Often, the key to improving your productivity is simply changing your environment. You don’t have to leave your house, though. Instead, focus on creating the best home office setup for productivity. By making some changes to your office, you’ll feel more focused, energized, and ready to tackle even the fullest inbox.
Upgrade Your Chair
If your chair hurts your back or makes you fidget all day, you’re not going to be productive. The first way to create the best home office setup for productivity is to invest in an ergonomic office chair. Not only will you feel more comfortable, but the right chair helps improve your posture, which also affects your productivity and overall health.
Set Up a Better Display
If you’re working on a tablet or a small-screened laptop, you may not be as productive as you think. Trying to jump between apps is time consuming. You can get more accomplished by setting up a better display. You can easily increase your screen size just by buying a portable monitor. After all, wouldn’t it be easier to see a your work on a 17-inch (or larger) screen rather than a 10-inch screen?
You can also set up dual monitors. This allows you to keep your email, chat app, or team collaboration tool open on one screen and another tool or app open on the the second screen.
Add Plants
It may sound silly, but plants are one of the easiest and most affordable ways to improve your home office for productivity. You can pick up a plant for less than $5 or even buy some seeds and grow your own. Plants have been proven to boost productivity.
This happens in a few different ways. First, plants help increase fresh oxygen in the room. Naturally, this helps your brain focus better. Second, plants serve as a positive distraction. When you look away, you see your plant, which gives your brain a break and boosts your concentration. Plants actually have a positive effect on your general happiness and health, too.
Small succulents, snake plants, peace lilies, golden pothos, and arrowhead vines are some of the best options for home offices, but anything small you can grow easily works.
Remove Distractions
This one may seem obvious, but unless you’re using the TV hanging on your wall for work, take it down. Take a moment to look around your office and note what distracts you. Maybe there’s a clock with an annoying chime or your desk is pointed toward the window where you pay more attention to your neighbors than work.
Rearrange and remove major distractions. It’s a free way to improve your home office.
Add Art or Motivational Quotes
Artwork has been proven to boost productivity, happiness, and focus. In one study, adding art and plants improved productivity by 30 percent and increased happiness. In a LinkedIn survey, professionals stated art helped them feel happier, more productive, more creative and inspired, and more relaxed.
Pick out a few pieces of art that make you feel good. You can even add art with motivational quotes, as long as they’re meaningful to you.
Change Your Lights
A quick way to improve your home office productivity is to change your lighting. Both dim and fluorescent lighting can hurt your productivity. Instead, opt for a bright white (without being fluorescent) or a yellowish hue. White helps energize, while yellow helps ease stress.
Also, tone down the overall brightness. If it’s hard to see your computer screen, the light’s too bright. Try to mimic natural lighting if possible. Using adjustable lighting or even smart bulbs often works best to let you customize your lighting to what works best for you.
Add a Laptop Stand
Posture is important for productivity. If you’re having to look down or hunch over to see your laptop, you’re hurting your productivity. Simply adding an adjustable laptop stand helps you create a more productive environment for your home office. This puts your laptop at the perfect height for your needs, eliminating bad posture and your aching neck.
Make Room to Exercise
You may not think about exercise as a way to create the best home office setup for productivity, but exercise is a great way to spend work breaks. Exercise isn’t just good for your health – it’s also ideal for improving productivity by providing a break, increasing happiness, and increasing circulation.
Create a small area to do some office exercises: simple yoga or even basic cardio. All you really need is a mat and enough space to stretch out. You could even add a desk cycle to move while you work.
Add Productive Colors
Finally, add some color to your home office. You can opt for completely repainting or just adding pops of a productive color. For instance, you might add artwork, decorative items, or a large rug. Red, blue, yellow, and green are some of the most productive colors. Plus, they turn a boring white office into something more exciting and energizing.
The next weekend you have off, take some time to make over your home office for productivity. Once you’ve created your makeover, find out the best ways to organize your home office setup for greater productivity.