Optimise your working environment to improve your eficiency

6.10   Out Of The Bunker

Productivity hack no.62 from '60 Ways to Hurray! by Ralph Varcoe.

Where do you do your best work? Where do you do most of your work? Whenever you want to be highly productive you should set about the tasks where you feel the best and most productive.

If you work in a dark environment with little natural light on a regular basis you could be doing yourself a major disservice.

Dr. Alan Hedge from Cornell University conducted a study and found that optimising natural light in the work environment led to a 51% drop in the incidences of eye strain, a drop of 63% in headaches, and a 56% reduction in drowsiness. Now, tell me, are you likely to be at your best and most alert or creative if you have a headache or are feeling drowsy?

It makes sense, purely based on those statistics, to work from a place which has the most amount of natural light possible.

I know that when I worked from the offices of one company I would get home after a full day and be absolutely exhausted. The meeting rooms were windowless and stuffy. No natural light and not a lot of fresh air, which is another key thing that research has pointed to as being a booster for productivity. We all need fresh air.

Interestingly, a survey of 1,614 working adults conducted in North America by Future Workplace revealed that the number one employee perk people crave is a working environment with natural light. This beat the desire to have a restaurant, gym, or childcare.

Wherever you plan to work, make sure it it somewhere with plenty of natural light. You will feel better and will perform at a much higher level.