Organize Your Home Office for Better Productivity

The number of people working exclusively from home has increased steadily over the last few years with over 5% working from home in 2018 up from about 3% in 2000. But as many as 24% work from home occasionally according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many of them have home offices and are therefore constantly on the lookout for tricks to help them become more productive. Having an organized office is essential to your productivity, so you need to follow a few simple rules in order to create a real home office.

Instead of working in a chaotic and cluttered space, create an office that will help your business grow and provide you with comfort and coziness of a proper corner office. Here are a few hacks to help you with the basics of a fully functional office.

Comfort is Key

No matter what type of business you do, you need comfortable furniture to be able to pull those long hours. Start with finding the perfect spot for setting up your desk and chair, and try working from there. Many people like utilizing corners and placing their table there, but professional designers recommend creating a focal point in the center of the room. That way, you’ll have plenty of space around your table to add everything you need. You can go for a big desk and dedicate some space for your laptop and paperwork. Apart from that, you can choose an L-shaped desk which will divide the space into two little corners giving you a sense of two tables and leaving you with plenty of room for all of your office supplies you need every day.

When it comes to finding a perfect chair, try finding one that’s comfortable and fits into your office. People have a tendency to buy huge office chairs that take too much space, so measure everything twice before making the purchase.

Add a Personal Touch

Although your basic instincts tell you to remove everything related to your personal life from your office, things aren’t as strict when it comes to personal belongings. Hang a few pictures, add some travel memorabilia, find great inspirational quotes and add a couple of artistic details. These will give you a feeling of a relaxed and comfortable space where you’ll be able to work.

In addition to that,

think about adding some stylish details like plants that will not only be amazing to look, at but will have a positive effect on the amount of fresh air. To top it all off, adding a stylish rug can play a significant role in the comfort and style of your office. Also, add another cozy chair in the corner and cover it with a patterned blanket and use this space for examining your important documents and reading during your small breaks.

Use Storage for Organization

From your archive to your current projects, you need to store a lot of paperwork in your office, but also find a way to hide them. Find the right filing cabinet and place it near your desk and it will be close to you at all times.

To take this to a new level, you can either go old school with a color-coordination system that will help you find whatever you’re looking for within minutes or add labels to locate your documents. If you’re struggling with the lack of space, be creative and unusual spaces – underneath your desk, behind the door and below the window – for additional storage space. Leave one part of your table for office supplies you need and keep pencils, markers and paper clips within reach.

Create Zones

Every job includes a number of tasks you have to do every single day and not all of these can be done at the same place, so you need to think about creating different zones. Your primary work area should be your desk and that’s where your laptop needs to be. Another zone can be for reading emails and dealing with phone calls, and they both require quiet space.

If you have meetings with the clients, need to an area just for that, so place a few additional chairs around your desk or create a seating area in the corner of your office. In the end, you’ll be more productive if you have different areas for different parts of your job instead of trying to squeeze everything behind your desk.

Having a home office comes with a lot of distractions and you need to be able to deal with them in order to complete all your daily tasks and respect your deadlines. This can be rather tough in the beginning, but soon enough everything will run on autopilot, and you’ll get used to a certain routine. Start making changes and getting into the productive groove in order to take your business to a new level and make your work life more productive and well-balanced.

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