SETTING UP YOUR WORKSPACE- A DESIGNERS PERSPECTIVE

People's surroundings can impact their emotional state. As designers it is our goal to help to create an environment that can influence one’s well being on a daily basis with a workspace that is reflective of personality and purpose. The first thing we do when we meet with a new client is to listen and really understand how they want their space to feel for themselves and others.

Since we spend most of our time working, we believe it is important to like the space you work in. Whether it's a home office or a corner office, there are many ways to enhance your day with your surroundings. When selecting items for a work space the focus should be on pieces that you are drawn to and simply make you feel good. Objects we live with can impact our emotional state by influencing our energy, which directly impacts our overall well being. At with Faith + Design we encourage you to pick items that you love and that are meaningful.

We believe that inspirational words displayed in your space can help to make a positive impact. Consider adding in your favorite quotes and sayings into your environment and creating a daily mantra that you can reflect on. We are inspired by the quote, “We rise by lifting others”.
This quote represents our companies values and acts as our company's purpose statement.
Think about what you want your office space to express, value, and reflect upon entering.

Here are some helpful points you can implement in order to create a positive space.
1.   Set an Intention. What is the use for your work space? How can your working environment enhance your performance? Does your space need to be a place to inspire and spark creativity, or a calm environment to think and focus, maybe its a place to be efficient and work smart. If you receive clients or coworkers in your space, how do you want them to feel upon entering? Everything in your space should have a purpose and a meaning, and if it does not then it should not be there.
2.   Reflect on Emotions. Take a moment and determine how you want to feel in this space? Think about the exact feelings that you want to hold onto while in this environment. Do they represent energy that is peaceful and calm or represent high energy and excitement? Either way, own all of your feelings and express them in your environment to achieve a purposeful space.
3.   Create a Balance. Is your office a mess or is it bare and boring? Work flow balance is very important for efficiency and to let the creative energy flow. Decluttering and organizing are very important in creating a positive flow of energy so that your mind is clear to focus. Stacks of paper, a messy desk, and over crowded office with too much furniture can disrupt personal balance and create anxiety. The same holds true that if  you space is empty and without interest it will not stimulate or motivate your mind.  Some of our favorite products by Kahootie Co. are the daily meeting planner and It’s that kinda day weekly planner. Keeping our meetings and “to do” tasks organized in one central
location is essential for our everyday planning.
4.   Make it Your Own. How can the space reflect your personality? Favorite items are fundamental to making a space your own. Your space tells your personal story. Color plays an influential role in directly impacting an emotional response. Choosing a paint color for a working environment is essential to establishing the overall feel of the space. Furniture and decor selections should have purpose and personality. A cozy couch and/or comfortable guest chairs may show that you are relaxed and casual and want to create this type of space for visitors. Lighting can warm or cool a space, so choosing the right lighting should always be considered. Pictures and accessories are an easy way to showcase personality by displaying items from your travels, family photos, and things you like.
5.   Explore your Senses. Think about the five senses we have (smell, taste, sight, sound, feel). How about relaxing the mood in the room by adding a diffuser with a calming oil to deliver a pleasing aroma throughout your space? What about having a fruit bowl on your desk as a way to remind you to be healthy? Are your loved ones displayed for viewing throughout the day? Is there space to add a soothing tabletop fountain to create a soothing sound? Does your desk chair sit well with the added lumbar pillow support?
What else can you add to your office to create the atmosphere you want?

Here at with Faith + Design, listening to our clients needs is our number one priority. Before spontaneously rearranging your space, we encourage you to go through each of the
points and ask yourself these questions.  If you can dream it, it can become your reality.

with Joy,
Cindy + Marissa
www.withfaithanddesign.com

TIPS ON CREATING A VISION BOARD

We’re all about setting goals here at Kahootie Co. We shared our tips to achieving your goals earlier in the year. We’re so excited to share a technique to help you goal set and achieve your dreams: vision boards. Vision boards bring your goals and dreams to life with collages of photos and pictures that represent what you have in mind for the future. Here are our tips to creating your own vision board: 

