Many people are unaware of how to optimize their entire environment for their benefit. This principle extends to optimizing a home office. While most people could do a decent job working at a bedroom desk or dining table, there are often at least 2-3 items that can be further improved upon or eliminated from your home office.
Understanding the must-have elements for a comfortable and productive home office is key, but it’s equally important to identify and eliminate things that may be silently killing your productivity.
Remove elements harming your home office efficiency, beyond your digital workspace. In addition to tackling obvious issues like a suboptimal laptop and visible clutter, you should eliminate all external distractions and customize your entire home workspace for optimal productivity.
In this article, I’ve identified a total of 17 factors that can be grouped into three categories: Digital workspace inefficiencies, external distractions, and bad arrangements and setups within your home office. Here’s the list.
| Category | Items to eliminate (sometimes fix or replace) |
| Digital workspace inefficiencies |
|
| External distractions |
|
| Bad arrangements/setups |
|
This list applies not just to working in your home office, but to working from anywhere in general – even when your office happens to be the Airbnb or a local cafe.
1. Suboptimal Laptop
Your laptop is your primary tool for work, and a suboptimal one can severely hamper productivity.
Before I upgraded my laptop, I tolerated an old Macbook for years (used it for more than 7 years), despite its performance issues. My workflow was often disrupted by its poor battery life, slow performance, and inadequate multitasking capabilities. After I invested in a new Macbook Air, those problems went away. I was way more efficient. I no longer have to worry about its battery or its lagginess when I run all the programs I need.
Outdated technology can slow you down and hinder your productivity. You can choose to keep your existing laptop and but get more out of it.
There are many ways to optimize a laptop and you most likely aren’t getting the most out of yours. Make upgrades, master your applications/workflow, and keep your software up-to-date, amongst other things. Otherwise, upgrade to a laptop that meets your work requirements.
2. Clutter
This includes both your physical and digital workspace. Most people have clutter. Many find clutter troublesome to deal with and get rid of.
At the end of each day, make it a habit to clear off your entire work area. If there’re things you’re working on, hard paperwork, objects, notebooks, pens, or other pieces of equipment (such as electronics and batteries), clear them off your desk. Do this so that when you sit down at your work area the next morning, it’s nice and clear. You can get to work without your brain getting distracted.
Other examples of common clutter in a home office are cardboard boxes and parcels, old books, old magazines – get rid of clutter lying around.
Likewise, make it a habit to organize your digital space by closing unused tabs and decluttering your desktop. A messy screen and an excessive number of open/running programs makes you less productive and potentially lags your laptop.
This article was originally published on unboundist.com. If it is now published on any other site, it was done without permission from the copyright owner.
3. Pop-up/Banner notifications or Alerts
Most people tolerate pop-up/banner notifications or alerts, or even enjoy them, as they produce a dopamine hit. Others think that they need these pop-up notifications or alerts. Not many actually turn them off.
You do not want to constantly view notifications from emails, messages, and apps. The noises and flashes from these notifications are constantly diverting your attention.
If you want banner notifications, fine, but what you can do is to seriously disable all noises and flashes on all electronic devices. Disable them during work hours to maintain focus.
Putting your phone (and laptop) to silent mode is step one. But if you stop at tackling noises, when someone sends you a text and your phone starts flashing, there could be a mental need for you to get that dopamine rush to check and see what that message is. The same goes for alerts on your phone/laptop.
This immediate small change of disabling noises and flashes on all your devices can significantly enhance your concentration, and thus overall productivity.
4. Overcharging of Devices
Overcharging devices is a common but detrimental habit. It degrades battery life, impacting overall device performance. Hence a laptop with degraded battery life will somewhat affect our productivity as well.
For those working on the go, maintaining optimal device functionality is essential. We want to implement charging practices that preserve battery life, such as charging up to 80% and avoiding complete discharges.
Eliminate the tendency to overcharge your devices to 100% and leave them plugged in, especially while you work.
5. A Distracting Partner, Flatmate, or Family Member
What do you do if you share a home office space with other family members, flatmates, or a partner?
It requires clear communication and boundaries. Set up multiple work zones, have workspaces for varied work styles, and establish clear boundaries and predictability, amongst other things. Flexibility is key, but it’s equally important to maintain a structured work atmosphere.
Get rid of people distractions. If you could not, you want to use noise-cancelling headphones or simply work beyond your home.
6. Music with Lyrics
While music can enhance focus, lyrics can be distracting. Opt for instrumental or non-lyrical music. That way, its lyrics do not enter your subconscious mind and distract you. Otherwise, pick songs with singing in another language so that your brain does not decipher its meanings.
7. External Noises
External noises, whether from traffic or flatmates, can disrupt concentration.
The noise that goes into your ears is 100% within your control, even if you live with 7 other people.
Invest in noise-canceling headphones, and have something playing in the headphones so that you can’t hear anything else, such as non-lyrical music or white noise. If you can’t afford to spend on a quality pair of headphones, you can buy a cheap pair for $7 and put earbuds in there. Do whatever works for you.
Otherwise, find alternative quiet spaces, such as libraries or cafes, to maintain control over your auditory environment.
8. A Bad Desk Setup
Anything you use on a daily basis should be of high quality. This principle applies to your desk setup. A poorly designed desk setup is a surefire way to kill productivity.
