According to inc.com the average commute time in the U.S. in 50 minutes round trip. The same article said, “In England, the average daily commute time has risen from 48 minutes to 60 minutes in the past 20 years and one in seven commuters spends at least two hours on their daily round-trip commute.” Fifty minutes a day five days a week 50 weeks a year is over 200 hours a year or over 8 2/3rds DAYS wasted a year. If you multiply that by 20 or 30 years you can easily waste a full 24 hour a day 365 day year of your life just commuting! If you count just waking hours it is more like two years wasted!
Instead of wasting time stuck in traffic breathing exhaust, most people would gladly choose the option of working from home. They can set up their own home office, start being their own bosses, or simply work out an agreement with their employer which allows them to work from home (at least part of the time). These are the people who get the best of both worlds – the comfort of being at home all day long and the paycheck that keeps arriving month after month – but only if they can remain productive and make everything work. Employers appreciate the less crowded facilities as long as productivity is maintained.
If you too are thinking about making this transition, here’s how you can boost your productivity and keep it at the highest level.
Create the Best Home Office to Suit Your Needs
Depending on the type of work you do and how big your home is, your new office could take up an entire spare bedroom, or you might be limited to a tiny corner in the kitchen. Both of these ideas have been used and you could make them work if you put your mind to it. It goes without saying that you’ll need to dedicate a certain part of your home to your work-related duties, so get right on it.
This could sometimes be rather hard, but you can make it work if you remember that size does matter when it comes to home offices. This means you need to give yourself as much space as you possibly can. Unless you do that, your motivation will plummet, and you won’t be able to get any work done whatsoever.
Equip Your Office Properly
Every office needs a few essentials – a spacious desk, an ergonomic chair, a computer, and a bookcase – and the same goes for your home office too. Unless you do that, you’ll just be a person working on a laptop in their living room. And, to be, honest, that’s no way to make a career for yourself in today’s world of business.
So, no matter how much space you have in your office, you need to maximize it and put every inch to good use. Start by incorporating a new built-in desk that gives you lots of space, some floating shelves where you can keep all your essentials, and a wall-to-wall bookcase that will give you all the storage space you need. This is where you can fit all your documents, your files, and your binders. Additionally, you could add a few family pictures that will keep you motivated and some souvenirs that should make your home office more welcoming.
Invite Nature In
The amount of natural sunlight and fresh air in your home office depends on its size and position. What you keep in mind that, though, is that these are the things that influence your productivity quite a lot. That’s why you should try to keep your windows open as much as you can, letting in as much precious sunlight and fresh air as you can but be aware of glare on your computer screen that can cause eyestrain.
Or as you can see in this video you could even enclose a patio area creating an open, light airy office area.
If you want to go all in, you should consider opening your office even more. By incorporating those sliding doors, you could open your working space to the outdoor area and connect it to your backyard. That way, you’ll always have lots of fresh air and sunlight while you’re working, and that’s something all we need.
Don’t Get Distracted
Working from home has a number of benefits, but it comes with a serious disadvantage too – you’re working from home! This means your fridge, your TV, and your bed are all within a walking distance, and it’s so easy to get distracted.
That’s why you need to find a way to remove all of these distractions. Ask your family to be as quiet as possible, try not to wander in the living room or kitchen unintentionally, and don’t take “a quick power nap,” because it won’t be quick at all. You should take breaks, of course, but be sure to make the most of them.
Being able to work from home is an amazing opportunity, but, if you want to be motivated and productive every single day, you need to get organized, so start doing that right away.
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