3 Tips to Thrive in Your Home Office

There's no doubt about it, the Coronavirus (for the time being), has upended almost every aspect of life. One of the biggest shifts, for those fortunate enough to still be working and not considered essential for travel, is working from home. 

For most, this remote way of work has been going on for a little over a month. This is enough time to develop habits and recognize what's working and what's not.

More often than not, what's not working falls into 3 categories: Organization, Productivity, and Motivation.

To help, I've put together a little list which could help out in a big way. I know many are also balancing kids at home (I am too), so I kept this in mind when creating the list.

Here's a few tips to keep you productive, motivated, and organized in your home office:

Create a Placement System: The easiest way to stay organized is to assign specific areas to certain items. This allows you to quickly store and access work materials.

This also means keeping your "office" in one spot. One of the biggest "perks" of working from home, you can work wherever you please. I find this can be terrible for those trying to be organized.

Pick one or two spots - nothing wrong with working outside on a nice day - and keep it to just those areas. This will allow you to access everything you want quickly, while cutting down on chances on becoming distracted (It's your house and I'm sure you have a lot of things you enjoy more than work).

Make a Routine:  The most productive people tend to have some form of a routine. I certainly had one at work, and I still have one now - it's just different. Rather than take a coffee break at 10, I go for a walk with my daughter (not a bad way to break up the day).

Having a routine definitely moves the day along, and gives me "time pressures". I have to finish x by 10, so I can go on this walk with my kid. Without a routine, you can drag projects out to fill time, which I find produces poor work, while also allowing work to pile up because things aren't getting done.

Clean Up: I can already hear readers with kids laughing. I get it, keeping things clean and clear, is nearly impossible with younger kids (I'm sure teens aren't much cleaner). But I do think it is important, for motivation, to keep your work space as clean as possible.

If you're willing to clean your work space at the end of each day, you'll continually be motivated to produce good work in that area. There's nothing more deflating than walking into a cluttered work area; it instantly brings you down and your work will reflect that. This is something I truly believe.

NOTE: You may not get it right the first time, so it's okay to try different techniques until you find one that works for you!

We understand that working from home, for some, is not ideal. We do hope this list of ideas gives you the ability to make the most of it

Stay well everyone.