7 ways to make your home office a productivity hub

If you’re an individual who works from home, many perceive you to be incredibly lucky. Although for most people this feels true, sometimes it feels like there are too many distractions.

This can be down to a number of factors, and we’ve compiled this useful guide to help you increase your output when working from home and make your home office a productivity hub.

1. Find a space and make it yours

Working from home comes with its temptations. You could so easily set up shop and work from anywhere in your home. This is all well and good, but if you don’t have your own space your productivity levels will almost surely drop. Distractions will be much more difficult to ignore, and you could become disorganised. If you can find a room for yourself, that’s the best solution. If there isn’t an entire room available, set up somewhere that’s going to be quiet and comfortable for you.

2. Use colours to relax and motivate you

Specific colours can alter your mood massively. Light colours such as a pastel blue can help to relax you, whereas red and orange are aggravating colours that could lead to stress and less efficiency in your work. Using these colours may mean redecorating is in order, or you can use these colours in your work space where possible. For example, your desktop background or stationery colour might have a positive effect as well. If you’ve got wood flooring, add a lightly coloured rug (it will also feel great underfoot!)

3. Keep it organised and clutter-free

If you’re constantly rummaging through piles of paperwork, think about how your output is going to suffer as a result. Keeping your workspace tidy means you can focus on your work. And if everything’s organised as it should be, you can quickly find what you’re looking for. This goes for your desktop files as well – organisation is key when you want to be productive.

4. Give yourself a break

Many people are under the false presumption that the longer they’re at their desks, the more work they’ll get done. For the most part this is nonsense; taking a break is important for your productivity. Fair enough, if you’ve got your head in a project, moving away from it might hinder your thought process. But if you’re struggling to be creative, or are simply getting distracted too easily, a break can help you recharge your batteries and make you think clearer when you get back to it.

5. Make it personalised

Make yourself as comfortable as possible, and personalise your work area as much as possible. If you’ve got your own room, you can get really creative. Make it yours and decorate how you want it to be. Hang your favourite art and purchase comfortable furniture, or go for a full revamp and add in trendy additions such as parquet flooring or a feature wall. Smaller accessories such as house plants and photo frames are a great way of personalising your office, and they provide something to look at when you need a break.

6. Create music playlists

If you don’t work better with music, this one probably isn’t for you. Although you should try playing some relaxing sounds and experimenting, as you might find something that does help! If you do enjoy listening to music, then create bespoke playlists for the different types of job you’ll be working on. A simple example of this would be upbeat tunes when you’re working on a repetitive task to increase speed. If you need to be creative, relaxing music might work best.

7. Keep it light

Using the lighter colours we explained in point 2 is a great way of adding extra light into your home office. They’ll reflect light around the room and give it a feeling of airiness. You should also make the most of any natural light that’s within your work space. This is easily achievable by moving any obstructions that are blocking windows. Keeping the entire room’s theme as light as possible also helps. Be it with grey wood flooring or a brightly coloured desk, there’s always opportunities to make it lighter.

Hopefully these tips will help to inspire some changes to your home office. Productivity is so important in any job, especially when you’re working from home. If one or two of these points help you increase your output and make your home office a productivity hub, then let us know.