We enjoy hearing young people’s tips and suggestions on how to make your everyday life more positive! In the theme of World Wellbeing Week, we wanted to highlight a blog by Jola Coker on promoting positive well-being in the workplace.

Hi, my name is Jola Coker, I’m fifteen and a previous Jack Petchey Achievement Award winner! 🎉 In this blog I’m going to be talking about how to maintain positivity and creativity in the workplace because we can’t all run on four cups of coffee and deadline dread, but also because I think it’s important that we retain our individuality and not fall into the trap of being the run-of-the-mill employee or apprentice. in other words, it’s all about how to be creative at work. I mean, who wants to be boring?

So, first, what does positivity or creativity at work mean? Well, to answer that question, let’s take a look at the attitudes in the workplace. You learn at school what employers and bosses look for in future employees. Of course, they’d expect you to have all the qualifications you need for the job, which is already indicative of some hard work. Then you have to be very specific about what qualities and interests you have that’d be relevant to said job. To give yourself even more leverage you’d have to think ahead and get yourself involved in hobbies, extracurricular and leadership roles so that you ultimately have that edge against other applicants.

That’s a lot the ordinary young person has to do to get the ball rolling, don’t you think? Before you even start your journey, pat yourself on the back ☺️. It takes time to assemble such a strong reputation and CV, putting your best foot forward. A step towards positivity is to be proud of what you’ve already achieved!

Now, you’ve had a long hard journey to get to where you are, face palming about the amount of work you have to get on with in your tiny square office space. It feels like you have no stimulation. Whatever you do though, don’t fret. Positivity at work is many things, a major one of them being the perfect working environment.

Something as small as decorating your workspace (within limitations, of course) can do wonders for the atmosphere! Whether it be a bunch of posters of your fave band, a few inspirational quotes, some lovely photo frames or even an office plant- all of these cultivate a refreshing environment.

To organise a bit more, you can try having fun colour-coding and labelling your folders – unless you’re a perfectionist like me! 🫢. Lighting, temperature and noise levels are also crucial, make sure you have enough of each to stay motivated. Music is always a great way to zero in on the tasks ahead too! 🎶 When you’ve got that, you can set the productive stage for brainstorming your wonderful ideas in a comfortable setting.

However, even with all this new change of decor, it’s easy to lose yourself in your work and get stressed or overwhelmed, which is why it’s really important to take a step back when needed. Remember to take breaks from tackling your workload, not just your lunch hour. Be present, remember you’re only human and would need a few energy drinks to last the night! There’s meditation and nature’s always waiting for you just like one of your favourite fictional worlds. Set alarms if you forget, work is easier to deal with in chunks.

I think now is a good time to look at the workplace more holistically. Another factor that’s key to positivity is the people around you 🤼. Teamwork is vital to every workplace and therefore it’s important to find a balance. It’s obviously not ideal to have a fixed negative outlook on things but it’s not always good to shower every situation with positivity either because then you don’t consider real risks and disadvantages for you team. It’s a great quality to be realistic so that you’d nurture a truly positive environment! You should also acknowledge and celebrate the little milestones so that whenever you’re between a rock and a hard place you have a pile of small achievements that add up to make you feel really good about the work you’ve accomplished.

Good leadership is to help push your team to their full potential to help reach that extra mile.  Make sure to use positive and inspiring language to help encourage your team and building a strong work ethic 💪. Alongside that, you should always treat all your colleagues with empathy and kindness. A little kindness goes a long way! 💕 Behind every worker is someone like you with their own individuality so why not be the first to encourage it? Now, this sounds like the dream workplace. And you can make it happen!

All you need to remember is to:

Make your workspace a “you” space
Take time away from your piles!
And be the ultimate team player. You got this ✔️

Do you have some tips on how to be positive and creative ? Email our PR department today at pr@jackpetchey.org.uk and we can get you started writing blogs for our website!

Share this post now!