I love my home office. I spend so much time there, so I make sure it’s personal and comfortable. I even reorganized it so I could do yoga and meditation at the end of the day. Whether you run a business from your home office or run the business of your household, the office in your home can be an inspiration or a source of frustration. Here’s how to make it a personal and productive space:
Personalize:
- Have a separate physical space for your office if possible. An extra/guest bedroom will do as long as you can close the door or use a pretty room screen to separate the zones.
- Be creative with your office furniture: repurpose Hoosiers, buffets and bookshelves as office furniture. Use a beautiful antique chair or funky new chair as a desk chair as long as it’s comfortable.
- Your home office should be a reflection of you. Decorate with personal items that encourage productivity and double as useful office supplies: use favorite mugs, bowls and trays to hold office supplies.
Office Management
- Think “prime real estate” at your desk: keep daily use items at arm’s length or a chair scoot away, such as your phone, projects in progress, copier, office supplies, etc. Keep other items away from your desk area.
- Suspend multitasking. Multitasking increases the amount of time it takes to complete a project. Because you are at home, feel free to throw in a load of laundry while you are working; but performing two detailed tasks at once will result in poor productivity. Focus for 96 minutes at one time and you’ll be more productive than most people.
- Keep filing systems simple. File business and family items in separate locations and don’t forget to change your filing system as your business grows and your family changes. Keep file folders more general and less detailed: less is more.
Finally, clean up your desk once a week so when you approach your office next time, you are ready to start working. Being organized doesn’t have to stifle your creativity. If you get to work faster and work more efficiently, your personal space will be an area of inspiration, not frustration.
“Early in my career I felt that organization would destroy my creativity; whereas now, I feel the opposite. Discipline is the concrete that allows you to be creative.” - Verna Gibson, retail tycoon
Vali G. Heist, M.Ed. is a Certified Professional Organizer® and Owner of The Clutter Crew. She is the author of Organize This! Practical Tips, Green Ideas, and Ruminations about your CRAP.
