It’s time to make New Year’s Resolutions, and we can probably guess what’s on your list. The top resolutions in the U.S. for many years now have been to get organized and to improve health by giving up smoking, losing weight, or getting more exercise. Saving money, getting out of debt, and spending more time with the family are creeping up the list of popular resolutions, too.
How about some resolutions for your office?
First, you can adapt those basic resolutions to suit the office environment. For example, you can save money for your company by choosing used office furniture this year. You can customize your cubicles to provide a healthier workplace (maybe add the standing desk envisioned by the designer of the famed Herman Miller Ethospace line?). Refill the office candy jar with good resolutions or with healthy snacks like almonds.
Make your office a no-smoking zone, if you (or your city) haven’t already, and put the money you save on cigarettes towards paying off that credit card. Buddy up with a co-worker for a lunchtime walk or make a habit of climbing stairs instead of taking the elevator.
All these ideas will help you fulfill your resolutions if you’re making the typical promises to yourself. We have some other suggestions, though, especially for your office life:
- Look away from your computer screen and refocus your eyes every twenty minutes to reduce eyestrain.
- Better yet, get up and move around. If that’s impossible, do some stretches at your desk — triceps dips and push ups against the desk, even. Not only is a little added movement better for your health, it will also keep you from getting stressed and snapping at people.
- Remember that people around you can hear you. Especially in cubicles, it’s easy to forget that there are people within earshot — until after you say something indiscreet or start mindlessly humming. Arranging your cubicles with the flow of sound in mind helps with this one. Talk with EthoSource designers when you plan your space and make sure that people who must make phone calls or hold meetings, for example, have the right configuration for it.
- Clean up your workspace. Add shelves or file drawers if you need them, and then build five minutes into the end of each day to clear up. You’ll start the day feeling calmer and more in control.
- Have more fun! We hope you love your job so much that just going to work every day is fun. Even so, build a little fun into your day. Could your office use a fantasy football league or a professional development book group? Even just bringing in a cartoon or article you think someone would enjoy can up the fun quotient. And hey — carry it over to your coworker, okay? Movement and human contact are good for you!