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Hack Your Space: Small Changes You Can Make to Increase Your Productivity

Consider all the ways we prepare for work in the morning: we dress, eat breakfast, pack a lunch or plan for meals on the go—all while taking into consideration our agenda for the day. We nourish and clothe ourselves in ways that we think are most likely to help us succeed—and that looks different for everyone. Some folks feel and perform their best when they’re dressed to the nines, even if that means being a touch uncomfortable; others can’t imagine dashing around the office in anything but sneakers.

We do all of this to be better at work, but then we do something strange: we complacently settle into our stifling cubicles or uncomfortable desk chairs without batting an eye. Just because your office space has a computer and is relatively quiet doesn’t mean it has the tools you need to perform well. Our workspace plays an integral role in how we mentally show up—the inspiration to produce out-of-the-box ideas, the capacity to contribute to tough conversations, and even the focus to grind out emails and format spreadsheets all depend on a comfortable and stimulating setting.

At Frontier, we’re passionate about space that’s functional and beautiful. That’s why we’re so eager to share our studio with groups near and far who need to shake things up. There’s nothing quite like watching one of our clients take in Academy’s open garage doors or the East Wing’s unique charm for the first time and sharing in their excitement over how our space can spark ideas for  their team.

At just a year old, Frontier Spaces has so many repeat clients not because our coffee is better than hotel conference room coffee or because we have good snacks, but because clients have seen firsthand the effect our studio has on their team’s processes and collaboration, and they crave the flexibility our space allows.

But we understand that an out-of-office excursion can’t happen every day, so we want to share some of our secrets for reimagining your own space—even if you work from home or are cubicle-confined. The first step? Stop accepting your environment as is. Take charge, get in there, and make it your own. 

After that, here are a few simple recommendations from Mila, our space coordinator, that you can put to use immediately.

Add textiles. Starkness can masquerade as distraction-free cleanliness, but it can also suck the ideas and energy out of the room. Rugs in warm tones with interesting patterns, art, throw pillows—all of these contribute to an environment that stimulates creative thought and vivacity. Slip a rug under your desk or cushion your chair with a throw pillow—abstract patterns in similar tones add warmth and texture without being loud. Or, if you’re able to, suggest swapping out paper towels for bright cotton hand towels in the office restroom; they’re inexpensive, sustainable, and they make washing your hands a more luxurious experience.

Use smell to stimulate. We’ve been told that Frontier has a scent—and we purposefully do. Studies have long shown that certain scents, like peppermint, lavender, and cinnamon, can sharpen mental clarity, improve memory, and even kill germs. Both our basil hand soap and earthy Apothec candles are soothing and consistent—they’ve become a layer of our identity, and we associate their smells with possibility and focus. In your own space, an essential oil diffuser or hand cream in a stimulating scent like lemon or rosemary can have the same effect.

Bring the outside in. The benefits of natural light in the workplace are so numerous and well known that a battle has broken out within larger corporate offices over who gets the window seats. If you’re an unlucky interior shadow-dweller, tame that fluorescent overhead lighting with a desk lamp that isn’t as harsh on tired eyes. Look to plants to boost your mood and promote overall well-being. Fill an empty desk or office corner with green ferns or succulents to soften white walls, lower stress, and purify the air around your workspace.

Curate your walls. A white board with your YTD sales numbers scrawled on it or a print of your company’s corporate headquarters is unlikely to inspire a stroke of genius, and it may be heightening your stress level. Choose a photograph of your favorite vacation landscape or an original print by a local artist you love to give your space color and intentionality.

Even if you have no control over the larger elements of your workspace, making tiny changes like these can incite a shift in the atmosphere and increase your productivity. Take ownership over your space and see what happens. 

Of course, if you’d like to come use our space instead, here’s what you need to know now:

> Your Guide // Mila, Spaces Coordinator > Contact // mila@thefrontierproject.com

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What’s this, you ask? Oh, just Mila (our spaces coordinator) taking a peek at our studio on the cover of Richmond Magazine’s latest issue. The mag used our space to photograph its roundup of People + Places to Watch in 2017. 

