12 minute read
THE SUCCESSFUL HOME
from Courage
THE SUCCESSFUL HOME
How Your Home Environment Can Help You Increase Your Focus and Productivity
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MARIANNA BECK
Introduction
I believe your home should be your best and most favourite place to be in this world. A refuge that makes you feel joyful, safe and relaxed. A soulful haven that reflects the true self of you.
Your every day home environment is the essential foundation to your general health and wellbeing - to your body, mind and spirit.
It is not only the physical space that impacts our ability to stay healthy, happy and productive but the whole atmosphere, the vibration and energetic level of a space can influence how we feel, think and behave.
With the recent changes in mind, when many of us had to change the way we work, the influence and impact of our home on us has become even more significant and important. It really cannot be ignored any more.
The good news is that with a little bit of awareness and willingness you can do a lot in order to shape your home the way that benefits and supports you the most.
This short booklet is especially focuses on how you can increase the level of your productivity and focus with the help of your everyday environment.
I hope you will find it useful.
Marianna Beck Holistic Home Designer Unexpected Living
Basic Design Psychology
You might heard about the Maslow Pyramid or in other words the Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
It is a theory of motivation which states that five categories of human needs dictate the behaviour of any individual. The two bottom categories contain all those essential basic needs that we, humans need in order to biologically survive: the physiological needs and the needs of safety and security.
If you think in terms of your home you will realise that your home plays a huge role in providing and supporting those basic needs. As a matter of fact, it can and should provide and support of all the five categories of needs - your home as a whole, and each room within your home with their own role related to each category.
This alone clearly indicates how important your home is in creating a happy, healthy, successful life for you and for those you live with.
Set Your Home for Success
Your home has a profound affect on your success - either you work away or from home. Obviously, the influence is bigger in case of the latter as you spend significantly more time at home.
If you are a professional, career-minded person wanting to thrive in your profession, in your career or in your business then you know the right mindset is the first stepping stone to achieve success. It is the basis of everything.
But can you thrive, perform and achieve high in your career without thriving in your personal life? For a while for sure. But in the long run sooner or later you will start feeling stuck, unmotivated, unproductive and unhappy.
There are lots of aspects of a thriving personal life - and certainly one of them is the state of your home - whether it supports you in your daily life or rather obstructs you. Whether it recharges and fills you up with energy or it depletes and drags you down. Whether it helps you stay focused on the important issues or it distracts you. Whether it puts you in the right mindset or deprives you from it.
In the next two sections we will focus on the two main areas / rooms of your home that have the most to do with you staying on top of your game in the professional or entrepreneurial world:
1. Your Home Office
2. Your Bedroom
Your Home Office
The space of a successful professional person looks and feels organised, focused and powerful. It is a space that helps you shift your mind from 'casual' to 'professional' and stay focused, motivated and productive while working. In other words: it puts you in the right mindset so you can achieve all the goals you have set out for yourself.
It is crucial to establish some permanent work space that is clearly your work territory (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/single-post/working-from-home-the-new-normal), let it be a proper office room or just a small desk in the corner of a room. The kitchen or the dining table will not do it, at least not in the long run - you will find that you concentration, creativity and productivity will suffer as - either you are aware of it or not - your mind associates those places with different kind of activities, like cooking, eating, socialising, etc.
Consider choosing design elements - colours, furniture, decorative objects, office supplies - that reflect your sense of success, even if it is just a future, desired success, ones that inspire and motivate you to stay focused on the goals you are working towards. It is like the advice of 'dress for the job you want' - your workspace too should give off the feeling that you are successful, focused and professional.
This especially applies if you work with clients in your home office.
A home office that reflects and reinforces a sense of self-assurance will make you feel great about your work, your success and achievements in life and that will further fuel your focus and productivity.
Your Bedroom
Sleeping is a biological must. Without enough quantity and quality sleep we just simply cannot function and survive. When we are rested we feel more energetic, positive, more capable so we can focus better and accomplish more. Although we can rest and snooze off several times a day in different spaces, it is the bedroom where real quality sleep happens. So creating a bedroom that allows for deep, restorative sleep is essential for the sake of your physical and mental health.
Although there are different personal preferences in our need of having a good night sleep, it seems that there are some 'biological basics' we all need in order to wake up refreshed in the morning.
Ideally your bedroom should be a calm, clear, quiet, clutter-free and serene space (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/single-post/how-to-declutter-your-bedroom).
We tend to sleep better in a dark room as our body and mind are designed to link darkness to rest and sleep time. Proper soundproofing is also essential. Choose carefully the colours and the materials. Vibrant, strong colours, heavy patterns and rough fabrics are not the most desirable elements of a restful bedroom.
Also choose carefully what you let into your bedroom not only physically but emotionally and mentally as well. Do not let it become a space that your brain associates with daytime activities or a space of anxiety, stress and argument.
Leave all electronic devices and gadgets out of the bedroom. Those items just stimulate your brain keeping you alert and awake at a time when your brain should wind down and steer you towards falling into sleep.
There are two further important 'issues' that need to be addressed: working from bed and clutter. We all are guilty of working from our bed - while it is ok if it happens occasionally, when it becomes a daily habit it can cause lots of problems in different areas of your life.
