In 2007 Joan Meyers-Levy, a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room’s ceiling affects how people think. She randomly assigned 100 people to a room with either an eight– or 10-foot ceiling and asked participants to group sports from a 10-item list into categories of their own choice. The people who completed the task in the room with taller ceilings came up with more abstract categories, such as “challenging” sports or sports they would like to play, than did those in rooms with shorter ceilings, who offered more concrete groupings, such as the number of participants on a team.

via ouno.

Having a comfortable office that is conducive to work is essential in order to keep your working hours pleasant and productive.

This holds true to any type of office.

via DesignM.ag.

Although many people working from home enjoy the freedom and convenience, it is much easier to be lazy outside of a work environment. The flexibility of working at home gives you the potential to be far more productive, but it can be a huge waste of time if you aren’t smart about it.

via Twenty Ways to Stay Productive When Working at Home.

You want to be focusing on the task at hand and your mind can’t do that surrounded by chaos, especially if you’re a man. Sorry chaps but our brains are wired up so that we can only truly focus on one thing at a time.

via 6 Aliens.

When my girlfriend gets home I know it’s time to leave the study, because I’ve had all day to get work done and now it’s time to relax, and my relaxing is part of what helps her unwind too. So try to resist the urge to say, “Just another half hour and I’ll be done this.” When it’s time to clock out, do just that and treat yourself to a good dinner and a few hours relaxing on the couch watching TV.

Really great tips here recommend you take the time to read them.

via Pixelborne Web Design.

I could not agree more, take a minute and read this post. A great look at why working in an office goes against being productive.

via Minimal.

I usually go over my things once a month. The first time I threw away a lot of stuff, but as I continued doing this in the months to follow I threw less and less. I did this yesterday and I was very happy to see that I only threw away one sheet of paper (I shredded it). I got to the point that all the items I have in my office are only those needed to do my job.

Some great tips in this post for keeping your desk minimal. I highly recommend following these.

via Minimal.

That’s not to say unhappy workers don’t have valid complaints. One thing you don’t want to do, however, is let your feelings boil over at work.

The job market is tough right now, and I know a lot of people are hating their jobs but feel stuck. This is for those people.

via HarvardBusiness.org.

This is a really interesting post, how he was able to be far more creative while he was on vacation. He attributes the reasons to this outpouring as lack of computer (and phones) as well as the perfect work environment.

via LifeDev.

I suggest you try this out right now. Find a place within your home or outdoors that does not have any source of information. One great place is your backyard. Take this time to listen to your body. Even if it is for 5 minutes, that time will allow you to refocus your thoughts on your goals and minimalize the outside force pushing you in whatever direction it chooses.

Sage advice.

via Ignoring the Noise.