My office is in a converted loft in our home. I have the entire roof area as a workspace, which helps with focus and separating my working time from family and personal time. My loft office (“lofftice”) gets really warm on most days, and particularly warm during the Summer months. Thus begins the deep scientific experiment of when to open the windows, which window to open at which time of the day, whether to leave the window blinds closed or to open them. This is a daily ongoing set of decisions.
My desk faces one of the two windows in the loft. When this particular window is open, I hear noise from the road, which is disruptive to my focus during the first part of my day.
Yesterday, I decided to go all-in, and open both windows.
I noticed a difference, instantly. While yes, the road noise is present, I also have a cool breeze from having both windows open. I get to see the tops of the trees outside (being higher up than usual, in a loft), and get to hear the birdsong from the families of birds nesting in the treetops.
Most of all, I gain a shift in perspective. What I hadn’t realised is how keeping this particular window closed was affecting my mood. While focus was on point (no distractions), my mood slowly became somewhat “gray” or “neutral”. Opening this window instantly lifted my mood, and even contributed to additional focus and inspiration. The road noise and birdsong combination transforms road noise into an equivalent of coffee shop background noise, which I find pleasant to work to. This shift in perspective has contributed significantly to my day, and it has only been a short time.
Sometimes, all we need is to open a window.
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