Working from home has become a norm these days. With the improvements in technology and the 2020 pandemic, businesses adapted to doing major tasks from the comfort of their couches. But many people quickly learned that while working from home sounds awesome, it also has some of its challenges. So, here are some tips to help you balance work and living areas in a home office.
Tips for Balancing Work and Living Areas in a Home Office
One of the biggest challenges of working from home is always blurring the comforts of being home with the work ethic required when you’re at work. It’s easy to understand why this happens; we associate home with relaxation and comfort and work with, well, work. These tips all orientate around separating or balancing your work area with your living area:
Have a dedicated Office Space
First things first, you need to dedicate a section of your home or property to your home office. This could be a room or even a residential shed built onto your property, but the bottom line is you need your living area and working area separated. Ideally, building a shed home with an office on your property would be best because then, to go to work, you need to get up, walk across the lawn or yard and go to work.
However, for small businesses or employees, this isn’t always possible, so the next best thing you can do is set aside a room just dedicated to work so you can go in, close the door and get stuck into your work for the day.
Set Office Hours
Setting office hours is also a valuable habit to get into when you work from home. By working according to a schedule, you’re able to set appropriate goals and manage your time better. It’ll also help you get into the mind frame of work when your day starts.
Your work schedule doesn’t have to be the typical 8-5 pm day; you can schedule it for the times when you know you’ll be most productive or orientated around when you need to meet with clients or co-workers. Either way, setting a good working schedule is a great way of balancing when you’re home to relax and when you need to work.
Reduce Distractions
One of the worst aspects of working from home is that there are so many distractions. For instance, there’s always something that needs to be done around the house. You either need to wash dishes, tidy up a little or something else distracts you. So, to avoid distractions, you need to separate yourself from them or ensure they’re out of sight.
For your workspace, make sure there is nothing there that connects to your living area. You need to associate each area with different functions, so don’t have your comfiest couch in your office; rather, invest in ergonomic furniture that improves your productivity. The same goes for gadgets and other items. Everything in your office needs to be work-related in some way or another.
Treat Work and home separately
Blending the comforts of home with your work environment is just going to make you less productive. You need to treat work like it’s work and prepare for it to the same degree you would if you had to go to work every day. So what does it look like practically? Well, firstly, don’t wear pj’s to work. Yes, we know it’s convenient, and people who work from home often boast about not having to change but trust us, when you treat your home office with the respect work deserves, you’ll find that you’re a lot more productive.
Create a flexible setup
Now, this might sound like a contradiction, but for those of you who have a residential shed in our house with limited space, try to create a flexible workspace that allows you to easily transition between your work area and living space. It’ll just make life easier and getting on with work simpler.
Final Thoughts
Balancing your work and living area can be difficult when you work from home, but it’s not impossible. All you need to do is practise a little discipline, set a good work schedule and stick to it. Having a residential shed as an office is also a great way to separate both parts of your life. We hope these tips help you balance your work and living areas better.
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