Hello World! Welcome Friends! Commuting will become a thing of the past when you start working from home. The arrangement provides flexibility and autonomy, which may be the key to sustained levels of productivity and efficiency in what you do. You are your boss, and your home office is your domain.
However, it can be a bit challenging to set up a functional workstation in a place that is meant for comfort and relaxation. If you are living with a family or roommate, you have to consider distractions and thus think of boundaries. You also have to furnish it with the right equipment and supplies. The room itself also has to meet health and safety conditions conducive to work.
That looks like a big list of to-dos, but you have this guide, which enumerates essentials for planning and setting up a home office successfully at first try.
Select Your Spot
In searching for that perfect nook for your office, consider these:
- Lighting
- Noise
- Air quality
- Wi-Fi signal
- Proximity to the front entrance should you need to meet clients regularly
- Phone for phone calls and conferences
- Phone Service: voip phone service for home
You may need window treatments, networking devices, and other improvements, so set a budget for these items.
Get Creative with Cramped Space
A table and chair can crowd a room. If you work with lots of files, you can stow them underneath your desk or create a file cabinet desk. You can place relevant supplies overhead on floating shelves. For pictures, you can hang them on the wall.
Choose Your Desk
The desk is the central hub of your day-to-day activities. This furniture should possess these characteristics:
- Adequate surface area for writing and holding essential items within reach
- Right height so you can work comfortably
- Storage for papers and other supplies
You may have heard of height-adjustable desks or mechanisms that encourage you to stand while writing, reading, or working. Standing while working helps you burn calories faster than sitting all day does, but like any activity, do it moderately.
Sit Ergonomically
Physical discomfort like back pain, as well as eye, wrist, and arm strain, can crimp your focus and performance over time. Instead of the regular one, opt for an ergonomic chair that allows you to sit for prolonged hours without stressing your body. It should provide lumbar support, and its height should be adjusted accordingly.
Go with Natural Lighting
Station your desk by, near, or in front of the window. You have your view and daylight that tend to make you feel better, energized, and happy, as cited in this study. Light is for maintaining circadian rhythm as darkness is for sleeping. If your office has no external windows, fixtures that mimic sunlight might do the job.
When it’s night, switch to lighting that isn’t too glaring or harsh for the eyes as you may find it hard to relax and sleep later on.
Position Everything within Reach
from your laptop and its accessories and peripherals like mouse, keyboard, and docking hub, your table contains pens, notepad, phone, and your daily implements. Place them within accessibility (depends if you are right- or left-handed) so you can easily reach for them without wasting time looking for them and thus breaking your focus.
Personalize, but Don’t Overdo It
Feel free to paint the room any way you want; this is your opportunity to show your personality in your very first workspace. However, go easy on decorating your desk to maintain efficiency.
A cluttered desk can have the opposite effect. The impulse to tidy up distracts your brain from focusing on what you’re doing. Instead, schedule a day to go over your stuff (e.g., unnecessary files that you can shred or give to your kids as scratch or scrap paper).
Welcome Greenery
Plants complement natural light and uplift your mood while you work. A succulent on your desk or some potted plants on your windowsill can cleanse your eyes after staring at the monitor for hours. You need not worry about them as most indoor plants can thrive with little care and maintenance.
Secure a Private Phone Line
If you are running a business from your home, you need a separate phone line to establish legitimacy and credibility. It is less awkward for clients to call and leave voice mails that the rest of the family can hear. Go for an IP phone that you can connect to the internet, and take advantage of VoIP calls, including audioconferencing.
Work-Life Balance
You can count this as the last tip: set boundaries. Although you’ve outfitted your home office to suit a working environment, you have to be strict about the time you put into working every day.
When you have set office hours, you avoid procrastination and burnout, which often spring from the concept of having “unlimited” hours to do work just because you’re at home. You also minimize distractions as friends know when not to visit you and clients know when to call you.
Remember, it can take 23 minutes (or longer) for you to recover focus after an interruption, as a University of California–Irvine study found.
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