Moving from traditional stressful workspaces to the generation of a zen workplace may seem utopian, but we should all aspire to it.
Work provides us with many things in life: livelihood, social networking, personal fulfillment, and diverse experiences… However, it can also become an uphill struggle when speed, noise, pressure, or tension define workers’ daily lives.
If this happens, our psychological well-being may also suffer in addition to our livelihood, social network, fulfillment, and experiences. How about turning it down a notch, slowing down, and trying to make work a more peaceful environment? We have outlined 10 tips to help you make your professional life a little more relaxing and create a zen workplace.
Ideas to create a zen workplace
1. Evaluate your work’s true value
It is evident that, whatever we do, our job is important, and we must take it seriously. However, the demands placed on us from the outside – and which we are quick to take on – lead us to constantly function as if everything we do is a matter of life and death or as if the most noteworthy things depend on our rapid, hyper-productive performance.
Believe it or not, this is true for only a handful of jobs. The others are important and must be performed professionally and efficiently, but they do not necessarily require the level of urgency and relevance we often place on them. If we adjust these expectations and assessments well, it will be easier to work in a relaxed manner and create a zen workplace.
2. Recognize your rhythms and momentum
Switching from a stressful job to working in a zen workplace involves several steps. Before carrying them out disorderly, it is good to look around you and spot which aspects of your work and your way of working need to be readjusted.
Observe how your system (mind, body, behavior) works, and notice your accelerated, abrupt or overloaded work style. Looking closely, you may see some of the needs, fears, or “mislearned” beliefs behind this way of working. It is on these that you will have to act.
3. Less is more
Of course, we don’t always have the ability to decide on our task volume, deadlines, or the distractions that come our way that can hinder our performance.
However, whenever possible, be aware that sometimes it’s much more satisfying to do less but more carefully than to produce a lot in a poorer or sloppier way. If you get it right, you will not only lessen the stress of having to do more and more, but you will feel more satisfied with your results.
4. Think less, act more
Not everyone uses the same techniques, and what helps some people relax, lower their heart rate, and improve their mood, others may find indifferent or stressful. So imagine realistically three things that would help you relax and that you could apply right now in your job so that you would be able to create a zen workplace in your way.
They should be things that would help you specifically to regulate your inner state better and to have more peace of mind. If they are within your reach and do not hinder your performance, overcome your laziness and put them into practice.
5. Digital disconnection
Work mustn’t overwhelm us for a proper psychological connection (in mind, emotions, and behavior) outside and inside work. To commit yourself to your tasks 24 hours a day is to devote more time, but it does not mean doing it better.
Your performance needs breaks to be in good condition and have good ideas, just as your organism needs to dedicate itself to other things that have nothing to do with work. Don’t be afraid to close the shutter at the right time so that you don’t become reluctant to work, and you can raise the shutter tomorrow with a better attitude. Exercise your right to digital disconnection, and you will see that your workspace will become more zen.
6. Organize your work properly
If possible, don’t schedule too many meetings, or don’t schedule them at the worst time of the day or on the worst day of the week. If possible, try not to have very long periods with very little work (when you may get bored rather than relax) and moments when tasks pile up and you have to do everything in a rush, leading to a high-stress level. Balance at work always favors a zen workplace.
7. Schedule your time wisely
Structure your working hours, so they serve your health. It is important to organize ourselves as best as possible in our day-to-day work so that we arrive at the office calmly, without rushing, and get down to the task peacefully. Entering work daily with a negative feeling does not help generate a relaxed attitude to work or build a zen workplace.
8. Eat-in peace
Lunchtime is important, and it is worth paying attention to it. Whenever you can, try not to eat quickly, as if you were in a hurry.
Sometimes it is a matter of dedicating ten or fifteen minutes more to this activity: it may seem like a lot of minutes in a predatory work environment where time is money, but remember that we are talking about ten or fifteen minutes. No catastrophe will happen just because you take them to eat like a person.
If you are in the office, try to share that moment with people whose company you enjoy. It is a relaxed moment that contributes to generating a good working environment.
9. Tidiness and cleanliness are key
To create a zen workplace, keep the workspace clean and tidy. If you are at work, especially if you work remotely, you must consider the environment’s influence on your mood and ability to concentrate.
In the office, we have less room for maneuver but, if you work from home, make sure you do it in the most suitable place possible in terms of noise and light. Make sure it is a place without many distractions, clean and at a reasonable temperature, and introduce the elements you consider necessary to make it more comfortable and pleasant.
Whether in person or remotely, make sure that your table is clear, without items that contribute to distraction or clutter, or that generate a feeling of clutter that will not help you focus on what you have to do.
10. Prioritize silence
Everyone knows what distracts them, entertains them, and helps them perform their tasks at work. However, if you want to have a profound (or zen, if you’re going to call it that) experience at work, you cannot find a better ally than silence.
Some people are not used to it because silence paradoxically increases the noise we hear from within. However, silence is the beginning of the connection with oneself and helps us align ourselves with the present moment.
Tailored emotional support for your employees
Ifeel has developed an emotional well-being program for companies, designed by its expert psychologists to help companies improve the employee experience by creating workspaces that contribute to productivity without affecting workers.
This collaboration provides HR managers with personalized, data-driven advice on crucial risk factors for a positive employee experience, fostering employees’ mental health while maintaining good conditions for optimal productivity.
In addition, ifeel’s emotional well-being program for companies provides employees with a mental health care service structured at different levels according to their needs at any given time through ifeel’s app. If continuous help is needed, they can access the third level of the program: online psychological therapy with a psychologist specialized in cases like theirs. They can also receive emotional support by chatting with one of our platform’s licensed psychologists.
We hope this post on creating a zen workplace will help you build a healthier and more pleasant work environment for everyone. Contact us today and ask for more information about ifeel’s emotional well-being program for companies. We will help you to improve and help you. We will help you strengthen your experience as an employee and the people who make up your team.
