8 Tips to Set Up Your Home Office for Serious Productivity

You may even be able to trade some old items you don’t need anymore. Instead of buying new items, try looking at Craigslist or going to yard sales to find what you need. When people move or renovate their homes, they often get rid of high-quality, brand name items that they just don’t have room for any more. Organization is one of the most important factors when it comes to creating a home office in a small space. Get specific, labeled compartments for keeping different types of documents, such as “to sign” papers or outgoing mail.

We’ve gone through most of the substantive things you need to do to transform a room into a home office which gives us space to discuss other considerations like branding and marketing. Having a clean, neat space often contributes to increased productivity as opposed to a cluttered, disheveled work area. Not only will this make your life easier when it comes to keeping track of things, but also it gives you a more professional atmosphere in which to work. Again, this is about maintaining peak productivity and one of the easiest ways to do that is to maintain your health. We recommend you make a budget for how much you want to spend but you might want to make a list of what you will need to buy first.

Once you’ve found your rhythm, stick to that schedule as much as possible. Often, repetition breeds efficiency—and by beginning and ending your day at the same time every day, you’re allowing yourself the time you need to achieve everything on your to-do list. As we’ve mentioned several times already, one of the biggest challenges of working from home are all the distractions you may encounter there. The green buildings use low emitting materials and increase outdoor air, which result in reduced VOC (volatile organic compounds) and CO2 (carbon dioxide) exposures. If painting your entire office green doesn’t please you, you can still reap the benefits by painting an accent wall green. Plants and other accessories are also excellent additions for introducing green into your home office.

Its design includes ergonomic, backlit keys and produces nearly silent keystrokes. Additionally, the provided wrist rest is detachable for added convenience. Testing revealed that this keyboard has an impressive 214 hours of battery life without backlighting and 13 hours with Bluetooth and backlighting turned on.

1. However, it could also present unique challenges in creating a suitable workspace that supports productivity and effectively separates work from personal life.
2. A numerical filing system increases productivity due to the increased speed of filing and locating a file.
3. Additionally, adding design elements such as an area rug and plants can contribute to creating a cozy atmosphere in the space.
4. It also provides accurate identification and allows for greater confidentiality.
5. By cutting out a commute, you actually have more wiggle room in your schedule for breaks, too, which will boost your energy and efficiency.

Its location, lighting, and confinement of clutter are all important. I chose an ergonomic chair and a desk at an appropriate height to avoid discomfort and strain. Work-from-home certainly has its benefits, especially when you have curated a perfect office space catered to your working style. The simple tips listed above will help you develop a well-thought-out space where you can produce some of your best work. Now that your space is fully set up, have some fun and choose decorations that make you happy.

Prioritization — Using Your Time & Energy Effectively

Different colors elicit different physical and emotional responses from people, so you need to choose wisely. Understand that you’re at your most productive when you first start work. If you waste this time on mundane tasks — cleaning the office area, figuring out your to-do list — you’ll waste this prime productivity. One of the best parts about a home office is that you can totally dictate its decor per 10 tips for setting up your first home office your tastes. Good decor won’t just make your office space feel more inviting, it’ll also improve productivity. Additionally, place a high-quality desk/floor lamp near your workspace.

1. Save the full-color printing for business-critical communications and use black and white for everything else.
2. Therefore, I had time to prepare our home office for the additional furniture, equipment, files, and office supplies.
3. Perhaps you’re in a location with smaller windows, or maybe you’re working during the nighttime.
4. A few green plants will not only add a dash of color to your office space but also increase happiness and reduce stress.
5. A portable power station like the EcoFlow RIVER 2 Max can help keep all your necessary devices powered while you work.
6. Plants and other accessories are also excellent additions for introducing green into your home office.

Maintaining focus is crucial when working from home, especially when dealing with potential disruptions such as pets, kids or noisy surroundings like nearby traffic or construction. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones are our top pick for the best noise-cancelling headphones. They offer an effective noise cancellation feature and an impressive 24-hour battery life, allowing you to shut out the noises of the world and stay focused on your tasks at hand.

It has a large south-facing window, and it has lots of natural light. I can watch the deer with their fauns and birds while I am sitting at my desk. The smaller the area, the more thought you’ll need to put into maximising the space you do have. For a perfect home office setup, scope out an area or nook that has enough room. If you just have a laptop, then any space that’s at least 60cm wide by 50cm deep will do. But if you have extra monitors and kit, then aim for a larger surface space if you can with roughly 1.5m of space in front for you to move around unhindered.

>>>Click here to read my article on the Best Home Office Chairs

Even if your office has a door you can close, you should still try to organize your space and set up your work processes to be free from distraction. It may help to put your phone on silent, keep it in a separate room, and disable the Messages app on your laptop. If sound is an issue, invest in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and hit play on a soothing, focus-boosting Spotify playlist. Keep trappings of your personal life—like bills, to-do lists, and books and magazines—off your worktop. And if you can’t stop online shopping or refreshing your preferred news website, consider downloading Freedom, a scheduled app and website blocker for Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, and Chrome. There are many desks to choose from, and some even offer the option to raise them so that you can take standing breaks.

HP Dragonfly Pro Laptop

There are a few other items you may need depending on the type of work. Have a look at what your local providers can offer you if you’re running your own business, as there are often plans available for businesses. In some cases you may need a conference phone but for most a mobile phone is all you need. In addition to this, the web camera that comes with your device may not be that good, which is inconvenient if you will often have virtual meetings with clients and coworkers. Consider other purposes too – a mouse you’re using purely for work may be very different from one that you also intend to use for things like gaming.

Depending on the type of work you do—if you’re an illustrator, write longhand, or often read paper documents—then you may need additional task lighting. As we mentioned, it’s ideal to situate your office in a room or space with lots of natural light. But if that’s not possible, you might want to consider buying a light therapy lamp to keep your mood and morale high—and you motivated.

Incorporate a Standing Desk

These include video adapters, USB-C-to-USB 2.0 adapters, and a multi-country power adapter – in case you travel overseas – that includes two USB ports to charge several devices at the same time. If your home phone and business phone are the same number, you can only have one voicemail message for both. With 3.7 million employees in the U.S. working from home for at least half the time, telecommuting (more commonly referred to as remote working) is more popular than ever.