Working from home definitely has a lot of advantages. You set your working hours and do not have to tolerate the irritating behavior of the co-worker on the desk next to you. Plus, you don’t have to get up two hours earlier to dress up, catch the bus or drive several miles to get to work where you will have to do your task. If you do your job well, you will probably be assigned someone else’s job too. On the other hand, working from home limits your social life, not to mention that many people find the home environment distracting. Anyway, if you consider the advantages of working from home more than the disadvantages, you’d better set up your working corner and try to keep the distraction to the minimum.
- First of all, do your best to stay concentrated on your task. No matter if you work from home or office, you get paid and your employer has every right to demand high quality work. In other words, don’t get tempted to complete the project faster and utilise the remaining time to do the house cleaning, for example.
- Make your home office as convenient and functional as possible. Make sure you have everything you need for the working process within reach. It has been scientifically proven that when you leave your desk for five minutes, you will need approximately 20 minutes to regain your concentration after that.
- Set up your home office at a quiet place as far away from distractions as possible. If your kids get back from school at noon and spend the afternoon in the living room, make sure you will not get distracted by the noise.
- Make your home office a nice place. After all, you will spend several hours a day in that room. Consider installing proper lighting as well as shelves that where you can keep your stuff organised. Don’t sacrifice your comfort or your productivity might suffer.
- Invest in a good chair. Spending several hours per day sitting on a chair might lead to back problems, so make a trip around the stores and find the chair with the best quality- price ratio.
- Pay attention to the flooring. If you have noisy neighbours, the best thing you can do is to install a carpet that will minimise the noise. However, you will add yet another cleaning task to your list namely carpet cleaning in the improvised office. Yet you can always rely on professional carpet cleaners to ensure even better results. Beware that rolling chairs might cause scratches to the floor, especially to laminate floors. In this case, installing a carpet seems the better alternative.
- Don’t forget to give yourself a view. Put your desk at a place where you will have a better view than a blank wall. Pick a room with a big window and place your desk nearby. This way, you will get natural light for the most part of the working day and you can enjoy the nice view outside.
- Paint your home office in a colour you love. If you have always considered the beige walls in the standard offices too dull, go for a more lively colour. The point is to feel good. If the colour you like is too vivid, opt for green hues – it is said that green colour helps you concentrate!
- Pay attention to small details. Put some artwork on the walls or on your desk. Don’t forget about the plants as well. Many researchers have proven that employees who have a plant near their desk are more productive and creative. From a purely practical point of view, plants improve the quality of the indoor air and make every room look more aesthetic.
- If you are low on space, opt for horizontal or vertical shelving. Make sure the paperwork is at your arm’s reach, but don’t leave random stuff on the desk. Opt for the minimalist style, leave only the items you will actually need during the day. You can also put your DIY skills into practice and install a board on the wall, where you can write down your schedule for the week.
- If you have ever worked at an office, you must be aware of the unpleasant situation when the internet slows down and the modem need to be re-started. However, it turn that no one knows how to identify the right cable in the bundle under the desks. In order to avoid such an irritating situation, find a way to keep the tangles organised. You can, for example, put a different colour nail polish on each cable and write yourself a note saying – “pink- printer, blue – router, nude – laptop charger”.
No matter if you occasionally work from home or that’s your permanent working place, your office corner should be functional and cosy. Follow the above tips and you will see that once you organise the area, things will take care of themselves!
