November is National Entrepreneur’s Month and while they only account for 15% of the population, they make up 50% of individuals who work from home! Between that and the rise of remote workers, the home office is a more popular fixture than ever before. How can you design a great home office? Remember the three P’s: Productive, Professional and Personal.
Productive
There are many ways to increase productivity, but design is actually an important part of that. Studies show that your physical space may be the single greatest factor in determining your ability to focus.
Firstly, look at your lighting. Natural light is the most energizing, so welcoming natural light whenever possible is always a good idea. In the absence of that, make sure your lighting is sufficient and includes different levels.
Colour plays a part in productivity too – having splashes of colour and avoiding dull and monochromatic spaces wakes up your brain.
Just because it’s a home office does not mean that you throw professionalism out the window. Even if you don’t meet clients in your home office, you want a space that will make you feel and present as the professional that you are.
Think too about the location of your office. Will you be able to take a professional call, or will it be interrupted by kids, the dog, etc.? Will you be able to focus on your work, or will your mind drift to the visible pile of laundry needing to be folded? If possible, it is always best to have your home office as its own space. There’s a psychology to work and so you want to have a space exclusively used to exercise your professional and productive mindset.
Personal
The best part of a home office is that it is YOURS. It doesn’t need to be connected to an existing company design and no one from building management will mind if you hang up a picture (or two…or three). Let your personality shine so you can feel at home in your home office.
For me, I am both creative and feminine and my office certainly shows that. My artwork is soft and floral, and my decorative details are pops of colour. You walk into my office and get a sense of who I am. Think about who you are, the aspects of your individuality that you would like to display. Get artsy. Be creative. Be inspired by your surroundings!
Additionally, be comfortable. The right chair and the right desk do wonders for your ability to work hard (and the opposite is true). You are going to spend a lot of time working, make sure that what you have is ergonomically friendly for you.
