Whenever offices are reorganized, most workers view the process as nothing else but a nuisance interrupting their daily work and for what exactly? They’re not really sure. Design firms and experts have long discussed the benefits of changing up work environments, claiming that when people are able to circulate freely and had more opportunities to engage with different sets of coworkers, they become more communicative, collaborative, and creative.

Even world-famous managers believe so too; when Steve Jobs was designing the new headquarters for Pixar, he designated large central bathrooms in the building’s atrium, rendering employees to walk a couple of distances to use them creating unplanned “collisions” that would later on spark innovations. Several studies have backed it up but the financial return rate of such investment had been hard to prove – until recently.

A professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Sunkee Lee, came across a “natural experiment” within a large South Korean e-commerce company that was moving into a new office. In their old building, six Merchandising teams tasked with sourcing and marketing flash deals for various products were seated in one area while six other merchandising team sat in another, separated by a common entrance. And though the company wanted both groups to be in one location altogether, space constraints would render nine of them to be in one open area and three in another with a common entrance between them. Both areas are identical in terms of its decoration, lighting, equipment, distance between teams and their respective workstations, as well as proximity to management – there’s no denying that it was pretty similar with those of the old headquarters and employees had no choice where they would sit.

Lee looked at over 38, 435 deals done by 60 merchandisers over 200 days – 120 days before the big move and 80 days after – and found that those merchandisers in the area that contained more teams sourced over 25% more deals from new suppliers, on average, than all merchandisers had sourced before the reorganization. The thing was, the deals didn’t come from collaboration, they were a mark of change in the quality of the employees’ work. Lee identifies the change as a shift away from “exploitation” or the repetition of offers to “exploration” – the formulation of new ideas. More importantly, the daily deal revenue of each employee sitting with a previously unknown colleagues was 40% higher, on average, than that of their average prior to the move.

The aforementioned increase in creativity and the jump to exploratory ideas was statistically significant for those whose experience sourcing deals within the organization. They were above the median and had no social ties to most of the members of their new workspace. Lee explains that once a person learns enough about the area they specialize in, exposure to new peers would help them enhance their creativity. He adds that physical proximity promotes trust and the exchange of knowledge between new colleagues.

In addition to this, the change of surrounding seemed to boost the employees’ performance compared to the other switches the company has made. Moreover, the effect brought upon by the relocation was quick.

Sunkee Lee’s study is one of the first to use a before-and-after setup to examine how a change in a office seating arrangement affects individual innovation and sales performance. But it became part of a long line of research suggesting that where we seat can do significant effects on how they work together. Another prominent example of this is MIT professor Thomas Allen’s study on communication among engineer in the R&D facility of a multinational company during the 1970s. His finding, popularly known as the Allen curve, shows the dramatic drop in dialogues between employees who sit apart. Though most of the earlier research focused on businesses, the aforementioned phenomenon happens in other arenas too. A 2015 study said that members of the US Senate who will sit in close proximity with one another are likely to support each other’s legislation, regardless of their party affiliations.

And though majority of today’s organizations have left closed-door offices behind in exchange for open spaces for communal workspaces, few have gone as far as routinely changing office seating arrangements. Lee still suggests that such interventions is of big help to organizations who live by knowledge sharing and innovation.

And in any case you want some help in keeping things fresh, hit us up!

There was a time in our life when our idea of learning stuck within the four walls of the classroom and though the adults around us would always tell us for the rest of the duration of our younger years that it doesn’t necessarily end where school stops, it will take us a while to realize that they’re actually right.

In our lifetime, there’s a large chance that we would come across people or certain individuals that just love to learn. Acquaintances that would take up another course right after their first ones or workmates who are earnestly working hard to pay for their master’s degree and then there’s that one person whose education doesn’t rely on the traditional method.

They’re the ones we call lifelong learners – people who crave for knowledge that they can apply in real life, day by day. They would read books depending on whatever they are going through at the moment with the idea that it would help them come up new solutions to their current problems. They would use today’s technology to learn new things through different courses found both online and offline and they are always out to find more opportunities to grow – these are lifelong learners, individuals with an everlasting yearning for edification. Some are born with this kind of hunger, while there are some that develop it as they engage themselves with new ways to earn knowledge.

It may seem extensive to a large majority of us but it’s quite the investment, bringing to the table more than what is being asked from us.

Medically speaking, aside from its grey matter, the brain contains muscle – that like any other muscle, needs to be exercised for it to be stronger. But aside from this obvious advantage, it carries with it helping hands in other fields.

According to a study on the benefits of lifelong learning from the year 2012, the aforementioned habit helps sharpen the mind, increases confidence, enhances interpersonal skills, expands career opportunities as well as impacts that ability to effectively communicate with other individuals.

