to consider your mental health. Here are a few simple ways that you can improve this area in the upcoming year:

Unplug: Taking breaks from your computer and electronics can help you rest, reset, and spend quality time with your family.
Decorate with green: Using natural decor in your home, such as house plants and rustic wood, can help to create an outdoor atmosphere of peace and calm.
Try aromatherapy: Setting up a diffuser with some essential oils can naturally improve the atmosphere of your living space.

By looking out for your mental health in ways like these, you can naturally boost your home’s health and increase the productivity of everyone in it.

Address Health Concerns

If you’re spending all of your time in your house, it’s also a good idea to consider the healthiness of your living space. A few areas to keep in mind include:

Replacing filters on furnaces, air purifiers, and humidifiers.
Deep cleaning your home to get rid of dust, dirt, and other allergens.
Using green cleaning products to avoid unnecessary chemicals in your home.
Swapping out cosmetic and personal hygiene products that potentially contain talcum powder with asbestos.
Addressing areas that contain mold and lead paint.

By looking for both the big and little ways to clean your home, you can create a healthier living space for you and your loved ones to dwell in around the clock.

Setting Your Home Up for Success in 2021

There are multiple ways to boost the healthiness and productivity of your home in the upcoming year. Many of these are small yet effective, such as taking breaks, decluttering, and making time for sleep, food, and exercise.

If you can take the time to set a healthier and more productive tone for your home this year, you won’t just be able to survive the work-from-home setup. You’ll be able to thrive in it.

You may also enjoy reading Love The Work You’re With: The ‘Genius Habit’ that Will Shift Your Relationship Forever by Laura Garnett