If you work from
home, one of the largest challenges is keeping a home office organized. It can
be very easy to let your home life bleed into your work life. Distractions can
cause lower productivity, which can hurt your business and your bottom line. It's
easy to keep your home office organized, if you put a little effort into it.
Here's a few good tips:
Take Care of Piles
One of the biggest barriers to productivity is clutter. Have you noticed piles
of papers, books, magazines, or other work-related items stacking up on your
desk? Taking care of those piles can go a long way to improving your
productivity and, more importantly, your state of mind.
Organize and Throw Away Old Papers
This goes along with taking care of piles. When you go through a stack of
papers, how many of them do you actually need? Sort them into three piles --
Active use, Archival and Garbage. Throw away the garbage pile and put the
archival pile into storage somewhere. That way you can drastically cut down on
your clutter.
Keep Frequent Use Items On Hand and
Extra Supplies Elsewhere
This one is a little common sense but requires some extra furniture. You should
have a storage space set aside in a closet to store your extra supplies, such
as reams of paper, extra pens and other loose items. Conversely, you should
keep anything you use frequently on hand. The last thing you want to do is dig
through piles searching for a pen when you could be working.
Keep Business and Pleasure Separate
This one is extra important. You need an area set aside for your home office.
Whether it's a whole extra room or just a nook in the corner of your bedroom
doesn't matter. The benefits are amazing. You can focus without the added
distractions and get even more work done. Not to mention you can list it on
your taxes.
Clean Up Every Day
Once you've set up your space to be organized, take a few minutes at the end of
every work session to put things away. File away archival papers, store extra
items you may have taken out, and generally organize everything. If you keep up
on it, it won't take more than a few minutes a day.
All of these tips apply equally to your computer. You don't need a dozen
folders of documents you never use cluttering up your desktop any more than you
need them on your desk. Keep the clutter to a minimum and reap the benefits to
productivity.
About the Author
This article was
written by Phill representing OfficeAllSorts.co.uk - a specialist supplier of
office products and online stationery.
