There are a wide range of home office tips, tricks and secrets. Although you don’t need to know all the ins and outs just yet, after a basic overview of these top tips, you will be creating yourself a personalized workstation that will have you pumping out your work load day in and day out while minimizing stress levels and all distractions. I hope you enjoy my favorite office tips, so let’s get right into it.
Keep Work And Personal Life Separate
When you walk into your home office for the day, it is strictly for work and work only. Until you complete your daily tasks of course (which should be written down!).
When you have finished your daily work load you can then head on over to your favorite websites and surf as you wish.
Seating Support
This one is essential to have. Your computer chair should be as COMFY as possible. If you avoid this, you’re really setting yourself up for a sore back and uncomfortable support that’s going to ultimately make your office time a living hell.
Checkout some chair reviews here to see some of our most comfortable and affordable office chairs.
Keep Your Laptop/PC Updated Regularly
Do you get frequent errors, faults and other unknown pop ups on your PC? This is probably a good sign that it’s time to upgrade OR at least update your software (anti virus, operating system, maintenance checks).
Keep Your Home Office Simple
Keep your home office simplified as much as possible, and not in a complete mess. Remember that the more items you have around you the harder it is for you to stay efficient .
Expand If Needed
Sometimes we need to expand due to documents piling up, maybe you seem to always have papers all over your desk, or you’ve completely outgrown your current office. You may need to consider getting a bigger desk or even bigger room.
The less junk you have lying around in your office, the easier it is to concentrate and actually get work done, I cannot stress that enough.
The Wallpaper Color Of Your Office
Never mind what everyone else says, you need an office that’s going to get you humming and stay rearing to go the entire time you are there.
Maybe you enjoy a bright color, such as orange or lime green, others might need more of a calming color – sea foam blue or botanical green.
Just remember it’s entirely up to you, so choose your color wisely, find out what gets your mood going and give that specific color a go.
Have A View If Possible
If you have a window with a view, you can take full advantage of this. Yes it might seem like a distraction for the most part, HOWEVER this can actually increase your mood, while helping you increase your work production and get it finished faster and easier.
Organize Smartly
What not to do: Have all your documents in one pile, or everything sitting on your desk with no specific order.
What to actually do: Have a drawer for your to-do papers, or a shelf for all your personal documents, maybe a filing cabinet might be best for you.
The one thing you need to remember is to go big. You might not need that extra storage now, but when your office starts to expand and you start jamming papers in your little side drawer, you are going to wish you bought that bigger storage cabinet. Organization is key with any home office, so don’t fret when you think you might of went overboard.
Have As Much Light As Possible
There are many ideas for lighting when it comes to creating your home office, but nothing will ever beat natural light.
Not only will headaches start occurring when you sit in a dark room for too long it will also bring down your mood and actually make it harder for you to get valuable work done.
Natural light is your first go-to source for lighting. Although artificial light (if need be, add a lamp on your desk for ‘extra’ lighting) will also stop eye strain and headaches arising, remember that your computer screen needs to be free from glare as well.
Comfortable Chair
Yes you need a place to work, but you also need an area to take a break. A nice comfy chair *cough*..la-z-boy, along with a bookshelf, maybe throw in a coffee table and a great lamp is a great way to brighten your mood when you just want to take that 20 minute break you really need.
Add Greenery
If you want to take your home office to the next level, greenery should be one of your top go-to sources. Why? Because plants make people happy, so it will be in your best interest to take advantage of this fabulous, natural material that’s going to bring enlightenment to your home office.
Hide Cords
This one might sound really stupid, but taping and organizing your inadequate wires will help you appreciate your home office a lot more and give you a piece of mind, especially when it comes to moving houses or upgrading your equipment – this is going to overall help with your wire management and make everything neat and tidy, which is what a home office is all about.
Establish Office Hours
This one can really help your work flow. By having a daily routine and proper office hours, you are enabling yourself to force yourself out of bed everyday and just like any other employee, you look forward to breaks. When you look forward to breaks you will make the most of your ‘work hours’ and get more done.
You know you will get a break soon, which will stop you from slacking off in the office 😛
Conclusion
Home offices are really great, especially for people that work from home, yet struggle to get valuable work done due to noisy kids throughout the day, maybe your partner has visitors, friends or family over nearly every day and you just need some precious time alone in a quiet room to help you get that all-important to-do list finished for the day.
If you still can’t get some privacy due to many distractions, it might be time to tell these distractions to quieten down or you can head to your local coffee shop and have a coffee while working 🙂
Click here to see more tips from HGTV!
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Do you have any tips for organizing your work space? I am always tidying up my desk but somehow it just gets messy again the next day 🙁
Get rid of everything you are not using. I usually have a bunch of notes on top of my desk and it not only confuses me, but it also makes lose focus of what I am trying to do. Get a white board! That thing has a lot of use and it can do more than just take notes.