Ensure your desk is not too small/cramped, and it has the right height for typing and viewing of your screens. You also need sufficient legroom underneath. Otherwise, you need a new desk. No point forcing it, trying to be functional with a small corner desk when your performance is hurting. You can do better.
To replace or fix your bad desk setup, certain ergonomic tools might help, such as a standing desk converter or laptop stand.
9. A Bad Desk Chair
The same principle applies to your chair, which you use on a daily basis. It should be of high quality. A subpar chair can contribute to back pain, poor posture, and discomfort.
When working at home, do not force it with chairs that aren’t designed for office work. If you work in the kitchen or living room, you may need to replace existing furniture with actual office chairs. Even if this is unideal, you should lean towards prioritizing functionality in a small multifunctional space. Do what you must do to make your workspace functional.
If your bad chair is an issue, choose a chair with proper lumbar support and adjustability to ensure you maintain good posture throughout your workday. Invest in an ergonomic chair if needed.
10. A Couch, TV, or Bed in Sight
If you have tempting distractions like a couch, TV, or bed within sight, it can lead to unintentional breaks and reduced focus.
If you can view your couch/bed with the ease of a head turn, you will succumb to the relaxation of it more often. It’s not rocket science. Their visibility (and proximity) is bad for your subconscious when you are working.
It’s best to position your workspace away from these distractions to create a clear boundary between work and leisure. At the minimum, position yourself in a direction where you cannot easily see these comfort furniture and distractions.
11. Bad Ventilation
Good ventilation is crucial for a healthy home office environment. Fresh air and good ventilation have been linked to increased alertness and cognitive function.
Address poor ventilation by opening windows, using fans, or incorporating indoor plants or even air purifiers to enhance air quality. The simplest improvement is to leave your door open.
In a smaller space with poorer ventilation, it’ll also help if you go minimal and light. Store away your “stuff” and keep your home office clean by vacuuming, sweeping, dusting, and sanitizing your space often.
12. Convenience Food/Beverages
Having convenience food and beverages within sight is distracting. Strictly avoid this if your office is in your bedroom.
There’s no reason to have a snacking corner in your home office unless your home office is literally in the kitchen. Even then, you’d want to keep the food and verages out of sight, and out of mind, while you work at the dining table.
Even though you design the rules of working at home, you should have a designated snacking area in another room to maintain a professional and focused atmosphere. Eat somewhere else where you do not work.
13. Badly aligned screens
Ensure that the top of your laptop/monitor screen is at or slightly below eye level. Ensure that your screen is placed at an appropriate distance (one arm away or slightly less) from your eyes.
Doing these two things will help prevent eye discomfort and strain.
For an ergonomic setup, adjust the height and distance of your screens. You can use tools like a laptop stand, desktop riser, or a monitor arm.
14. Awkward typing habits
Awkward typing practices can lead to discomfort or worse still, repetitive strain injuries.
Eliminate awkward typing habits by ensuring your keyboard is at the correct height – that is the comfortable height for typing without moving your wrists into an awkward angle/position.
Second, use consistent keyboards across devices. Do not use different keyboards on different laptops, for instance. If you place your laptop on a stand, you certainly want to use an external keyboard which you place flat on your desk in front of you.
What about positioning? Center the “B” key by placing it directly directly in front of you, in the center of your torso. Then you can keep your wrists and arms at their neutral positions while you type away.
15. Complex working environment
Do not make your work environment more complex than it needs to be. Often, less is better.
For example, you may have excess screens that could be utilized for productivity, but they end up being a distraction or inconvenience. Perhaps you wanted to make use of an old phone, excess cables, or even an extra monitor, but it ended up being idle most of the time because the virtual desktops on your laptop are sufficient to get things done. Cut out these excess stuff.
Simplify your working environment by avoiding unnecessary gadgets and multiple screens.
Instead, a simpler work environment, with minimal tools, keeps you mobile and flexible. Embrace a mobile working approach. Work mobile – with less.
If you’re flexible, you can simply grab your laptop and headphones, and visit a local Starbucks or library or cheap restaurant and work there whenever you need a switch of locations. This is super helpful especially if you work in a small space or live with others, as you’d want the ease of changing your environment whenever distractions arise or productivity dips.
16. Non-work personal items and tools
This is related to the point on clutter, but you may still be tempted to keep non-work personal items and tools around the same space where you work.
The challenge lies in limiting non-work items in your home office, especially in multifunctional spaces like bedrooms.
For instance, in a bedroom office, you may have grooming tools, self-care items, books, toys, games, miscellaneous furniture, and other non-work items. In such cases, you want to reassess if you really need certain tools. Can you eliminate them entirely (throw them away) or store them somewhere else?
Again, make the necessary decisions to minimize distractions.
17. Old documents you don’t need
Shred old documents you no longer need, or scan them to make soft copies for digital storage. You can make it a habit to do this once a month. Do either one (or both) of these two things to create a clutter-free workspace – ideally a paperless one.
Once you get rid of old documents, your space is cleaner, and you can perform better. This is because you’ve reduced visual distractions and ‘stuff’ lying around in your space.
If you want more tips on setting up your home office, check out our comprehensive guide to get your workspace up and ready in no time.