How to create your perfect workspace

What does your workspace say about you?

We spend, on average, 5 hours and 41 minutes per day sitting at our desks.

So, it’s not surprising that our workspace is really an extension of our personality. What does yours say about you? Is it a bit of a mess or beautifully tidy? Does messy really mean more spontaneously creative? Or just hopelessly disorganised?!

A perfect workspace is organised around the 3 Ps: Practical, Personal and Pleasing.

Organising your workspace makes you feel calmer, more confident and in control. So start by having a clear out, so you can really see the space you’ve already got.

Back to basics – your desk

Think about how your body likes to be when at work. Set up your desk to suit your posture, otherwise you’ll end up with wrist ache, back ache, and a headache if you also don’t have good light. Do you have a supportive chair, not any old chair from the kitchen? Being uncomfortable breaks your concentration.

Seeing the world outside really encourages you to take proper screen breaks. Natural light and fresh air make us more productive too, so if possible, position your desk near a window.

The golden rule of screen breaks: look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.

Restoring order!

Our Zebra Pen Brand Ambassador, Beth says: “The most important thing for a productive work environment is utilising storage – making sure everything has its place. There is nothing worse than sitting down to work and not being able to find anything you need!”

Place the items you need most beside your dominant hand, or at least in easy reach. Sort different pens for different jobs into separate pen pots – lots of our ambassadors organise their stationery in acrylic drawers with separate compartments, so you can select a pen – and close the drawer!

Do you have enough folders, files and sticky notes for all your subjects?

Most importantly, place your study plan where you can see it or refer to it. Not got a study plan yet? Check out our September blog for some top tips!

Organising your desk is part of preparing for what lies ahead.

Now…make it personal

Your workspace needs to encourage creativity as well as concentration. Having personal things around you that you value, or that inspire you makes you feel good and ready to study. Plants, pictures or maybe motivational quotes.

Think holistically about all your senses; your favourite room fragrances or the music you listen to.

And when you’ve finished for the day

Put everything back in its proper place. Get tops reunited with pens, folders filed, laptop in the drawer. This helps you to change gears from work to play.

At Zebra Pen, we think about our personal workspaces as just that – space.

Space to think, to experiment, to create, to challenge, to discover – to be our best selves.

And when you sit down tomorrow to start again, you’ll be able to find everything with your eyes closed! 😉