When people find out I work from home, their immediate reaction is to ask how I do it. They often say something along the lines of, "I wouldn’t be able to focus if I worked from home."
This is a valid reaction. I can stay in my jammies all day, my cozy bed is just across the hall, and I have a large TV in the living room that gives me full access to Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and HBO GO. Yes, I will admit by working from home I am surrounded by temptation, but in all honesty, I have the same amount of focus working from home that I do in a physical office shared with others. It takes some self-discipline, sure, but for the most part I believe is has to do with establishing your work environment.
Let's pretend like my desk is this clean.
Here is the very simple key: you want to be happy walking into your office space. You don’t want to feel the nagging urge to wander away from your computer for longer than necessary. In order to set up your happy office space, pay attention to the senses:
Touch Have an office toy for those moments you need to look away from the screen. There are all kinds of things out there, like mini zen gardens, neocubes, mini basketball nets and even something as simple as a stress ball.
Taste When working from home, you can have all of the best snacks right in your refrigerator. I like to keep healthy snacks nearby, whether a bag of carrots or some hummus and pita chips. This helps to keep my energy levels up.
Smell Get a scented candle for the office. This might sound overboard but it really can create a nice mood.
Sight You don’t want to feel like your office area is a prison. Hang some artwork, paint your walls your favorite color, have some inspirational books or frame some photos of your loved ones.
Sound Consider purchasing some decent speakers so you can have your favorite music playing in the background while you work. Spotify and Pandora are great options for streaming music from your computer.
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