productivity | local marketing center|Paul and Sarah Edwards |Working From Home |

Choose the Right Location

Start by taking a tour of your home as though you’ve never been there before. Walk through each space and imagine it without furniture. Where can you add a workspace? If your home has a basement, this may be the obvious choice. Basements are usually isolated from the rest of the house, so if the kids come home from school, they won’t disrupt your Zoom meeting.

To DIY or Not to DIY?

If you’re looking to cut costs, a DIY home office renovation might seem like the best bet. But consider your starting point first. A finished basement already has the basic flooring, drywall, and electrical you’ll need for a safe and comfortable office. You may only need to add a fresh coat of paint in a soothing hue. But an unfinished basement is trickier. Case in point: you’ll need to install subfloor insulation before the carpeting to prevent condensation and mold. These larger tasks are often best left to a pro. Otherwise, you could pay more for repairs down the line.

Wellness While You Work

Next, it’s time to add furniture. Choose a high-quality, comfortable desk and ergonomic chair that are suited to your height. Head to your favorite secondhand shop or look online for affordable options. You may want to consider an adjustable sit-stand desk to switch things up throughout the day. In either position, ensure that your monitor is at the proper distance and viewing angle to reduce eyestrain.

Hack Your Productivity

Now that the heavy lifting is done, it’s time to stimulate your creativity and get you in the zone. Add a smart speaker for some relaxing tunes or white noise. (Unlike the office, you won’t need to wear headphones!) Did you know that certain scents, especially pine and cinnamon, have been associated with alertness and focus? Light a scented candle or use a plug-in oil diffuser for a boost.

Add Self-Care to Your Workspace

You spend more of your waking hours at your workstation than almost anywhere else. As you put the finishing touches on your new home office, take another tour of your home and gather items that help facilitate a feeling of peace and joy. It could be a houseplant, a family photo, a lamp to add brightness, or a yoga mat for a comfy place to stretch and reset between tasks. These items will truly help you feel like you’re working from the comfort of home and enhance your work-life balance. Best of all, they don’t cost you a cent!

Everyone longs to escape those stuffy office buildings, but few take the necessary steps to turn that dream into a reality. By following these simple tips, though, you’ll be enjoying your new home office in no time!

Local Marketing Center consists of Paul and his wife, Sarah Edwards, who are award-winning authors of 17 books with over 2,000,000 books in print. Paul also provides local marketing consulting through the Small Business Development Center. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email paul@localmarketing.center.

Written by Courtney Rosenfeld

It is not uncommon for us to ignore the signals our exhausted bodies send us when we take on too much too soon. For most of us the toll of not managing our energy effectively is subtle but nonetheless important. Fatigue is the number one signal that tells us that we’re not managing our energy well enough, and without energy we can’t get much done. Yet, earning a sustainable living today does place added demands on our energy. Because life wants to move along the course of the least resistance, changing the course of our lives means overcoming that resistance and heading into new territory.

Doing that means we have to find a delicate balance between the energy we have available and the demands we place upon ourselves. Ask yourself…do you get out of bed each morning raring to go? Do you pace yourself during the day so that you still have ample reserves to enjoy the evening? Are you getting enough sleep? How do you know when you’re tired? What’s your body telling you?

Burnout

Research suggests that the leading cause of burnout is unrealistic expectations. Burnout occurs when the demands we put on ourselves outweigh our energy supply. Besides taking on too much too soon, there can be lots of reasons we become depleted including eating the wrong foods, staying up too late, dealing with family problems, and coping with financial pressures just to name a few. What is draining your energy? How can you restructure your life to stop this energy drain? Research shows that our work and living environments make a big difference in our energy level. Everything from the lighting, room temperature to the amount of space we work in can affect our energy level.

A Supportive Work Environment

A supportive work environment boosts our energy level, helps us concentrate, reduces fatigue and distractions and increases productivity. Design and furnish your workspace so that it nourishes rather than fatigues or distracts you, by including plants, artwork, music and some of your favorite things. Also consider the following:

Lighting – for best results, use natural light when possible, or full-spectrum bulbs.
Soundproofing – Unwanted noise has the strongest correlation to job stress. Find a sound level at which you can remain alert but still are able to concentrate. Mask unpleasant noise with background noise or a sound generator.
Office furniture – furniture should be comfortable and ergonomically designed to avoid muscle strain and fatigue.
Aromatherapy – fragrances affect how we feel and how well we think. Peppermint, for example, stimulates productivity. So treat your office to scents that will help you to work more productively. Try fresh flowers, potpourris or incense.
Color – research indicates that colors in our environment produces strong psychological and physiological effects. For example, red is energizing; blue is relaxing; yellow stimulates thinking and creativity.
Clean Air – Research has shown that plants can also serve as air purifiers. Placing a spider plant, a peace lily or golden pothos in your office can absorb chemical pollutants like ozone, formaldehyde, and trichloreoethylene generated by your computer, carpet, copy machine and fax.

If you haven’t thought about how your work environment impacts your energy level and effectiveness, it’s time to take a step back and objectively assess the surroundings you work in.

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