Need a creative space for your next project or event? Let us know.  

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Kicked Out and We Love It

A little more than a year ago, we moved to the studio we now call home. By now, you can tell we’re smitten with the space: our meditation lounge is the perfect spot for our team to reset and refocus, our podcast suite is brimming with notable guest stars, and our East Wing made a bold appearance in a much buzzed-about video.

So we count ourselves lucky to have hosted our first-ever whole-building buyout last week. We said goodbye to the space for a day and instead said hello to a national branding team who needed a versatile spot to host their year-end celebration. The group took full advantage, decking out our Chatham Suite, East Wing, and The Academy, as well as tenting the parking lot so they could bring in games and food trucks. We’re beyond thrilled to see how they made our space their own.

(Don’t worry; we’re nomads at heart, happy to pull out our laptops and headphones and work from wherever as needed.)

Think our studio is the right fit for your team? Contact Mila.

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Snoop through our studio

This morning, we put our shop on display for Indoor Street View, a platform that takes the concept of Google Street View and uses it show off the inside of a business.

We’re stoked to have a new way to share our space with clients interested in using Frontier's home for their own meetings and gatherings. The virtual tour gives you a fresh way to peek inside and see which of our spaces (The stately Chatham Suite? The funky, laid-back East Wing? Our bright and airy Academy?) is the perfect fit for your next happening.

Soon, we’ll have the link up and live and ready to share with the world. In the meantime, reach out to Mila (mila@thefrontierproject.com) if you’re ready to get started planning the event to end all events.

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Check out this energetic, funky video produced by our media crew to highlight the many ways our studio is perfect for any event, especially those pivotal to moving your company or organization forward.

Here’s why: Being in the same space every day leads to habitual thinking, ultimately stifling the creativity your organization needs to flourish. To combat this phenomenon, you’ve got to get out of your normal routine and put your team in a new environment. 

Our shop gives you the space to think differently, illuminating the ideas that will grow your business. We’ve got everything you need to energize your team, spark bold conversations, and shake up your strategy. Whether you need an open, inviting space for a large corporate gathering, a stately executive lounge for strategy sessions, or welcoming informal lounges to boost your team’s creativity, we’ve got you covered. 

What are you waiting for? Craft the meeting to end all meetings. Contact Mila Thomas to get started. 

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WHAT INSPIRES YOU

Questions are boomerangs: throw one out and it has a tendency to circle back to you. When we recently produced a short video asking a few of our colleagues what inspires them, the rest of us couldn't help but ponder our own answer to the query.

After traveling to San Diego to work with our micro-finance non-profit client, Accion U.S. Network, and having the privilege of meeting the people they’ve helped become entrepreneurs, I found myself with a new answer to the question: Small business owners.

Why?

Because of the answers they gave to a different question: “What was the tipping point for you to leave your past job and start your own business?” For a majority of people, the answer revolved around the inability to ignore the growing instinct that they were meant to do more.

Discontent with their status quo pushed them to leave the comfort and security of their jobs and follow their instincts — instincts that set them off on a quest to turn their dream into reality. With the help of Accion, these entrepreneurs are shifting from dreamers to doers, from employees to employers.

Small businesses employ about 50% of all private sector workers. There are currently 23 million small businesses in the United States. A testament that though small in size, these entrepreneurs play an integral role in our communities, our economy, and our culture. Along the way producing stories about people bold enough to grit through the ambiguity and adversity of entrepreneurship.

Your turn to answer the question: what inspires you? But before you do, think about your favorite spots in town or the unique places you visit on travel. Chances are, many of them are small businesses. Perhaps they'll be your inspiration too.

