If you read my bio, you can clearly see that I spend the majority of my life at work sitting in a cubicle.  On average we’re talking about a good 10 hours per day.  You could probably call me an “expert” when it comes to cube-sitting.  So, instead of treating my cubicle like a prison cell, I tend to look at it as my home away from home.  In fact, based on the time I spend in it, I probably should call it my home.

I’ve always been pretty organized.  In fact, I need to be.  So I’ve made a conscious effort to treat my cube with the same respect that I treat my home.  Here are some of the steps that I have taken to make my “work home” as inspiring and livable as possible.

1. Keep it clean!

I don’t know about you but I NEED to have a clean workspace.  Go visit a co-worker who has a hell-hole of a workspace and, chances are, that person is unorganized, disinterested, and probably miserable.  So what I do is every Friday I clean off my desk with a cleaning agent and clear out my keyboard with a cleaning duster of compressed air.  Staying on top of it is the key and I’ve found that once a week works well for me.

2. Get a comfortable chair and keyboard.

Ergonomics, or the applied science of equipment design, has become extremely important in the workplace.  Chances are your company will invest in an ergonomically comfortable chair for you if you ask for one.  They would much rather spring for a new chair than pay disability for lower back pain symptoms and having to hire a temp to do your job at the same time.  The same goes for a new keyboard.  Your company will go out of their way to purchase you a new keyboard in lieu of paying for disability for a worker who develops carpal tunnel syndrome.

3. Surround yourself with words to live by.

If you don’t have a corkboard or a whiteboard buy one!  On the corkboard in my cube are the “Four Agreements” written about by Don Miguel Ruiz that I highlighted in a 4-part series that began with this post (shameless plug).  They are the following:

• Be Impeccable With Your Word.
• Don’t Take Anything Personally.
• Don’t Make Assumptions.
• Always do your best.

You’d be surprised how often I look at these agreements during a typical workday.  What they do for me is give me a constant reminder of how I should conduct myself, not only in the workplace, but in my personal life as well.  I consider these four agreements “best practice” rules in my life.

4. Quotes, quotes, and more quotes.

I find much inspiration in quotes and I actually print them out and attach them to my computer monitor. Some of them are seen below.

“The Truly Educated Never Graduate.”

“Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them.  You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.”

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

“When the power of love overrules the love of power, we will experience peace.”

“The opposite of war isn’t peace.  It’s creation.” (Marc Cohen from the Broadway musical “Rent”)

5. Display your weekly tasks prominently.

Each Monday morning I make a list of tasks I want to accomplish in the upcoming week.  At the same time, I try to prioritize them so I can at least get the more important tasks completed first even if I can’t complete them all.  Once again I print them out and pin them up on my well-utilized “corkboard”.

6. Display your yearly goals prominently.

At my place of employment, our year-end bonus is based on the completion of our yearly goals.  So, you can imagine that it is a priority of mine to complete all of them and to have them VERY visible in my cubicle.  So what I actually do is take the list that my boss and I have come up with for yearly goals and I shrink down that list with our copier to a size that is still readable and can fit directly below my computer monitor.  I just use a piece of tape to attach it.  I don’t even have to look left or right to see my yearly goals.  They are always in my view when looking at my computer screen and this gives me the visibility of the goals that I want and it also lets me focus on them throughout the year.  You’d be surprised how often I glance at that list and how well I can keep up with the list as the year goes on.

7. Buy some cool stuff for the cubicle.

There are now so many cool cubicle accessories like wall clips, mesh grid systems, hanging files, coat hooks, hanging shelves, and desk organizers.  They even sell, to my surprise, a flat panel monitor cubicle hanger.  The list of innovative cubicle accessories is limitless.

8. A pic says a thousand words.

How many times have you gone into a co-workers cube and see dozens of pictures of their kids but you never see a picture of their spouse?  This is a pet peeve of mine so I try to make up for others and include pictures of all of my loved ones.  Also collect pictures from places you have visited, especially while on a business trip.  It will remind you of where you went and it may help you appreciate the fact that your company paid for that trip.

9. Collect artifacts and display them.

I also collect small works of art from anywhere I have visited and try to display them in my cube.  This will help brighten up the dull grey walls with some color and bring back some fun memories at the same time.  I have a co-worker who has a collection of small turtles in her office.  Other workers know about her turtle collection and pick up small ceramic turtles for her on their vacations or work trips.  Speaking of turtles, I had a professor in college who also collected turtles and I asked him why.  He said that he used the turtle as a symbol for his life.  He said that a turtle needs to stick his neck out to get ahead.  He learned early in life he had to take risks to grow personally and professionally.

10. Soothing Sounds.

I need sound during the day while I am working in my cube.  The sounds I tend to listen to are the sounds from streaming sports talk radio.  Others tend to gravitate toward soothing classical or contemporary music, either from their Ipod, streaming radio, or CDs that they brought in from home.  In fact, the most innovative sound that I have seen utilized by someone in a cube is by a co-worker.  He bought a small aquarium with 2 fish and a pump.  He finds the hum and gurgling from the pump to be a soothing effect on his psyche throughout the day.  Even watching the fish swimming in the tank adds a visual effect that adds a positive, pleasing facet to his cube life.

Keeping my “work home” in order is a priority of mine.  With the proper environment, what some might consider a “jail cell”, could become cubicle bliss.

If you have any other practical suggestions for cubicle design and accessories please leave a comment.

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This blog begins on a sunny day on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, MA in the summer of 2009. I was fortunate enough to have been given a house for 10 days in Oak Bluffs, one of the towns on the island, by a dear friend. She obviously has done very well for herself being able to purchase a home as beautiful as this one and has a wonderful life spending her time with family and friends and in her home on this quaint island.

I had been to the Vineyard many times in my life but this is the first time I was able to actually really spend the time exploring and getting to know the type of people that live and work here. We were fortunate to be able to visit the various Farmer’s Markets where fresh fruits, vegetables, and freshly baked goods were sold in the open air at different locations on the island. There are also many craft fairs and flea markets where islanders are able to display and sell their handcrafted wares.  It is at events like these where you really can talk to and get to know some of the people who have taken that chance and tried to make a “unique life” of their own. These are hard-working people who are not content with the status quo, or the “static quo” as I refer to in my site subtitle. They have decided to step up and create the life that they want to live rather than pursuing the typical mode of employment and working for a large company away from the beautiful surroundings that they have on the island.

It is people like these that I want to highlight in this blog. Whether it be tools or techniques that they have used so that they can be successful on their own or simply their stories. Maybe I could focus on who these people looked up to and why they chose to go the route that they did rather than following the crowd. There are so many inspirational stories and speakers out there who can help you find your course so that maybe you too can follow your dream. There are thousands of books and courses out there that can be tools that we can use to help us pursue our dreams. Maybe you are an avid bicyclist and always dreamed of owning your own bike store, or at least working in one rather than slaving behind a desk crunching numbers. Maybe you are a woodworking hobbyist and have dreams of some day opening your own shop and building furniture for your life’s work. And maybe you have ideas that you want to put down in a blog and want to make a “unique life” of your own in this pursuit. There are many stories out there of people who have followed their dreams and turned their dreams into success.

I work for corporate America and one of the largest companies in the world. I have a dream to be independent and to not have to work at a job where I have to answer to others. It isn’t a bad gig, believe me, but it isn’t my dream. Maybe through this blog we can work toward our common goals and discover that maybe with enough belief, creativity, and passion we can all realize our dreams or at least most of them…

Please subscribe to my blog using the RSS link or email updates and follow me on Twitter.