Creating and working in a home office can be tricky, especially for someone who is used to working in a more traditional setting. Balancing distractions, family obligations, and work assignments is often difficult for people who work from home. Thankfully, by maximizing your office space for maximum productivity and getting rid of things that hinder your progress, you can get the most out of your home office. Here are our top four tips on how to create a home office that works for you.
Remove any large distractions from your work area. TVs, radios, gaming consoles, and other electronics will keep you from doing your best work. Install an app or browser extension on your computer that will stop you from visiting time-sucking social media websites during work hours. Try one of these popular options.
Don't forget to take breaks during your workday. As someone who works from home, you'll probably want to limit your breaks since distractions are more readily available than they are in a traditional office setting. Still, breaks improve productivity. Try to take a short break every hour or two to make yourself a drink or meal, read an interesting article, talk with a friend or family member, or take a walk around your neighborhood.
You'll be able to get more done if you create an office that is easy on the eyes and pleasant to work in. According to Forbes, "Employees who enjoy and like the environments they are a part of will be more engaged, productive, happy, and healthy." Research is conducted each year on what it takes to keep employees engaged and content. You can apply some of these findings to your home office just as well as companies can apply them to their team's offices. Here are a few simple ways to improve the quality of your surroundings in your home office.
Relying on old technology will slow down your productivity and damage your workflow. Working on an older computer can be frustrating for multiple reasons. Especially if your work involves the use of programs that demand a lot of your computer's resources, like graphics manipulation software, video editing software, or code compilers, you will benefit considerably by upgrading your computer every three to five years at the minimum.
If you make use of other hardware components while working, they should be meeting or exceeding your needs. Printers, scanners, phones, tablets, and headsets should be up-to-date and in good working order. Technology should help you do your job better, it shouldn't impede you in any way.
No matter what it looks like, it's difficult to enjoy your office if you don't feel productive in it. Make sure that the tools you use most often are easy to reach and located in places that are logical. Place the tools you use the least in drawers or other storage areas farthest away from where you sit. Consider leaving a select few of the tools you use the most on your desk rather than putting them away so that they are always accessible. When you have to spend time looking for the things you use daily, you will end up wasting time.