Rants Corner 
In last week’s episode of HR insights, I spoke about how working from home could affect your personal life and how you needed to develop a working schedule and create a personal working space.
Serving as a sequel to last week’s article, and also, because the Lagos State government(Lagos is the epicenter of businesses across Nigeria really) had decided to increase the work-from-home order to a longer period following the recent spike in covid-19 cases across the state, I find it necessary to talk on the topic of setting up your own dedicated work-from-home space for the long term so as to be able to achieve better results in a shorter amount of time, and if possible, help save your personal life in the process.
Let’s dive in immediately;
Firstly, IDENTIFY WHAT YOU NEED.
Depending on the type of job you do, you might either need a big workspace with a large desk, a large computer space, and big monitors, or simply, a small work table for your computer, and a little shelf for your files.
Write down all your needs based on the type of job you do, then pick out wherever you believe is big enough to accommodate you and all your needs.
Now, CHOOSE A DEDICATED SPACE.
You have an idea of all you need to get for work. Now, the next thing for you to do is to pick out a dedicated workspace.
Remember you are going to be working from wherever you choose, so do try to make sure you choose somewhere in your house where you have enough privacy and quiet to get work done. If possible, try to steer clear of your family members altogether.
A room with a door should do just fine as a dedicated workspace.
Remember to CONSIDER THE LIGHTING while at it.
We have two types of light; or at least, that’s how I’ve always looked at it really(I can’t remember where I read about the concept).
The warm light that helps you when you need to relax like the fireplace, and some special lighting, and the cold light, like the sunlight, that help to improve productivity.
You want productivity while you are at work, so you should already have figured that you need somewhere where sunlight is seeping in through the open window. The more cold light you can get, the better your productivity level(don’t work under the sun. I didn’t mean it that way.)
Ps: Some researches have shown that having a pot of orchid(the most googled flower in 2020), or really, just any pot of flower helps to increase well being, productivity, and makes you twice as happy as you currently are right now.
So, get yourself a pot of flowers and start watering away!
Also, try to get A DEDICATED PHONE FOR WORK.
Imagine, your strict, no-nonsense boss calls you up, and your spouse, or worse still, your irritable, noisy (and oh very adorable) child picks up the call and begins to scream into the phone….
I don’t think a few lines can explain the message I’m trying to pass here, but you know your boss more, so…
(Just kidding)
But really, a dedicated phone makes work easier. You do not have to mix work and your private life together, so, get up and go get yourself a new phone today.
Remember to SET A PLACE FOR YOUR GADGETS.
Having your iPhone, your smartwatch, your iPad with the Netflix subscription, and other time-consuming gadgets around while you work isn’t really healthy for getting work done. It starts with a quick peek, and before you know it, 1 hour of work time has gone down the drain.
Even if you have to exchange gadgets with your spouse(I believe you don’t know each other’s passwords right?) to get work done, then absolutely!
Submit away!
Remember, you are getting paid to work. Work, and not waste time enjoying the use of your gadgets.
Meanwhile, you should make sure to SEPARATE YOUR PERSONAL LIFE FROM YOUR WORK LIFE.
This is an important piece of information.
Avoid the intermittent spillover of both aspects of your life, and just work on, well, work.
Spilling both aspects of your life is unhealthy and could slow your pace down, as well as cause some other issues as I spoke about in last week’s post which I spoke of earlier.
I’m pretty sure you value your personal life, well then, have a quick read of the last episode, and make sure to separate work from personal.
And finally, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP TRACK OF TIME.
Don’t spend all your day working. Remember you have family and friends to spend time with as well.
In fact, researchers say we always end up more productive when we get up and move around, as compared to sitting down at a spot, trying to spend hours on end on a single project.
And that is how you set up a work-from-home office people!
