Nanny to Mommy

Home offices have become all the rage among entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners. When you work from home, you get the benefits of being closer to your family and your clients without the commute hassle. You also get to set your own schedule so that you can fit your work around your family and obligations. However, working from home also means that you have to contend with the time spent in your home office. As with any other space, you need to set up your home office in a way that maximizes productivity and minimizes distractions. Read on for three productivity tips you can use to maximize your productivity in your home office.

One of the best productivity tips when you have a home office is to plan ahead. As with any new space, you'll want to account for all of your needs. This includes everything from the furniture you'll need to the tools you'll want to use and the things you'll need to have close by. You want to ensure that you have enough space to set up your office and to be able to move around. You also want to make sure that you can easily access the things that you need.

You will also want to plan for any technical issues you may face, especially if your job relies on the use of your phone or computer. If your laptop starts not working correctly, don't freak out; instead, ask yourself, why is that? Continuing to think rationally and not panic in situations where your technology is not working correctly will enable you to solve the problem more efficiently and recognize the problem easier. You will find that it is a pretty easy fix for the most part.

If you have a home office, you know how easy it is to accumulate a lot of clutter. While you don't want to be so particular about keeping your home office clean that it feels unnatural, you do want to keep it clean enough that it's neat when you're using it. If you have a desk, you don't want papers and files to be everywhere. You also want to keep any cords, wires, or computer components out of your way. When it comes to a filing cabinet, you don't want papers to be stacked on top of each other or the floor. Likewise, you don't want your tools and other office supplies to be all over the place. Your desk needs to be neat, and your tools or devices have to have a place where you can access them.

As with any working arrangement, you want to ensure no distractions in your home office. One of the biggest productivity killers in any home office is the phone. This includes both your work phone and your personal phone. If you find that you're constantly answering the phone or looking at your phone when you're working, it's time to address it. The easiest way to do this is to install a call filtering app on your smartphone. Alternatively, you can use a headset that eliminates the need to look at your phone. This will also allow you to keep your workspace distraction-free.

As with any work arrangement, you need to make sure that you maximize productivity in your home office. This means that you need to make sure that your office is as clean and organized as possible. Additionally, you need to make sure that you can properly avoid distractions. Finally, you need to make sure that you have a solid plan to maximize your productivity. If you follow these three tips, you'll find that working from home is a lot more pleasant and productive.