Similarly, we all do have some amount of unused and unwanted items in our home and we all have a different level of tolerance for clutter. But when it reaches a certain point it can be a source of lots of trouble affecting your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
Working From Bed
Our subconscious is conditioned in a way that it associates the bedroom with sleep time. When we use our bedroom and our bed for daytime activities, like working, watching TV, etc., this mental link starts to break down and our brain creates a new association between the bedroom / being in bed and wakefulness. This will hinder your ability to fall asleep in the evening as, even though your body feels tired, your brain 'thinks' it is daytime and it stays active and alert. In order to have a good and restorative sleep your bed needs to be a cue for sleep, and working in bed will not give this cue to your brain.
Sooner or later you will find yourself in a trap that will result in decreased focus and productivity as you will wake up feeling sluggish, moody and 'broken'.
There are other aspects of your life that can be negatively affected if working from bed becomes a daily habit of yours: posture problems, hygiene problems, even relationship problems.
You can read more about this mental link and how to break the cycle here (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/single-post/why-is-it-bad-for-you-to-work-from-bed).
Clutter
Clutter has a great deal of impact on our general health and wellbeing affecting every aspect of our life. Each individual defines clutter differently as each of us has a different sensitiveness to it - some studies even say that the right amount of clutter can actually boost your productivity and creativity. Yet, there is a level and presence of clutter when it becomes a burden.
The physical burden is evident - your space is full of with stuff. It is the mental and emotional burden that can too often go unnoticed as its effect is not so tangible. But your subconscious will still engage with it by constantly bombarding your mind with visual and mental stimuli of the 'unfinished business', thus distracting you from what your focus should be on. You will feel anxious, distracted, disorganised, even guilty and ashamed. And this kind of mental state inhibits creativity and productivity.
As a matter of fact, it is the workspace and the bedroom that are more prone to get cluttered than other rooms. So if you are a career-driven and health-conscious person you better start paying attention to how much clutter you accumulate and make it a habit to get rid of it from time to time.
If you want to learn more about the effect of a cluttered home on your life and find permanent solutions to eliminate it you can find more information here (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/designyourspace-designyourlife/tags/decluttering).
Questionnaire
A few questions you might want to consider:
• How does your home make you feel about yourself and your life in general
• How do you want your home make you feel about yourself and your life? What kind of supports do you need from your home?
• Do you feel that you are in control of the circumstances of your home?
• When you look around in your home do you see the reflection of a confident, self-assured and successful person?
• In what ways do you think your home can help you feel more productive and successful?
• Do you have your own, separate workspace if you work from home? If not, what can be done to establish it? If yes, how does it make you feel?
• Do you find it easy to get down to work or are you struggling with it? Do you feel inspired, motivated, efficient and focused while working? If not what do you think the reasons can be and how you could change them?
• When you walk into your bedroom how does it make you feel?
• Is there anything you would like to change or improve regarding the design of your bedroom?
• Do you usually get a good night sleep? What is your usual sleep pattern? Does your sleep pattern feel healthy and supportive when it comes to focus and productiveness?
• What can you change in order to improve the quality of your sleep? In your bedroom? Regarding your habits?
• How cluttered is your home? Does it bother you?
• Do you consider yourself organised and tidy in relation of your home?
• Do you do decluttering? If you think of it how does it make you feel?
About Me
Thank your for taking the interest and reading through this booklet.
I hold the vision of creating better life and home environment for people through holistic interior design with the broader aim of lessening the environmental burden of our gorgeous planet.
My mission is to help as many people like you as possible to live their best life in a beautiful, happy and healthy home and teach them how we can use design to positively influence and support ourselves and our environment.
Let me help you achieve that happy and healthy home.
How I Can Help
My holistic design approach and practice incorporates the principles and methods of design and environmental psychology, biophilic design, mindfulness and simple living going way beyond the traditional elements of interior design.
It is creating spaces where you can thrive, where your personality shines through nurturing your body, mind and soul.
I offer different design solutions (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/services) depending on your needs: • Design Psychology Coaching • Interior Design and Styling • Space Revival • Colour Consultancy • Home Staging • Online Courses and Resources
My focus is on delivering a great and exceptional outcome where both your needs and visions are met and there is something extraordinary added to the final result.
Most of my services are available both online and on-site.
How I Can Help You More
What You Can Do You can contact me (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/contact) and ask a question. You can book a 15 minute long free discovery call (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/contact).
You can go for an hour long informal chat and Ask Me Anything (https://www.unexpectedliving.com/get-started-here) related to your design problems.
You can explore your options as to how I can help you through my services.
Or maybe you feel you would like to get to know me a bit better. To make sure I am the right person for you. Read my story on becoming a holistic home designer.
Home Harmony Starter Kit
And do not forget to download your free gift, the Home Harmony Starter Kit.
This 20 page-long booklet will help you identify the physical and emotional weak points of your everyday environment so you can feel more aware of your needs, likes and dislikes and how they impact your general wellbeing. Also it will give you simple and easy tips to feel more connected and grounded to your home and to get clear about your ideal home and life.
It includes: A questionnaire with 20 questions to assess the 'hotspots' Five 'quick fix' tips to create a happy and healthy environment Three easy steps to get clear about your ideal home and life
Download Your Copy Here
https://www.unexpectedliving.com/get-started-here
Contact
Web: www.unexpectedliving.com Facebook: @unexpectedliving.mariannabeck Insta: @unexpectedliving.mariannabeck Pinterest: @unexpectedlivin
Thank you for your interest. I am looking forward to helping you transform your home and life.
