Recently, a lot of us have had the concept of working from home thrust upon us unexpectedly. That’s resulted in slapdash ‘home offices’ being set up at short notice, with very few of the comforts and facilities that you’d typically want or need in such an environment. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that in the short term, but as it now transpires that working from home might become the way of the future, it’s time to think about turning that amateurish space in your home into a more professional environment.
Building a home office isn’t easy. Not everybody has enough space in their house to devote a whole room to work. We don’t all have the same budget, and many of us will want or need different things in our home working environment to make ourselves feel comfortable. There are still a few fundamental principles that we can all agree on, though. Some of us have been working from home for years, and there are a few tips and tricks that we’ve picked up, and are happy to pass on!
Whether you’re new to working from home, a seasoned home worker, looking to set up a home office for the next few weeks, or creating a space that will serve you well for the next few years, we’ve got a few pieces of advice to share with you in this article – so let’s get into them!
Create Barriers
Whether it’s a room or a corner of a room, your ‘working space’ should be as enclosed as possible. This is doubly important if you share your home with others. There’s nothing worse for your concentration than people approaching you unexpectedly to talk to you or distract you from whatever you’re trying to do, so having physical barriers is essential. If you have a whole room to spare, this is as easy as shutting (and locking) the door to that room. If you’re working in a corner, though, get creative. Can you create a barrier between yourself and the rest of the room with a sofa, or a bookcase, or something else that people would have to step around in order to get to you? This isn’t just about keeping people out – it’s about focusing your mind. The reason that office cubicles work is that they cut you off from distractions. Barriers around your home office environment will work for the same reason.
Pay For Good Furniture
Your kitchen chair isn’t good enough for you to work in. Unless you have an office chair in your house already, you’re going to need to buy one. There’s been an epidemic in back issues among office workers in recent years, and that’s because of a very simple equation. Bad chairs equals bad backs.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that in the short term, but as it now transpires that working from home might become the way of the future like a seat cushion for office chair, it’s time to think about turning that amateurish space in your home into a more professional environment.
If you work full days, you’re going to be spending eight or nine hours in this chair, or more. You need it to be comfortable, supportive, and cushioned. You also need to ensure that your screens are at eye level, and your surfaces are at a convenient height for typing. Getting any part of this wrong is asking for trouble when it comes to strain or stress issues. Just like getting a bad mattress means you’ll get a bad night’s sleep, getting back office furniture means you’ll be working in discomfort. Invest in yourself. You’ll benefit from it.
Consider Color Schemes
We’re more receptive to colors than we imagine. Every color comes with connotations, and we pick up on those connotations, whether we’re aware of it or not. We all know red means ‘danger’, for example, but how many of you knew that yellow is associated with emotion? A strong color scheme can work wonders for your mindset. This might sound like an unconventional suggestion, but go and check out an online slots website like Rose Slots. Even if you don’t play any of the online slots while you’re there, open a few of them up and see what kind of colors they use. We expect you’ll find a lot of purples. That’s because purple is the color of luxury and wealth, and so online slots websites use it to convey that feeling on to their players. It makes them more likely to stick around and play for longer. You might want to consider purple, but there’s also green for balance, or blue for thoughtfulness. Orange is associated with comfort. You can create the right mindset for a productive day’s work just by choosing the right colors to work with.
Position Yourself Close To Natural Light
Yes, this is just a fancy way of saying ‘work near a window,’ but like your choice of color scheme, this is more important than you realize. A dark environment is a cold, depressing place to work, and it won’t be somewhere you enjoy spending time. You’ll start as late as possible, and leave as early as you can. Natural light attunes to your body’s natural rhythms and helps to keep you calm. It’s not as harsh as electric light, although you’ll probably want a lamp on your desk as well. Aside from allowing you a good source of natural light, a window offers you a view, and also the chance to get some fresh air as and when you need to. A home office space that looks and feels like a prison isn’t going to become a place where you can do your best work.
Avoid Clutter
This is your personal space for working, and it needs to be well-organized and inviting. If it’s covered in piles of paperwork, stationery all over the place, and the general debris and detritus of your working day, you won’t look forward to sitting down there in the morning. Clutter is a distraction, and it’s also disheartening. Just as creating a schedule and a plan can make the most difficult task easier by breaking it down into stages, keeping a clear desk makes you feel better about whatever task it is you’re attempting to complete. This is a small and basic psychological trick to play on yourself, but it’s also an effective one.
None of these things shouldn’t be achievable even if you live in a small apartment. So long as you can set yourself up somewhere close to a window and create a barrier between there and the rest of your property, you should find that you settle into ‘office mode’ quickly and easily. Working from home isn’t always easy, but there’s no reason to make it harder for yourself by creating a bad office space!