How To Improve Your Home Office Productivity

Working from home doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice productivity. While you very well might enjoy more support when working at a company, there are things you can change to be more productive in work-from-home situations.

1. Maintain Barriers

Ideally, if you have sufficient room, aim to divide your home office from your living space. This helps you transition into work mode in the morning and then at night, you can decompress more easily if you actually physically leave the work area.

2. Get a Comfortable Chair

Find a chair that’s rated for comfortable office use for 8 hours plus. You want an ergonomic design so that your body isn’t forced to reposition at an awkward angle.

3. Build decluttering into your schedule

You may have to find the motivation to throw out unneeded items or gather up a messy pile of documents, but summoning the energy now will make removing clutter easier and faster than if you keep putting off this essential chore.

4. Invest in comfortable peripherals

Use a keyboard that’s ergonomically designed for maximum comfort, and consider using a trackpad instead of a mouse that you have to grasp. While you’re at it, remember to use wrist pads to protect your tendons and nerves while typing and moving the mouse.

5. Say it instead of writing

Use a speech-to-text app on your smartphone or computer when you have an idea, need to write a memo, or craft an email response. You can probably speak much faster than you can write. This saves wear and tear on your hands, a boon for those who must type all day.

6. Figure out a schedule that helps you work most effectively

If you’re a morning person, you may want to hold video conference calls at the start of the day so you can focus on quieter tasks in the afternoon. You might slot in a walk around the block every day at 1015 a.m. instead of taking a coffee break

7. Bring in more oxygen

You can go green by putting a potted plant in your office space at home. Greenery can help calm you down when work becomes stressful. 

8. Give Your Eyes a Break

Many office workers will follow the 20-20-20 rule. This has you looking away from your computer or phone’s screen once every 20 minutes, to gaze at something 20 feet away, for a period of 20 seconds. This helps your eyesight since you’re not focusing on a screen just inches from your face all day.

Install some good audio speakers and connect them to your music player or a streaming service. Cranking up your favorite tunes can energize you and lift your mood, making for increased productivity.

Set a timer (such as on your watch) to control how long you speak on the phone. It’s easy to get distracted, but getting stuck with someone who wants to chatter all morning could cause you to scramble during the afternoon to meet a deadline.

An Organized Home Office Is Easier to Clean and Keep Free of Clutter

Taking some time now to make your office organized and more productive means you can work smarter, accomplishing more tasks in fewer hours. When you see how much nicer it is to do your work in a clean and uncomplicated space, it will motivate you to declutter on a regular basis.