10 tips for a productive home office environment

To be productive you need to be in the right mood, concentrate and having the things you need at your fingertips. Today we will be focusing on a few good tips that will keep you in the mood for working.

Mood is interesting but has a big effect on how we perceive and react to things. Working from home can be bad decision if you lack concentration. In a tipical home there are lots of distractions(a playful environment, maybe your kids are jumping all over, probably a TV set opened with someone watching sports, etc). However a good home office design you help you stay focused and have everything in your proximity. Good design is essential for productivity.

1. Try to stay out of the distractions range. Don’t be near a TV for eg. and keep away from the most crowded room.
2. Make a visual delimitation between the office environment and the rest of the house. It will help you remember that you’re not at home but you are at your office.
3. Keep the office tidy. It’s frustrating and hard to work if you are not motivated and if you are surrounded by piles of papers. This will keep you from doing much work because of the lack of respect you will have or yourself seeing how much work there is to be done. Don’t remind yourself how much more work you have to do but try to take it step by step and you’ll see that it is easy.
4. Listen to a real radio. Why radio and not Youtube or your local music? Because you hear people, you won’t use time to make playlist or search music and you won’t keep listening to the same track over and over again. Hearing the radio folks that are funny will keep your happy and confident. After all, it’s their job as radio dj’s to make you feel good, and for you it is free, quick and easy! Plus, you’ll be up to date with the news.
5. Find a way to get up early. There’s nothing better for your body and health then to get up early in the morning and work then. In the afternoon your brain is more tired(even if you are getting up just then).
6. Keep a schedule. Write it on the wall, write it phisically not on a computer as you need to have it everywhere you go that day. You will lose time with mobile-computer-syncronising or you will look bad in the customer’s eye if your have to reboot your computer when you’re talking on the phone with a potential client.
7. When you’re working… work! If you work from home make sure that your friends know that you are working between these hours.  The whole corporate-office image we see in the movies is really infuential and many of your friends will not realise that you are that serious about working even if you work from home. Be sure to treat these hours as you would treat them if you were working at an employeer or in your employeer’s office building.
8. Get colegues. One big thing that will keep you from being productive is the lack of office colegues. A little joke here, a technical question there and you are doing your job quicker and better. With the help of today’s technologies like IM, phone, email, voice over ip, webcams it is more easy to have colegues.
9. Organize your stuff. Use boxes, use labels, use folderson computer and on the shelves). It’s hard when you are always on the run but make a rule and at the begining of the day or at the end do this for a few minutes. It will keep your office tidy and it would improve your motivation tomorrow.
10. Get a plant. We live in nature, we love nature even if we don’t realise. Get a plant, don’t get a dog because it will distract you. If you have one, that’s good for you but try not to get distracted by it. A plant will make your office environment more friendly, natural and it will give you more oxygen.