Are you sitting comfortably in your ergonomic chair, fingers gliding over the keys of your form-fitted, LED lit keyboard? 

Are you standing at your desk, a cup of steaming black coffee in hand, pondering life’s intricacies as you scroll through the day’s tasks? 

Or are you pondering on the sofa, one leg flung over the top, papers strewn about the floor, wondering how, at 8AM, you got soup on your shirt? 

La Mesa is a design firm based in Dubai, but we’re also 100% remote and we’d like to welcome you to the growing home office family! Wherever you may find yourself, you’re a thriving member of a rapidly increasing global workforce that works remotely! 

And we’d like to know what makes you thrive?

The perfect home working conditions aren’t necessarily something you may think about too often, for any number of reasons. However, a wizened sage named Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And why shouldn’t that pertain to your home office? Stop and look around the room where you spend most of your days. What makes it successful? What doesn’t? How can your surroundings benefit you?

People still refer to the art of feng shui with an almost religious reverence when organizing a space. The flow! The balance! The mismatched floor tiles!! And, while you don’t have to get that involved, at the very least, why not think about how you can turn your workspace into a proper extension of the facets of your personality that are most stimulated when you’ve gotta buckle down and get to work? 

That could mean any number of things, depending on how you work. 

Some of us absolutely need cleanliness and meticulously maintained order to feel fully focused in our work, while others may feel more comfortable surrounded by inspired clutter. 

That’s right, we said it! Some people thrive on “inspired clutter,” and you might secretly be one of them (gasp!)  

By “clutter,” we’re not talking about dirty socks on the floor and the cat’s litter box crumbs everywhere. Inspired clutter means surrounding oneself with things that motivate the mind to move in directions it wouldn’t if were your office more rigidly ordered.

Something like this! Homey, no?

Additionally, this cluttered workspace might be even more helpful to those in a creative-adjacent field, like graphic design and branding!  Colorful art books on nearby shelves, paintings and prints hung everywhere, and a general sense of readily available inspiration for the taking, all serving as constant reminders to not take time, or yourself, for granted.

Clutter can mean care. 

Again, that’s not to say a well-manicured home office isn’t something to be enjoyed and savored. Heavens no! Many more of us thrive on structure, even that of our own making. We require a little starching and pressing if we are to successfully engage with work at home. For some, the potential for distraction is a slippery slope that can lead to wandering off, shirking work and ignoring responsibility.

All we’re saying is consider the clutter. 

Moreover, for those who thrive on color and busyness, the “maximalists” among you, there is nothing better than more of everything. For you, Oscar Wilde said it best: “Nothing succeeds like excess.” Surrounding yourself with positive objects of interest is similar to eating a bowlful of grapes. You could stop, but they’re delicious and good for you, so why not have one, two or ten more?

How is your home office laid out? Have you had time to make it your own? Are you thriving?

Since work is where most of us spend a majority of our days, why not make sure your workspace is a reflection of yourself? Why not be comfortable and inspired? You don’t have to go big all at once. You can take all the time you need. 

That’s the beauty of the home office, and remote work!