The concept of an office-less career is definitely one of the most appealing trends on the rise, but despite its glorified reputation, it has its own challenges. For instance, it’s not easy to just slip into “work mode” if your rooms are predominantly designed for leisure, cooking and sleep, and not to mention the distractions that go with the territory.
To that end, if you want your home-grown career to be productive and successful, it’s time to create a workspace that will inspire the enthusiasm it takes to build your professional path. Let’s take a look at a few essentials every work space needs for you to thrive and flourish!
Fun doesn’t mean cluttered
We have high expectations from our home offices – we want them to encourage us to work hard and stay focused, but not be boring or void of personality. We want them to be spacious and clean, but not to take up too much space from the rest of the house. So, we often end up with too many things crammed into a very small corner, all disorganized and disruptive of our daily responsibilities.
To avoid such chaos, determine how much space you need for your office. It can be an entire room, or just a portion of your bedroom, but make sure you have clear, physical boundaries, such as a room divider. Then, define the essential equipment such as your laptop, printer, phone and lamp, and add a personal touch with some framed photos, a drawing by your kids, a motivational poster, some colorful post-it notes, and add a plant or two to bring your home office to life.
Cut out distractions
Whether you have a TV set nearby, a noisy stereo or kids playing just a foot away, you cannot afford to have any distractions during your designated work hours. Limit your access to personal social media profiles, games, or personal emails, since you’ll get very little work done if you keep focusing on anything but work.
If you’re a working mom or dad, do your best to structure your work around afternoon naps, and evenings, or you can hire a neighborhood kid who is happy to babysit for a couple of hours while you’re working. And while you’re at it, stay away from those digital distractions, they have no place in your beloved home office!
Mind your wellbeing
Comfort means you’ll get your work done with greater ease and that you’ll simultaneously safeguard your overall health by making the right design choices. For example, ergonomic chairs and desks of the right height will keep your spine health intact and they also mean pain-free work days.
Another thing you need to keep in mind is that you need to move from time to time. If you are working from home, it can be difficult to find the time to go to the gym, as after all, you can delude yourself you are always working.
In order to stay healthy and more productive, you need to set out a space in your home for working out – invest in a set of dumbells and kettlebells, and some resilient compression clothing, and find a routine that works for you. Do some yoga stretches, some light cardio, and don’t make skipping workouts a habit. Contrary to popular belief, they will help you have more energy, not the other way around.
The color palette
Don’t underestimate the power of picking the right shades for your workspace. Depending on your profession and available space, you can choose from a whole slew of colors that will help you come up with great ideas and bring your best problem-solving skills to the table.
How about a creamy peach to inspire some creativity without being too loud, a mix of soft beige with a lantern red shade to accentuate some of your most important pieces? Even black can be a lovely contrast to a bright environment with plenty of pearly white or other pastels.
Light, please!
Finally, a key aspect of any office environment that plays a pivotal role not just in your productivity levels but your health as well is the lighting. If you can, go for natural daylight whenever possible, because that’s when your mind and body will work together to master the problems at hand.
For evening work sessions, go for eco-friendly but also eye-friendly LED lamps that will protect your vision, prevent eye-strain and help you stay in top-notch work shape as you wrap up your day of work at home.