While everyone dreams of working from home, those who actually do it know that it's not as easy and luxurious as it's made out to be. 80% of people will have low back pain at some point in their life, and it's fair to bet that a majority of these will be related to posture from working conditions. A well-made home office will boost your levels of productivity as well as keep you safe from pain and injuries. It will also help you avoid distractions, so read on to find a few tips on how you can make working from home better for you.
Get a Comfortable Chair
You will spend a long time sitting down, so this is the first logical thing to think about. A chair that allows you to sit up without straining is best, and if possible, get one with a warranty. Your chair needs to match with your table for this setup to be complete, so find a table that lets you put your hands flat on the table. You can further improve your comfort and support with a laptop riser, and improvise for lumbar support using a rolled towel.
Make sure to further customize your space for the specific task you will spend long stretches of time doing. This could be using the mouse or stylus, reading, or typing on a keyboard. Also, good lighting within this space is important, as an estimated 93 million adults in the United States are at high risk for serious vision loss, but only half visited an eye doctor in the past 12 months. Avoid being a part of this by making sure your natural and artificial lighting setup are excellent.
Set Ground Rules for the People in Your Shared Space
Because you will need to concentrate in order to work effectively, you need to make sure your roommates, spouses, and/or kids know not to disturb you while you work. Don't work in common spaces like the sitting room where you are likely to set yourself up for maximum distractions, but find a place that won't be visited frequently.
Keep Your Workspace Tidy and Your Documents Organized
A cluttered area will also serve to give you mental clutter, lowering your productivity. You will also have a smaller space to work in if it's cluttered. Even if it means re-aligning some things in a shared space that you moved back to their positions at the end of the day, make sure your desk at the very least is tidy.
You can get a filing cabinet or work with a different system that will allow you to keep your documents neat and organized. Searching for important paperwork right before an important call or in the middle of working will frustrate you. Make sure that everything you need is within reach and that you know where to find documents if you need them.
Don't Use the Same Room for Working and Sleeping
If you can help it, make sure you don't work in the bedroom. This is because you need to have a different association for each space, and work and sleep are at opposite ends of any activity spectrum. You will be more productive working in a space that you know is a work area, as your mind will make the switch to work-mode when you enter the space. Working in the bedroom will also have the side effect of creating work stress with the place where you need to get rest.
Get High-Speed Internet
This is imperative because it will allow you to work and communicate with your team. Also install software to make sure no one can tap into your network, because in the first half of 2019, researchers believe that data breaches exposed over four billion records. You need to make sure your information is safe at all times and important documents are not compromised.
These tips should help you set up an effective and comfortable office at your home that is also safe. You will enjoy having no commute and being able to set up a personalized work routine, so make the most of it by doing it right.
