Tips for maximizing your home office

Tips for maximizing your home office
by: Marissa Anteby

If you are part of the ever-growing number of people that do some or all of their work from home. There are simple ways to utilize your time and space with more efficiency.

Use the following list as a springboard to personalize your work area to suit your needs:

- Decide which electronic items need to be readily accessible. For exampele; desktop computer, laptop, hard drive, scanner, printer, power strip, telephone, fax machine, Blackberry or i-phone charger, etc.

- Select a desk to house these items, and function as an anchor for your office, yet not overwhelm the room. There should be space for you to maneuver around easily without getting jabbed by sharp corners.

- Try out different chairs with various heights and adjustments to get the perfect fit for your body, because long term sitting impacts the health of your spine. Remember, the more comfortable you are, the more productive you are!

- Where will you sit? Make sure to not only locate the best position in the room for your chair and possible guest seating, but also consider how you will be turning or twisting in your chair in order to reach key items you work with.

- Limit objects to what's necessary for your work. Filing cabinets can be placed behind or under your desk to maximize usable floor space. Clutter can pile up fast in a home office so make a point of putting things away as soon as you can, or at a designated time once a week.

- Keep inspirational items in plain sight. Having objects nearby that encourage you to get down to business, like awards for past performance, or posters of upcoming events, will put you in the right frame of mind to concentrate.

- Stash plenty of scrap paper, post it notes, and small notepads in a top drawer, so you can retrieve a sheet easily to jot down information quickly. Try to go back once a day or every few days to input this information either on your computer, smartphone, or where ever you back up your data.

It's important to have a delineation of time and space between work and home. The line may get blurry, but do your best to separate the two when you can.

Marissa Anteby
marissa@embodyinc.com
www.embodyinc.com