I dialled into a conference call with a client this morning.
When I got on I heard the editor’s voice on the line from Sydney … which was confusing, because normally he wouldn’t be working for us till after hours (he’s a contractor).
“It’s 12:30pm in Sydney … aren’t you supposed to be at your desk job right now?” I asked.
“Our office has shut down and we’re all working from home,” he replied.
Eek.
They’ve started that in Australia already?
Okay, so I’m admittedly a bit out of the loop on these things … I’m pretty lucky to have been working from home for the last 4 years, after all.
It ain’t too bad: the commute is short … the work kitchen is very well-stocked … and I can always play with my 3-year-old during breaks in work.
(Although said 3-year-old often disturbs me with his knocks on the door asking for another plateful of sultanas, which he knows he will get because his dad is a softie.)
Anyway, as someone who has already spent a lot of time working from home, I’ve invested a lot into getting a sweet setup:
I have a motorised sit-stand whiteboard desk (just press a button and it moves up or down).
A fancy-pants Hermon Miller Aeron chair.
And a nice wireless keyboard and trackpad, for that nice ergonomic setup (a carryover from my days working for Chevron as an engineer).
It cost me a pretty penny — $3,500 or so if I remember correctly — but I spend most of my time here, so why not?
The way I see it, a properly-set-up home office is one of the biggest ‘hacks’ to effectively working from home.
And there was one article in particular that I read a few years ago, which inspired me to set my home office up right, to be more productive and less distracted.
(Something which has become more important than ever given there are now two young voices often screaming on the background of my client calls …)
So, since it seems that more and more people will be joining the ranks of the work-from-home crowd, I figured it would be a good time to share that article with you.
I didn’t write it, and there’s nothing in it for me, but I refer you to it anyway out of the goodness of my heart:
Enjoy.
Daniel