It’s also important to allow yourself time for a proper lunch break and other short breaks throughout the day. After all, striking the right balance is one of the keys to home office tips working from home successfully. One of the most important rules when setting up a home office is to keep your workspace and your living areas as separate as possible.
If you do not have a desk, you may consider purchasing a small one. If you live in a small studio apartment, you may have to get a bit creative when setting up your home office. Find an area of your apartment that is free from clutter and is close to electrical outlets.
Storage is your friend
Katherine is a professional home organizer and certified KonMari consultant with over 5 years of experience helping clients get their homes in order. She launched her own professional organizing business, Tidy Milso, in the summer of 2020, to help reorient those feeling overwhelmed with both clutter and disorganization in their homes. To date, she has logged over 500 hours of organizing with her clients using Marie Kondo’s KonMari method. Your monitor should line up so that if you look straight ahead when sitting straight, your eyes are at a height of 25% to 30% below the top of the screen. That way, you keep your shoulders level and don’t hunch your back — two easy ways to cause injury.
We’ll discuss common tips and best practices for working from home in a moment. She adds that beautiful pieces of furniture, like an antique writing desk, and colorful, vibrant prints and artwork can also inspire creativity. If you have loads of wires trailing across your desk or by your feet, consider installing some wall trunking to hide the cables. Working in an office affords us the opportunity to both physically and psychologically leave our working life in the office at the end of the day. When we’re in the office, we leave our desks for conversations with colleagues, trips to the photocopier or bathroom, or to get a hot drink.
Monitors
Most office-class Windows laptops have a docking station option; MacBook users should invest in one of OWC’s docks. Wi-Fi is fine for basic office work, so if you can’t wire your computer to your router, use Wi-Fi. Get a large monitor (maybe two) for your home office — just as you would at the corporate office. I’ve had good luck with 25- to 27-inch monitors from Asus and Acer, but any major brand will offer high-quality monitors. Just avoid the cheapest monitors if you can, since they can lead to eyestrain over prolonged use due to their lower resolution and thus increased fuzziness. Browse PC speakers for providing high-quality sound in the home office and shop online today.
- Check your internet speed with specialized services like Speedtest, Fast.com, or SpeedOf.Me.
- Reading under the light of a desk lamp can help reduce eye strain.
- This is more of a storage tip than anything, but a custom fold-out desk is the best way to go as far as tiny work from home spaces.
- You do have other options to run Windows software on a Chromebook.
- If your family members aren’t used to you working at home, ask them not to disturb you.
And, at work, the best playlists are diverse playlists — you can listen to music that matches the energy of the project you’re working on to boost your productivity. Try solidifying your schedule the day before, making it feel more official when you wake up the next day to get started on it. Spending time figuring out what you’ll do today can take away from actually doing those things. And, you’ll have planned your task list so recently that you can be tempted to change your schedule on the fly. No matter the space or location, have an area of the home to work and stay committed to it throughout the day.
Make sure you have high-speed internet
When designed properly, home offices allow many people to work more efficiently and, above all, more comfortably, something I’m very aware of as founder and owner of a building design firm. With the current COVID-19 situation, working from home is becoming more common for employees and self-employed people alike. I specialize in apps for productivity and collaboration, including project management software. I also test and analyze online learning services, particularly for learning languages.
Simply draw a point on a sticky note and attach it to the wall behind the webcam to help you get used to focusing on the right area. But not everyone has a spare room to use as an office in their home, and keeping two machines isn’t always realistic. Instead, dedicate a desk or table space and some peripherals that will be used only for work. For example, when your laptop is hooked up to the monitor and external keyboard, it’s work time. You may want to go as far as creating a separate user account for work (or school).