Last year I had the pleasure of speaking with Tammy Musiowsky-Borneman of Plan Z Services and co-author of The Minimalist Teacher book about my work space and start up routine. You can checkout the full post on the Plan Z Serivces blog or read the highlights below.

The Interview

Tammy: How do you feel in your workspace? What creates this feeling?

Naomi: It has taken a while, but over time I’ve created a home workspace that helps me feel calm and motivated to work. As an educational consultant, I work from home most of the time. When I wake up in the morning I’m actually excited to go down to my office and get started on my projects and meetings for the day. I have developed a work day startup routine that works for me.

1. Open up the blinds to let in the natural light. (I’m actually prone to headaches so this works much better for me than overhead lights.)

2. Turn on my small lamp with a warm colored bulb to set up my calming atmosphere.

3. Add essential oils into my diffuser and get it going. Usually I go with eucalyptus which helps to energize and invigorate me, but lavender is great when I’m stressed out and need some extra calm.

4. Turn on calming instrumental music. (This is only when I’m not on meetings or facilitating workshops for schools and districts.)

5. Open up my Full Focus Planner to orient myself with the goals, meetings and tasks I have for the day.

6. Finally I log on to my computer and get started!

I have found that setting up this routine with the lighting and the scents helps to signal definitively the start of my work day and helps me to be in the frame of mind in which I can be most productive.

My desk used to be covered in different piles of papers and binders. I have found that when I begin work in the morning with a clutter-free workspace I’m more relaxed and excited about starting. I used to walk in in the morning and was almost immediately frustrated by the piles. It felt like I had more to do than I actually did because of the space I was working in. It definitely took an entire day, maybe more, to initially throw out unnecessary items, file my plethora of papers and put away my supplies. The time investment was definitely worth it though - because now I don’t feel like I’m already starting out my day behind. It feels more like each day is a fresh start to really dig into my work and accomplish my goals.

Tammy: How do you manage the space when you get busy?

Naomi: I am also realizing that unless something makes it into my planner or onto my calendar realistically it isn’t getting done. I just do not remember things that are not written down. So if you are distractible, anxious or forgetful like me, it can be helpful to schedule a time, maybe only 15 minutes, during the week to tidy up your space and reorganize yourself.

Tammy: What tips do you want to share that can help others keep their work areas feeling like a space they actually want to work in?

Naomi: It is easy to overlook things like lighting, sounds, scents in our workspaces. When I think back, I did the same thing in my 3rd grade classroom. I opened the blinds, turned off overhead lights whenever possible, played classical music for my students while they were silently working and scheduled in time for them to tidy their desks and spaces. My advice is to take a moment to consider what lighting helps you be most productive, what scent reinvigorates you or calms you, what music or sounds (if any) help you focus, and what is the best configuration of your belongings on your desk for efficiency.

You can also check out a guest blog that Tammy and Christine Arnold wrote for us on 3 Tips for Adopting a Minimalist Mindset.