How Upbeat Is Your Home Office?

Everyone deserves a home office. Whether it’s a whole room or just a tiny little part of another room, everyone I know could use a home office. If you are like me and run a business from your home office, then you deserve an office that makes you smile.

My favorite things about my office are my door, my cat, and my lamp. Honestly, there are so many more things about my office that I love. We’ve lived in this house for eleven years, and it gets just a little nicer all the time. But the door allows me to completely go to work and leave the family behind when I need to. My two-headed lamp is mounted to the wall, saving desk space, and allows me to vary the light. That’s super important since I often work at night. And my cat, well, isn’t that obvious?

I’m on a mission to help people identify or add the things that make their home office a place of comfort and enjoyment for them.

Forty-seven percent of American professionals spent some or all of their time working from home before the pandemic.

According to Nicholas Bloom of Stanford, “We see an incredible 42 percent of the U.S. labor force now working from home full-time. About another 33 percent are not working — a testament to the savage impact of the lockdown recession. And the remaining 26 percent — mostly essential service workers — are working on their business premises. So, by sheer numbers, the U.S. is a working-from-home economy. Almost twice as many employees are working from home as at work.”

Since you could spend up to one-third of your life in your home office, shouldn’t it be a place that you love?

Do you love your office chair? It should feel good AND look good. This is still one of my favorite chairs we’ve purchased for a home office.

Do you love your desk? Is it the right height? Does it have enough storage? Is it just plain big enough? I can think of a client this year who purchased the smallest desk possible with no drawers, jammed it into a corner of a room she hates being in, paired it with a too-big chair that she doesn’t like, and then asked me to fix her filing problem. OK, there’s no file space. It’s uncomfortable to sit there. And it’s in a room she doesn’t like and won’t decorate. With all of that working against her, she’s going to continue to struggle with piles of paper on the floor for a long time.

Do you have enough light? Often, when I notice someone works from the kitchen instead of their home office, it’s because something isn’t right with the light. It’s usually too dark. Maybe they’ve placed their desk in the center of the room, but then they don’t have a way to get a lamp on the desk without stringing a cord across the room. Often they are set up to work in a basement where there is no natural light. Maybe, like me, they often work at night, but they don’t account for the fact that one single lamp can seem too harsh at night. Layered lighting that can be directed and dimmed often works best. And sometimes their home office lighting is too harsh, perhaps because of a large patio door or untreated windows that make their space feel too open to the neighbors.

Are you surrounded by things you love? Do you have a few photos and keepsakes that make you smile? I’m not asking if you have a mess of curled photos piled up in a corner or decades-old prints haphazardly tacked to a bulletin board. Have you chosen meaningful accessories that you like looking at?

My challenge to you this month is to find at least three things that you love about your home office, no matter where it is in your house. (Hint: your home office might be the kitchen table.) If you can’t find three things that you love about your home office, then re-think your space and bring them into your home.

I have two invitations for you today. One is to join our Clutter-free Facebook group just by clicking here. Our encouraging group will help you get your stuff together using the SORT and Succeed organizing system.

If you need advice on transforming your space and your work habits for this new #WFH era, pick up a copy of The Upbeat, Organized Home Office.