Creating a Productive Home Office
You can sit down at the dining room table with your laptop, but within minutes you’ll begin to notice the downsides of this quick, ad hoc workspace. You’re distracted by the kids’ cartoons in the adjacent living room. The fridge is calling you, and suddenly you must go get a snack. Constructing a well-thought-out office can help cut down on many of these distractions, if not all of them.
Making Space
The key to making a successful parents home office is creating separate space for you and for your children. Doing this properly will depend on the age of your kids. Infants or young toddlers will need you closer by, whereas older kids can hang out on the first floor while you work upstairs.
No matter how small your house is, resist putting your desk in the same area where your children will be spending most of their time; also avoid just setting yourself on the couch to do work. Having a separate space helps signal to the brain that it’s time to do work, and can make it easier to focus your cognitive energy on the task at hand instead of many other available distractions.
Office Gear: The Essentials
Many work-at-home parents find themselves doing extensive work via the Internet. If this is true for you, it’s time to invest in a desk that’s the right height for your chair and your body, and that has enough surface area. Many people swear by standing desks, to keep them more alert and to avoid getting sore. You’ll also need an ergonomic chair (if you don’t go with the standing desk), a desk lamp that provides enough light, and an ergonomic keyboard.
Make It Yours
As a stay-at-home parent/worker, it’s easy for your multiple identities to blend together. And with the demands of being a parent always readily there to distract you, it’s easy to let your “mom” or “dad” identity subsume any professional side you’re working on.
To keep from feeling like your work is being swallowed up by your other obligations, strive to keep your workspace separate from the rest of your home; the main ways to achieve this are to vehemently battle clutter and to decorate the space to your own specifications. Put a small area rug under your desk to visually separate it. Hang some art on the wall above your desk, or hang up a few quotes by people who inspire youl.
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