With the trying time, we are living in, working at home has become the new normal. With the on and off lockdowns, most of us who have office jobs had to convert our bedroom into a multipurpose space, especially those who live in condos or apartments. Our home has become a one-stop shop with everything we had to do in them because of the pandemic, and I can personally tell you that I had to separate my bedroom from my home office because it was getting too much. I was feeling suffocated by my work. Thankfully, my roommate and I work for the same company, and we decide to run our living room into our communal office space and decide to leave our bedroom as our private space because you need to separate the two to stay sane these days. So, come along with us and learn how to turn your home into your own office space.
Location
You will spend an average of 8 hours in your home office, so it needs to be someone that has very little traffic, and if you are a parent, it should be somewhere that your kids won’t have to come by every 5 minutes to, so choosing your kitchen as your home office if you do have kids is a big no-no. Your office space should be a quiet space, where you can attend meetings, and should be somewhere where you aren’t easily distracted. My roommate and I have been friends since college and started at the same company around the same time and living in our two-bedroom condo for about 3 years now, and it was a group decision to turn part of our living area into a communal office space. Let’s be honest, we were stuck at home together for the lockdowns, and as the living room was mostly unused except for our daily movie nights, we decided to turn it into our office space and like this, we were no longer stuck behind our screen and we had each other to speak to.
Invest in a good chair
This is key for your back; you can just get any chair to work from home in; it will work for a couple of days or even weeks, but you’ll ultimately start to have back pains, and this is not ideal if you have an office job and have to sit in front of a computer all day. To your back, a favor and get yourself a good old ergonomically office chair; it might be a bit expensive, but it is a good investment for your future, and your back will thank you for this! Working at home can be really stressful because you are doing it from essentially the same space, so you need to find ways to distract yourself, get a yoga ball on which you can sit, and exercise at the same time while working. It is an excellent way to distract yourself when you are bored. Personally, When I’m bored, my roommate and I go for a smoke break on our balcony, or we have a chat to get away from what’s stressing us.
Attending a meeting on the go
Depending on who you share your living situation with, the location of your office space is crucial and must be somewhere relatively quiet or quiet enough for you to hold meetings. And if worst comes to worst, like this week when I decide to spend Thanksgiving at my parents, and the whole house is a ruckus because people have no volume control here, you can always attend your meetings from the comfort of your closet. Yes, I did take a vacation, but there was an emergency meeting that we all needed to attend and you gotta do what you gotta do to make it work, just take a few pillows and a heavy blanket and make yourself a little nest in the closet and attend your meeting from there. I’m speaking from experience it is the best place to have a meeting when you are in a pinch.
Sound off in the comments section below and tell us if you want to learn more about turning your home into your new office place, and this is especially needed right now with the surge of the delta variant in the country. Get vaccinated and stay safe.
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