-Mila

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3 Ways To Better Manage Your Day

1. Determine Goals 

Ask yourself: What do you want to accomplish? What’s important to your role? What is the organization paying you to do? The goal is to shift your focus to spending the most time on the things that really make a difference to our organizations. Identifying bad habits that sap your efficiency, and looking for ways you might be able to utilize your resources more efficiently.

2. Remove Distractions

Research shows it takes only 3 seconds to get distracted, making any real progress on thoughtful work requires more than 30 minutes, and it takes 15 mins to return to a productive state after an interruption. That means that jockeying email, engaging with notifications, and answering text messages can thwart your efforts toward maximum productivity. Try dedicating 60-90 minute chunks of time throughout the day for distraction-free work and scheduling smaller chunks of time, when brain power is not optimal for tasks like responding to emails or managing your calendar. 

3. Use Your Calendar

You’re more productive when you know what you’re supposed to do and what takes priority. Block your calendar for accomplishing tasks and for the important/non-urgent things (thinking, reading, writing), just as you would a meeting. This allows for: organization, accountability, proper prioritization of tasks, and transparency to your team. Go leaner on the time you allot a task to help you focus in quickly.

- MT, Frontier Academy Facilitator

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Dynamic Leadership

Last week we hosted our Dynamic Leadership workshop in New York City.

This one-day course is designed to help director-level leaders address the unique challenges they and their organizations face by developing a leadership vision and effectively disseminating that vision throughout the organization.

Here is what we talked about:

What are your favorite brands?

Then think about why they are your favorite brands. It probably has something to do with experience, product, craftsmanship, or great service. All these attributes tie back to values as a brand. 

The first step to dynamic leadership is figuring out your values and how they’ll manifest themselves in your leadership.

Vision is crucial.

Could your employees unanimously and without hesitation finish these two statements?:

We believe…

We exist...

Power of the word "and."

Without proper attention, many businesses end up sacrificing their culture for the client. Great leaders, and businesses that are flourishing, are doing an extraordinary job of exceeding client expectations and maintaining a healthy culture.

Move from being abstract to being specific.

Specificity allows you to create a very clear picture of the behaviors that lead to success. Call out those behaviors within your team so that they know when they are or aren't doing things that align with that vision.

Provide feedback.

Specificity is what makes feedback valuable. Talk with each employee about their behaviors and the impact that they had on the team, client, and business.

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Mila, Aaron, and special guest Jason lead the Effective Communication workshop today at the studio. We do it again February 2015 - click here for more.

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5 Ways To Be A Better Leader Today

"The more I learn, the more I know that I don't know much." It's so freeing to adopt that philosophy as a leader and realize leadership is a journey that evolves over time and experience. Its not a destination. You aren't going to wake up one day and say, "well, looks like I made it...I'm a leader."  It takes effort, internal course correcting, and a vision. Easy, right? Leadership styles can and will change. If you have a certain perception as a leader you can work to change that perception if you want to. Several quick and actionable tips to do just that:

1. Write your aspirational leadership descriptors down on a sticky note and have them on your desk so you are looking at them daily.

2. Ask 3 people to list 10 adjectives that describe you and see if they align with your leadership goals.

3. Allow for 30 minutes of weekly reflection for you to assess how your behaviors are stacking up against who you want to be as a leader - yes put 30 min on your calendar so you actually do this.

4. Be a servant leader. You're there to help others and the greater good. Don't be too proud to serve your people and walk alongside of them.

5. Stay inspired. There's no way you can effectively lead and inspire others if you're not inspired yourself. Maintain a work/life balance so you can do the things you love; find people, articles, podcast, books that inspire you and renew your thinking.

Bonus Tip: Find a mentor, a truth-teller, that knows you and has accomplished some of things you're wanting to accomplish. They'll be able to guide you, be a sounding board, and give you tough feedback while also affirming your strengths. 

- KL & MT

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Mila, Frontier Facilitator, explains how to ask your manager for an investment in your professional development.  

Be bold. You're worth it.