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How to Create a Practical Home Office that Will Boost Your Motivation

How to Create a Practical Home Office that Will Boost Your Motivation

By Sofia LockhartPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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Procrastination, distractions, an uncomfortable chair you hate sitting in, no decent coffee, and a desk that also doubles as your bed. All of these factors combine to create a home office environment where you get absolutely nothing done.

Sound familiar? If motivation is found in a missing ad on the back of your fridge’s milk carton, it’s time to reconfigure your working space. Here’s how you can do it.

Separate Living and Work Space

You’ve heard about the idea that you shouldn’t use your laptop in bed because it confuses your body and kills your sleep cycle? It’s the same notion for work and living, never combine the two. You should set clear physical boundaries between the spaces where you chill and live your life, and the place where you make those benjamins.

Doing this achieves two things. First, it stops distractions. If you’re in your office, you’re less likely to be drawn by the TV, chores, pets, and kids. It also creates the mental trigger of “going to work.” Once you step into that office oasis, it’s all business.

Buy the Right Office Equipment

People love the buying part of the home office creation process. This is where you can get all creative, waste money on useless and expensive products, and pretend you’re being productive when you’re actually putting off the inevitable. You need to buy the right stuff, not what makes you feel like you’re a cool entrepreneur. Here are some must-haves:

  • Pomodoro timer: If you’re looking to boost motivation, it’s because you struggle to get work done. Get a Pomodoro timer. It’s a simple device that sets a target of 25-minutes of work, followed by a short 5-minute break. Personally, I prefer the physical over the digital kind.
  • Affordable printer: You can’t have an office without a printer, period. Yes, we live in a digital world, but printing still has its role. Avoid expensive printers geared towards newbie entrepreneurs—an entry-level version is more than enough. There are a number of budget-friendly printer options available that offer all the functionality and features for your daily printing needs. After all, you’re creating a home office, not a professional printing press.
  • Big monitor: This is your job, it deserves a decent monitor. Don’t huddle over your laptop on the kitchen table, but have a proper setup that your home office deserves.
  • Ergonomic chair: You’ll be sitting on this thing for 8 hours a day at the very minimum. Don’t you think your body deserves more than a cheap office chair from IKEA (no offense, IKEA)? Ergonomic chairs are more comfortable, result in fewer soft-tissue injuries, and will lead to increased productivity.
  • Feel good music: Cornell University research revealed music is good for productivity. Invest in a decent Bluetooth speaker that can pump out motivational tunes throughout the day. If you need to spare your family and neighbors from your musical tastes, get a good pair of noise-isolating headphones.

Mess = Crime

Those minimalism evangelists can get a little annoying, but they do have a point. You want your desk to be clean of junk, your office allergic to mess. Consider being messy a criminal offense, and you’ll create an environment that’s sanitized for motivational perfection.

You also want to declutter and get rid of the superfluous with reckless abandon. Throw away gadgets you don’t need. Books you’ve read can go to Goodwill. If you’ve collected one too many coffee cups, keep your favorites and ditch the rest. You want a desk that emits zen, not "mad professor."

Stock Up on Productivity Food

There’s a reason big names like Google and Facebook spend so much time and money ensuring their employees are well-fed with tasty snacks and healthy delicious meals: it helps keep people happy, productive, and ready to rock. You need to think in the same way, except small scale:

  • Snack subscriptions: You can do this yourself, but I’m too lazy so I prefer productivity snack subscriptions. Yes, they exist. And they’re awesome. Companies like SnackNation will deliver a selection of healthy snacks, offering up to 40% off retail prices.
  • Decent water: I personally have a SodaStream, and it’s paid me back in thousands of bottles of carbonated water. It ensures I’m kept hydrated, with the fizz giving it that “I’ve bought this at a fancy place” vibe that tap water just doesn’t offer.
  • Take time to cook: Microwave meals are banned. Those noodles you used to eat in college? Don’t even think about it. What you put in your body is your fuel, respect it. Take time to cook yourself a proper nutritious meal.

Setting up the right environment is non-negotiable if you want to be productive from your home office. Most people make the mistake of thinking that motivation purely comes from within. Not so. You need to put the puzzle pieces in place to inject the right level of productivity into your business or home office. Follow the advice outlined above and you’ll get just that little bit closer.

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