Three Tips for a Better Home Office

Michele Warg
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More and more, administrative workers are taking work home with them. Another rising trend involves work-from-home admin or clerical work. Both options call for fresh home office ideas that will keep your home time as productive as time spent in an office. It goes without saying that you'll need modern, reliable equipment, as you probably won't have a repair specialist on call if the printer breaks down, or that you should find a comfortable chair. These things are true of every work environment, regardless of location. It's most important to look at some of the home office ideas that are truly unique to the home office environment. Here are three of them.

The first of the home office ideas you need to follow is to set aside space for the office itself. This isn't easy. Office workers who make the transition to home often find that they've been taking the office for granted. Offices, as dedicated work environments, are typically planned to meet the needs of ruthless efficiency, while your home is, hopefully, designed for living in.

Unfortunately, very few workers can turn in their best efforts from their kitchen tables. Setting aside space for a dedicated workspace is critical to getting anything done. By designating a single room, or an area inside that room, as your exclusive office, you're getting more than a tax break. A space where you can work and where you do nothing but work lets you invest in immobile office equipment, site dedicated home office storage solutions, and keep your papers where you need them. Another huge advantage to a dedicated space lies in better time management. When you're "at work," you can clearly be at work. This minimizes the inevitable interruptions—to say nothing of the temptation to play browser games.

The second home office tip you can't do without is to organize your space efficiently once you've set aside your workspace. Since this is your space, there's no predetermined best way to organize it. Whatever worked in your old office might be good for you, or you might take advantage of some of the home office ideas you come across elsewhere. It's your space, after all, and it needs to be organized to suit your routine.

Finally, having defined a space for work with your favorite home office storage solutions, defend that space with your life. Absolutely nothing will sap your productivity faster than distractions in your home. Kids, TV shows, spouses, and neighbors who assume you're available to run errands just because you're wearing sweatpants will all rob you of your time if you let them. Establish boundaries early on and stick to them. When you are sitting at your workstation, you are to be regarded as unavailable for anything less pressing than a life-threatening emergency.

Of all the home office ideas you'll find, this might be the most crucial. Set and keep regular office hours, do them in a place that's been set aside for the purpose, and make sure that everybody in your life knows your defined hours and space are for work, rather than chatting, shopping, or any one of the thousand distractions that can slow you down. While nobody can predict the success of a home-based business with any certainty, following these home office ideas will at least give you the head start you need to give it your best try.

 

 

(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

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