Due to the pandemic, so many of us are working from home and may be for awhile. According to a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, 31 percent of workers who were employed in early March were working at home by the first week of April.
When people hear that I live in Hawaii and work from home, they start asking about how often I’m at the beach with my laptop. The answer is never. Beach time is for fun and work time is for my electric rising desk, 32” curved monitor, and wireless keyboard with number pad. My body and mind have both been conditioned to know that when I sit (or stand) at my desk, it’s work time. That means when I walk away from the desk, it’s my time.
If you’re looking to find the best home office setup for productivity, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Make your workspace comfortable but productive
Keep it separate: Make your home office a work-only space
Making your workspace a work-only space will depend on how much space you really have in your home. Not everyone can have a spare room converted into an office for their workspace. In fact, my own home office is set off of my living room. I’ve been thinking about converting the closet in the living room into a built-in workspace but the fact is I’d still be in the living room. Rest assured that while this isn’t ideal, it is doable.
While my workspace is in my living room, the actual workspace is one desk and a side runner file cabinet. On my desk, other than the couple of personal items, is only work items. This is my dedicated space for work. My bills don’t come to my desk, my son’s homework isn’t done on my desk. It’s all of 16 square feet, but every bit of that is devoted to work. Why? Because when you work from home it can be so easy to let life spill into work and work spill into life. That’s happened to me and I refuse to fall into that trap of unproductivity again.
No matter how small your workspace is, you’re better off if you can label it as a work-only zone. The great thing about that is when you leave the space, you’re in a personal time zone which lets you focus on family and fun.
