Why changing your location boosts your productivity (and how to do it at the HEP)
We’ve already discussed how to choose the right office space for your business and looked at interior design trends to help you kit it out – but what about actually getting down to work?
If you have any experience with working in an office environment, there is a good chance that at some point in time you will have experienced a post-lunch slump, hit a mental wall or lost motivation – often just as an important deadline is approaching.
It’s true that we can’t all be productive 100% of the time, and it can be unhealthy to try to be. However, there has been a lot of research conducted into what triggers can help to motivate our minds and boost our output – and what’s one of the biggest factors? Changing your environment!
We have probably all seen people working in coffee shops, in parks and so on, but not as many of us will have given it a try.
Read on to understand three reasons why packing up your laptop or notebook and shipping out to somewhere new could help you break through your next roadblock – and find out how you can do it at the Humber Enterprise Park.
Novelty value is a real thing
Getting into a routine is often seen as a good thing. You may see yourself as a person who thrives on routine, and there are many contexts – such as exercising or cooking – where it can help to improve your health and wellbeing.
However, if you’re stuck in a rut at your desk, science argues that it’s time to break out. That’s because novelty value is proven to be a real thing – the ‘shiny-object’ appeal helps your brain to release the feel-good chemical dopamine, which is closely linked with motivation.
The brain constantly seeks out what’s new and exciting, and in doing so, seeks reward too. In the context of working in a new location, the novel stiumuli is your new environment, and the feel-good factor of ticking off your to-do list is your prize.
By getting a little too familiar with your working environment, you’re reducing the amount of new stimuli being fed to your brain. Head somewhere new and reap the rewards your brain is seeking.
Breaking routine can break bad habits too
As much as routine can be comforting, that comfort can often be harmful in the long-run. The extra biscuit with the brew, the longer lay-in, the extra five minutes on social media after lunch – it’s all too easy to develop habits that harm your health or your productivity.
But all is not lost. It turns out that your brain connects environments with specific situations, which is important in habit formation. Once we associate our workspace with our bad habits, it can be difficult to resist them, but on the flipside, moving to new surroundings can help to inspire new ones.
By doing so, you’ll begin to associate that new place with increased productivity, improving your chances of repeating the process. Don’t always go to your happy place – go to your healthy habit place.
Your intentions are often enough
You may begin to wonder if it’s your new environment that’s driving your increased output, or simply your positive intentions in going there in the first place. It’s actually both.
Switching up your surroundings does impact your brain and your level of motivation for the two reasons discussed above. However, heading out with the sentiment of ‘I’m going there to get a lot of work done’ can go a long way to helping you do just that.
How to do it at the Humber Enterprise Park
As well as being amongst the most cost-effective in East Yorkshire, our modern office spaces offer the kind of flexibility that could be the key to unlocking your ideal workflow.
You can set your space up how you choose, whether that’s installing separate seating areas or partitioning designated quiet zones. There’s also a range of existing indoor and outdoor breakout spaces, and our location on the banks of the Humber could provide the peace and quiet your brain is craving.
And if you’re looking for a place to work over some nourishment, the coffee shops, pubs and cafes of Brough are all within comfortable walking distance.
Take a 360 degree virtual tour of one of our available office spaces and see if you can scope out where would best suit your working style!
