Tips for Creating a Productive Home Office

If you work from home, you may suffer from un-productive-itis. You’re not alone in that affliction. Many people who telecommute, run a business from home or freelance find that they are not as productive in their home offices as they hoped to be. Fortunately, there is hope for the unproductive home office. These five tips will help you upgrade your office into a productivity hub.

Keep your desk clear of everything you’re not working on

It’s easy for a desk to become a repository for everything from your previous project to your son’s hockey helmet to empty soda cans you haven’t had a chance to discard. Keeping your desk clean helps productivity in three ways. It makes you feel like you’re “really at work.” It helps you stay organized. And it saves time, because you don’t have to look for that paper you just had or spend time cleaning your desk so you can get some work done.

Play music or use a fan or an ambient noise generator

Not everyone works well with music, but very few people work well with silence. The thing is that silence is not really silent. There’s the traffic noise from the street, the faucet dripping in the kitchen, and the dog barking next door. Those noises distract you from the work you’re trying to focus on. If you work well with music, find something that you can focus against. That may be classical, new age, or something you’ve listened to a million times and won’t pay attention to while you’re working. If music isn’t your best environment for working, run a fan or try one of the white noise or ambient noise generators that covers up background sounds.

Close your door

Even if no one else is home, closing your door makes your office feel more like a workplace and reduces your inclination to get up and go do something, such as a load of laundry. If your house does have other people in it during the day, the closed door is a signal that you’re working and shouldn’t be interrupted.

 Keep your files and reference materials close at hand

You should be able to reach anything you need for your current project. It’s great to get up and stretch or take a break, but you don’t want to have to get up in the middle of your work. Keep everything where you can reach it and schedule your stretch breaks. You’ll get more done with fewer interruptions to get up and get something.

Let your calls roll to voicemail or your answering machine

Work when you’re at work. If you’re expecting an important call, certainly watch the Caller ID for it. Other than that, let people know you don’t answer the phone when you’re working and you will return their call as soon as possible. Most people will respect you for your dedication to your work. Your home office becomes more productive when you place more emphasis on the home part and less on the office part. These tips will help you do that.

Author Bio:
Sarah writes on behalf of Fluid Branding a promotional products specialist. Fluid Branding have thousands of promotional product from promotional mugs to calculators, from promotional pens to umbrellas. Fluid Branding have something for everyone.