When you choose to work from the comfort of your own home, a multitude of business logistics will come into play. While you are reaping benefits from this working from home situation, you also need to plan for separating business and personal life. Here are few practical ideas that you may not have thought of that could make it so much easier.
Having a designated workspace is beneficial for a couple of reasons. You can mentally and physically step away from the space when you need to “leave” work for a break or at the end of the workday. A line of demarcation provides an opportunity to stop working and settle into your home routine. If there isn’t a separation, it can be all too easy to continue working from your couch or answer email after email while eating dinner.
To achieve a home office, you can choose an available space such as a guest room or strategically place a room divider if you live in a smaller home. Design a professional background by placing a piece of art, a plant, and a large vase off to the side of where your head will be visible on a call. Consider lighting and test it out on Zoom. If you are a small business rather than an employee, consider your brand for Zoom calls. A messy background will potentially tell a story that you don’t want to share.
Invest in a filing or storage system to help you organise and stay on task. This will decrease the amount of time spent searching for unorganised items and lead to greater productivity. Or try to go paperless. If you do this make sure your online systems are great and you have plenty of cloud space or a large external hard drive.
As a business professional, you will, undoubtedly, receive mail. Engage with www.physicaladdress.com for all of your virtual mail and business solutions. They will handle your mail for you with stringent security guidelines in place to safeguard your privacy. They are an online mail service that will receive your mail at their location after assigning you a unique suite number and address. This will be your new business (or personal) mailing address. Their employees will open the mail and packages, scan them in, and then you can view it all virtually. The company provides filtering services in addition to options for storing your mail online. This is a truly convenient resource for home business professionals so that personal addresses can remain private.
It is very easy to work-from-home when you consider your commute or lack thereof. You do not need to shuffle amongst others with your bags on public transit. Timetables and other people’s transportation schedules are no longer a concern. Fueling your vehicle will decrease significantly, as well. Consider putting the money saved into a savings account. It will soon add up and maybe pay for a new desk chair or cool desk lamp! Once you are ready each day, you can take a few short steps from one space into your designated workspace.
While some people may find that convenient and wonderful, for others the novelty may wear off after some time has passed. If this happens, take a short walk after breakfast to get some fresh air and sunshine. Look at the world outside your front door and listen to the news or a podcast. This can be a time to spend in mindfulness where you are taking time to be aware of where you are in that particular moment.
Whether you are working from the comfort of your home due to the pandemic, have been in this mode for some time, or are new to this concept, there are always new technologies to embrace. I know, even though I have worked here at home for 6 years, there are always new technologies or systems to help me be more productive and make life easier.
What have you found recently that has worked for you?
(This is a collaborative post)
