5 tips on turning your home into an awesome work space
How to steer clear from the "not-quite-a-home, not-quite-an-office trap"...
When working from home it's important to remember that it is in fact your home and not a regular office. They have traditionally performed two very fundamentally different functions and the design of each reflects that. This does not mean that there’s an impenetrable gulf between them - there are ways to easily turbocharge your home as a workspace with these 5 great tips to make your home freelancer friendly - especially in these challenging times where the lines between them are being blurred...!
Working from home can be a rewarding and highly productive experience, or a highly frustrating and unproductive one where burnout and depression lurk just around the corner. Read on for tips on how to retain your home as a home, and remain sane and productive through these exceptional times. #coronavirus #wfh
1. Keep your office space separate from your living space
Set aside an area of your home purely for working in. Doesn’t matter where it is exactly. It should be comfortable enough that you don’t mind spending a few hours there, but not too comfortable. The idea behind this is you train yourself to be thinking “This is my professional area, I am now in a professional frame of mind. I am a professional.” or something similar.
2. "Aziz, light!"
Try to find a place with loads of natural light. According to a recent study by Alan Hedge of Cornell University, natural light can do wonder to help prevent eyestrain and blurred vision while working with a concurrent drop in headaches and rise in productivity. It also reduces tiredness, with the study citing a 56% reduction in reported tirednesss during the working.
3. "Invisible threads are the strongest ties" - Nietzche
A bad internet connection can be a huge source of both frustration and can impose some significant costs on your operation. Both obvious and less obviously. Obvious costs can be the important call with a client that keeps getting dropped. A less obvious cost can be that while you’re waiting for a download that’s taking ages, you decide to do something else, maybe watch 5 minutes of tv. 45 minutes later, the download has been done for 20 minutes and you’re still watching.
4. In-sofa-errable
Going back to the first point, we should talk about making your home office area comfortable. The temperature should be a pleasant temperature. This is dependent entirely on you. If you prefer it cool enough to wear a light sweater, then that’s fine. If you’re more comfortable with the temperature up high and working in the nuddy, you do you. Remember to put on a shirt before taking a video call though.
A high quality chair to work in is also a sound investment, something with lumbar support and that helps to prevent back pain. You’ll be spending a fair amount of time in it after all.
5. A confederacy of distractions...
Pinpoint what things in your home are the most likely to be distracting to you. This could be anything. Some people find the idea of household jobs they haven’t completed to be very distracting, and they move to finish them before the start of the working day, so they don’t feel compelled to break up their working day by doing tasks that are irritating them. Once you know what things cause you to procrastinate or are major distractions, and solve them you can work with peace of mind.
6. Bonus tip!
Hurrah a free bonus! People love bonuses! Maybe. Possibly. A good thing to do is to assemble everything you need for the day before you start. Stationery, lists of tasks to accomplish, a coffee pot for the day. The premise is that once you start working you never have to go looking for anything, everything you need is right there and you can focus on moving smoothly from one completed task to the next with no interruptions breaking the flow.
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https://www.nimbld.com