Working remotely is certainly convenient: no need to get up early, pushing in the subway or standing in rush hour traffic. But working from home isn’t as easy as it may seem.
It can be hard to concentrate, there are constant distractions, the line between work and the rest of your life seems to vanish. And now it’s ten in the evening, and you are still finishing an urgent task instead of searching for the most profitable bet odds or watching movies. Improving productivity is possible with a comfortable workplace. Let’s find out how best to arrange it.
1. Separate the Work Zone From the Living Area
Perhaps this is one of the most difficult, but important conditions for effective work from home. As much as you want to lie down with a laptop in a cozy bed or sit at the dining table, you shouldn’t do this. Lounge areas shouldn’t be associated with work. Here are some options for how you can zoning out the living room or bedroom, if the apartment has no separate room for an office:
- Use flow-through shelving. The advantage is that they do not weigh the space, and it’s convenient to store documents, books, and everything you need to work on them.
- Install a partition. It can be made of glass, plasterboard, wood or plastic. For example, glass constructions take up little space and let in the sunlight. And wooden ones keep heat well and are easy to install.
- Separate the space with curtains. There are even special materials that absorb noise – these curtains are called acoustic. They are usually used in recording studios, but in the apartment, they will help create comfortable conditions for work.
2. Choose Comfortable Furniture and Accessories
Improperly equipped workplace has a bad effect on health: pains in the back and neck appear, eyesight deteriorates, and fatigue is tormented. As a result, productivity and quality of work decreases. That’s why it’s important to choose furniture and accessories which facilitate a correct body posture during work and reduce the strain on the body.
Desk
Its surface should be such that the monitor is at a distance of 50-70 cm from the eyes. Standard sizes – 1200 × 60 cm. The height depends on the person’s height. For example, if you’re 175 cm tall, a table with a height of 75 cm would be fine. When you sit, elbows should be free to rest on the table top, shouldn’t lift shoulders and feet – resting on the table top or storage drawers.
Chair
Proper positioning of your legs and arms while working helps avoid health problems. A chair or armchair should have a stable base, armrests, and an elastic backrest that partially relieves stress on the back. It’s good if the seat is adjustable in height and depth. If your shoulders, back and neck get tired, choose an armchair with a headrest.
The criteria for a comfortable chair:
- Legs reach the floor and bend at a 90-degree angle.
- Armrests at the same level as the keyboard.
- The backrest supports the lower back well, can bend and spring under the weight of the body.
Footrest
It gives your feet a stable position on the floor and improves blood circulation – so your feet are less tired and swollen. There are footstools with a massage effect, they help to cope with stress. They work from the network or batteries. It’s better to choose a model in which the angle of inclination is adjustable, so you can adjust it to yourself and achieve maximum comfort.
Laptop Stand
It raises the laptop above the desk and the screen is at eye level. It protects your neck from strain. Besides, a laptop doesn’t overheat – air circulates through the holes in the bottom of the case, and some models even have a built-in fan.
Ergonomic Keyboard
It holds your hands naturally and improves your posture. A flat keyboard has no wrist rest, so your wrists are often turned inward, which causes discomfort. An ergonomic keyboard keeps your wrists in the proper position and your hands straight. Thus they are less stressed, it becomes easier to keep the shoulders straight and the back straight. As a result, typing is more comfortable and faster.
Vertical Mouse
When you use a vertical mouse, your hand is held vertically with the outer rim of the palm resting on the table. Physiologically speaking, this is the natural position of the wrist as it’s turned when writing by hand. This prevents the development of tunnel syndrome, a disease that occurs when the hand is constantly in an uncomfortable position.
A comfortable workplace can help get rid of procrastination and increase productivity. It can also prevent health problems such as back and neck pain, visual impairment, chronic fatigue and irritability. That’s why it’s so important to arrange an ideal corner where you will feel a burst of energy and work with pleasure.
Tips for Organizing Your Work
Lighting
Place the table near a window where there is natural light: it has a good effect on the productivity of the work. You need to install a desk lamp, you can choose a variant with adjustable brightness. If you are right-handed, install the lamp on the left, for the left-handed – on the right.
All light sources in the room should have the same color temperature. It’s more comfortable to work with a neutral white light.
Silence
If the extraneous sounds from the street or family members’ voices disturb your concentration, use headphones. True, not everyone can work to music. In that case, white noise will help – it has all the frequencies that a person can distinguish, distributed evenly, so that these sounds do not irritate. For example, the crackling of a fire, the hum of a waterfall or a heartbeat.
Order on the Table
Make sure your desk stays uncluttered. Remove everything unnecessary from it. The “arm’s-length rule” will help: place documents, notebooks, and gadgets that you use every day at arm’s length, and the rest at a distance. Clutter prevents you from concentrating and takes time when you’re looking for the right notes or papers.
Decor
Decorate your workspace with things that are pleasing to the eye and inspiring. You can hang a cork board and place stickers, photos and cards on it. Or choose a slate board to write down tasks and draw diagrams. The main thing is that the decorative elements should motivate rather than distract. They also help mark the boundaries of the workspace.
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