Though most freelance professionals work in the comforts of their homes, there is still a need to have a clean, organized, and functional home office to work on. Nobody wants to work at home with so many baby toys scattered all around, dirty laundry on the floor, and leftover soda cans on the top of the computer. It is difficult to concentrate if you work on the dining table or down the basement. You may wonder how to organize your home office. Well, there are many ideas on how you can perk up your home office setting and give your workspace an ideal makeover. If you use a freelance search site, you will find freelance projects that give you enough time to do your home office makeover.
Though working at home can be beneficial because you don’t have to wake up early and you don’t have to drive to your office. Unfortunately, domestic issues can always interfere with your work so it is important to separate your work station from home. Finding ways to keep you away from distraction can be a challenge but if you know how to maximize your space and clean up anything that can interfere with your concentration then you are on the right track. Here are important tips and suggestion on how to organize your home office:
Get good office furniture
As long as you keep your workstation clean, modular, and functional then there is no need to buy furniture from IKEA. With your own ingenuity, you can hide all the dangling wires and organize your mess by putting all your paperwork in the drawer. Setup your monitor, charging docks, keyboards, mouse, speakers, and other USB devices in easy to reach positions. A flexible office chair with comfortable back cushion is enough.
Put your personal accent on your wall
Organize home office setting by decorating your wall with your personal favourites - soothing wallpaper colours and design, artworks, and posters. Make sure it blends with your room ambience.
Keep away from chaos and distractions
Unnecessary distractions can affect your efficiency and productivity. You wouldn’t want you kids to play around while you’re busy beating a project deadline. If you get interrupted quite a lot from watching your favourite television show then you won’t finish your work on time.
Learn how to organize a home office
Don’t wait for the clutter to cover up your entire work station. Organize everything in your area from pens to papers, document trays to desk clock, and DVD cases to portfolio organizers. Throw all the unnecessary items that take up space. Replace anything old, damaged, and defective.
Home business is real business
Treat freelance work as real full time work because if you don’t, your family and friends would insist that working at home is not working at all. Freelance time management is needed so a freelance professional may have to punch in for work at 9AM to 5PM just like most office workers do.
Quality cleaning time
If you don’t have someone who can clean your office then you have to schedule monthly cleanup in order to prevent your workstation from becoming a chaotic mess. Since there is no janitor who will clean your place for you, take time to use your vacuum cleaner to remove the dust collected in your computer, throw away the potato chip packages, and sort and arrange all documents and work files.
Regular computer maintenance
When it comes to home office management, doing regular maintenance on your computer should be your priority. Since you use your computer quite a lot, it is important to have backups of your important files. Aside from that, install updates to your software, defrag your hard drives, and scan your computer for malwares and viruses.
Take time off
As they say, all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Take time off to do your household chores where there is a lull moments in work. Exercise by doing a little bit of stretching and running in the treadmill.
Install corkboard or whiteboard
Keeping track of your freelance projects and work deliverables can be easy if you post your to-dos in a corkboard or whiteboard in your home office. At the same time, you can prioritise all the important tasks and things that you have to accomplish at the end of the day.
Freelance management
You have to manage yourself too, if you prefer to shift to serious work mode to the last minute then you will be under tremendous pressure to perform as your employers are expecting from you. In freelance management, it is important to pace yourself by not overexerting but not underperforming work at the same time.
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