1. Decide on a goal: Choose the goal that is on the top of your priority or to-do list. Create individual vision boards for goals and dreams. This will allow you to organize your dreams and goals and focus on each individually. 
2. Look for inspiration everywhere: Save photos to your phone from your favorite Instagram feeds and Pinterest channels. Clip photos from your favorite magazines. In addition to your favorites, explore other sources to look for inspiration for your vision board. Explore Pinterest for new channels and use the Instagram ‘Explore’ page for new users to follow. Keep a pair of scissors handy to clip out inspiration from magazines. Use a pouch to keep photos organized together. 
3. Pick a scheme: Whether this is a color scheme or seasonal scheme, arrange your vision board with an arrangement in mind. Choose your favorite colors or an aesthetic look that you feel helps tie your vision board together. Creating a visually appealing vision board will be fun to create and fun to look at!
4. Take your time: Every vision board will have its own timeline. It doesn’t have to be an overnight project! Don’t rush looking for inspiration and photos for your board. When you’re happy with the inspiration you have collected, don’t jump to immediately gluing down your photos and pictures. Take time placing the inspiration you have collected around, switching out photos to see what looks best side-by-side. Do your best work with accomplishing your goal in mind!
5. Display your vision board somewhere important: You’ve put lots of time and effort in to your vision board. You’re excited about the steps you’ve taken to goal set. Exhibit your vision board somewhere you’ll see it daily. You may choose to showcase it somewhere in a public space of your home or workspace. This will allow you to create conversation with others about it. You should be excited about and proud of your work. Display it as such!

7 TIPS TO STAYING ORGANIZED IN COLLEGE

1. Plan ahead: Utilize your syllabi, work schedule, calendars for extracurricular activities, etc. as soon as you get them. Nothing is more stressful in college than realizing you have a test, sorority event, and work all in the same day! Take the hour to write in what you have daily/weekly in to your planners. You will definitely thank yourself later!
2. Make a to-do list before bed: Before you call it quits for the night, jot down where you’ll be going and what you’ll be doing the next day. This includes when you have a quiz, need to run an errand, etc. You’ll be able to sleep peacefully not wondering “what if” you forgot something to do the next day.
3. Carry a notebook with you: Whether you throw it in your purse or backpack, carrying a notebook or journal with you to jot down events, reminders, ideas, etc. will help you to never forget anything again! Nothing is worse than trying to remember something from earlier in the day and not being able to remember it!
4. Know when to say no:  This is essential to staying organized. Every single day can’t be packed to the brim. You need a day or two during the week to find time to unwind and plan ahead for everything on your plate. If the only break you are giving yourself is to sleep, chances are you will be so busy and life will get so chaotic trying to balance it all that you will eventually start to forget things.  Get involved and stay busy, but know when to say no to an extra curricular or extra shift at work. You need to find time to unwind and relax during the day to refuel and kick butt in all of your activities.
5. Pack your bags the night before: Pack your backpack, purse, work bag, lunch, etc. the night before. If for some reason you’re running late in the morning, you won’t have to worry about if you have everything you need before you run out the door. As college students, we like to press the snooze button as many times as we can before we have to leave. You won’t feel so bad sleeping later knowing you’re practically ready to walk out the door that morning!
6. Plan out when you’ll study like it’s an additional class: Treat studying for classes like you have a required study hour. It’s easy to say “I’ll study this weekend” and then end up going out with friends or watching Netflix in bed all day. If you jot down in your planner scheduled times to study every week, you’ll be more motivated to utilize the time to do so and won’t have to stress about studying for a quiz or test the night before.
7. Do your best to turn in online assignments early: If you can get in to the habit of turning assignments in a day or two before they are due, you’ll be on track to start the next assignment early, turn that in early, and so on and so forth. Turning in assignments is a good idea for a few reasons. Chances are you aren’t stressfully working to turn in an assignment on time if you’re turning it in early, if you do turn in an assignment in, especially online, and realize after the fact that you have forgoten something, you can add to the assignment with no worry, and having

TIPS ON USING YOUR DOUBLE TO-DO LISTS

Our Double To-Do list is one of our favorite products here at Kahootie Co. As moms, students, women in the workplace, etc. we all have days and weeks where one list just isn’t enough, so we provide you twice the space when days are twice as busy! A chaotic list is just as stressful as having no list at all.  We are sharing some of our favorite ways to organize our Double To-Do lists so we can get a lot done, with time and sanity in mind:

- Divide your Double To-Do list by:

1. Work and Home/Work and School
2. Morning and Evening
3. Weekday and Weekend
4. Pros and Cons
5. Today and Tomorrow 

- Use one side of the Double To-Do list for your list and the second side to jot down notes over the course of the day

- Take your Double To-Do list to class! Take Cornell style notes, creating headings and subheadings on one side and taking notes easily on the other in your classes this semester

-  Track your finances. Write down what and where you’re purchasing on one list and how much you’re spending on the other. When you get to the bottom of the list (or week, month, etc.), add up the amount of times you’ve eaten out, shopped online, etc. and the amount of money total that you’ve spent

- Goal set! Jot down your goals on one list and steps to obtaining those goals on the second list. You’ll be excited to see your big plans written down and motivated with steps planned out for you to reach them.