Think your productivity could do with some improvement? You’re certainly not alone. There are a huge number of people looking for ways to increase their productivity every day, but very few of them think to look to their home as a way to do it. Clutter can be a serious hindrance on your efforts at work – and here’s how.

Messy home, messy mind

There is a saying that anyone who can live or work in a messy environment must have a messy head themselves. This often rings true. If you aren’t very organized at home, this could be a symptom of a problem with an organization in your mind. If you’re easily distracted, not great with time management, and often have trouble staying on task, then you now know why. Get control of your home and work out a structure that will keep it neat and tidy – and you’ll find that you learn to control your wandering mind as well. Think about hiring a company to take your clutter away if it’s really bad.

Stress goes up

When you are in a cluttered environment, it’s been proven by scientific studies that your stress levels will also go up. This means that whenever you’re at home, you won’t be able to relax – which could bleed over into feeling stressed at work, too. No matter whether you’re working from home or in the office, that stress and tension will affect your productivity levels. Tidy up, and you will feel like a weight has been taken off your shoulders.

Sleep rate goes down

Are you also having trouble with getting to sleep? How about staying asleep, or waking up in the mornings? Disturbed sleep is also a sign of life in a messy environment, according to research. Apparently, putting all that organization off to another day could be losing your sleep. Since that’s the case, you might as well take an hour to tidy everything up instead of going to bed – you’ll lose an hour of sleep tonight, and gain it all back and more over the next few weeks. The more tired you are, the less productive you are bound to be.

Everything takes time

Your productivity levels at home will be directly affected by the clutter, too. Need to vacuum the house? Be prepared to spend an extra half hour moving things out of the way. Need to find something from last year? Good luck sifting through everything you’ve gathered since then. When you have clutter in the way, you simply can’t be as productive as normal, because everything will take more time.

Daydreaming at work

Finally, you might even find yourself daydreaming at work about when you’re going to clean up or what needs to be done. You could even be sending yourself into visions of a lovely, clean home – the thing your subconscious is telling you it needs. Make sure that you listen to it and clean up, so you can stop daydreaming and get back to work. Your subconscious is filled with things that have a basis in truth, so if you can’t stop thinking about it, you need to just take action and get it over with.

Get your home tidied up, and it’s clear that you will increase your productivity both at home and at work. You’ll also feel healthier and happier, which is a side effect most of us would opt for in an instant. Just take the plunge and see what a difference it makes – and keep the clutter at bay in the future!

Melanie Saunders is a blogger and content manager at 1300 Rubbish – experts in the field of rubbish and junk removal. Personally, a huge fan of sustainability and green living.

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