After 20 years working from home... I honestly feel I have my 'perfect' home office environment. Some things that have really made a difference:
USE SEPARATE COMPUTERS FOR WORK AND PERSONAL STUFF
If you can swing the space/money etc - this is the
single biggest (best) change you can make. It SO
much easier to focus when all your favorite stuff
isn't staring at you on the desktop!
Create separate profiles with separate shortcuts
for personal and work browsers (per-client if
needed). Much easier to resist 'tab roulette'
if you have to open a separate program to do it.
Don't keep a radio or TV in your work space. If
you like music while you work - use local
playlists or streaming services that won't
inject 'news' or ads into your music. Its really
easy to hear some news tidbit and spend 20 minutes
reading up on it. Or you might hear an ad that
sends you off to see if it's really a good deal.
I prefer audio calls over all other formats. If
you 'chat' you usually only get half of the other
persons attention, and its just much lower
'bandwidth' then spoken word. The current video
craze just ends up with people 'playing' with the
new 'toy' - wasting time talking about their new
background, filter, or the home reno project in
the background.
I don't share the worlds fascination with cell
phones - I basically never check mine. It
probably has 5 years of unread voice mail on it.
(I just use it for 2FA and lyft). However, if
you require a phone for checking websites, etc.
Get a dummy phone, and leave your personal phone
in another area. (Do NOT install social media on
the dummy phone!)
Make sure your chair supports you properly. If
needed you can improvise back/butt support with
those airline neck pillows (place them backwards
with the opening in the back to prevent sitting
on your tail bone). You can also use inflatable
'donuts' or towels if need be. If possible,
get a 'real' office chair with full ergonomics
(can be really cheap at used office supply stores)
I find a good over-the-ear wireless headset great
for both blocking out random noise (leaf blowers,
lawn mowers, whatever) and use in voip calls.
I'm blind as a bat, so I have 3x4k monitors with
huge font sizes and dark themes with high contrast
This allows me to work with a lot less eye strain
while still keeping 3 full size windows visible.
Ugghh..this is getting really long...
time for a smoke!