Whenever we learn, we develop our knowledge base – breaking old patterns or routines and resulting to an increased confidence in creating. It rids us of the feeling of complacency and in turn pushes to enhance our skills as well as add more to our metaphorical tool box. In addition to this, it’s also good for our health. Though admittedly, it may not cure critical diseases like Alzheimer’s, it still helps in slowing down its progression. Something as small as reading for a short period of time everyday can also alleviate stress levels.

But in order to become a student of life, you must train your brain to have a constant yearning for new things to learn.

Whenever we kick start a new habit and easily notice changes, the more we are prone to doing it again and again. So in order for our brains to have an everlasting yearning for learning, we must train it.

Start by creating an objective for your learning. Say for example, your objective maybe to develop a new skill or to reduce your stress levels. After doing so, start small by setting up a 15-minute read two to three times per week – this method is applicable for those who aren’t naturally keen on learning. It helps to break down information into bite sized pieces so they won’t have a hard time sticking to the habit. And lastly, make it fun. Learning doesn’t have to be a chore, you have every opportunity to make it more engaging like turning it into a game.

The world can be your greatest teacher – and not just academically speaking. When you stick by the right group of people, they can educate you on different fields, including life itself. And if you’re looking for a community filled to the brim with students of life, look no further. Just talk to us today and we’ll introduce you to them!

Known as the ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals, Willpower is often seen as the secret to success. A large majority of the public believes that with more self-control, they can easily improve their lives.

It allows people to make better decisions and stick with them until they’ve achieved their goals. With its help, we delay gratification – a hardwired need for us humans.

With research and first-hand experience backing it up, it comes as no surprise that we believe it’s the secret ingredient to success. But the question is, in this modern time, is it still an important element to reaching our goals?

During ancient times, our kind relied on natural instincts to survive. But as civilization evolved, our ancestors wanted to put things in order. Rules were created to be followed and only by following them will a person get what they want, and survive modern society. Because of this, we made self-discipline a virtue.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, a marshmallow experiment made us believe that it leads to success. Lead by psychologist Walter Mischel, the Stanford marshmallow experiment was a series of studies conducted on delayed gratification. It was simple but it revealed a lot about what willpower can do. Children who participated in the aforementioned experiment were given a choice between immediately being able to eat one piece of marshmallow and waiting for twenty minutes to eat two marshmallows.

Results showed that those who were able to wait fared better in life than those who took the easy route. It pioneered the studies on willpower and experts began to put more emphasis on its benefits.

Nowadays, it’s fair to say that it controls a lot of what we do for we see it as a detrimental factor in reaching our goals. Trainings on developing better willpower became big business as well as countless workshops and seminars.

Despite of the hype it gained, it carries a series of limitations that not a lot of people know about.

Willpower is similar to a muscle – when overused, it gets tired. The fact remains that it still has its limits and on top of this, other factors such as emotional state, physical well-being, and our own tendencies of reflecting our past mistakes hinders us from making the most out of it. Yet despite of its restraint, there’s a way for us to easily navigate ourselves around it.

The realization that willpower has its limitations is the first key to succeeding with limited drive. After doing so, one must create a system that will support them in reaching their goals and drams. Without a personal success system, it defeats the purpose of determination.

A personal success system is one that formulates the right conditions within your mind and environment in order to help you make a surefire outcome. With this in place, willpower becomes this extra helping hand as you reach your goals. Should your drive fall short, with the right system, you’ll remain walking in right path to achievement. Here are the essentials in creating a success system of your own:

Take some time to reflect what truly makes you happy – it’s important that we know what motivates us so that when the time comes and our willpower falters during our darkest days, we can easily retreat to simple things that make us happy to uplift us and motivate us once again.

Willpower on its own doesn’t place any emphasis on what needs to be changed in your environment, but instead, puts its focus on overcoming its disadvantages. So it comes as no surprise that the moment it fails us, we succumb to environmental influences no matter how much we resist them.

As humans, we are influenced by our surroundings – consciously or not. From what we see in the news, the stories we hear from our friends and even our homes as well as workplaces.

So for us to have a smooth journey towards success, we must create an environment that actually helps us in reaching our goals. For one, if you want to concentrate better, move to a much more secluded room. Other than that, it can also directly support your career. A perfect example is by joining coworking spaces and experience being a part of a community of like-minded professionals.

Several freelancers and digital nomads alike flock these shared offices for its sustainable work environment. Its wide range of work areas allows them to choose where they want to work and when to work. Moreover, its great community of members allows them to learn new things and gives them the opportunity to further expand their network – supporting the goals of its members.

It’s high time that we face the facts: “willpower is not the be all and end all” of our careers. Though it remains as a basic component of success, having a system that can back you up the moment it fails you is also important.

Talk to us today and we’ll help you build the system you need to reach your dream.