My Work Area While Telecommuting

Ever since I started telecommuting 3 days a week for my current employer I am always trying to find new ways to increase my productivity. One area I tweak at least once a week is my work desk at home. Without a proper, ergonomical work space your productivity can actually suffer and not only that, I find that if certain aspects of my desk are not a correct spot I find myself getting restless quite easily.

One blog post that was mentioned via Twitter was Rules from Working for Working at Home by Micheal Boyink and I found that after reading it I not only cleaned up my messy desk, I also slightly rearranged where the keyboard goes. I found that the location of the keyboard drawer with the desk I have that my wrists started to ache after a short period of time from typing.

For me I find that I like my work area to be as bright as possible and preferably with natural light (like the Sun) rather than use fluorescent or incandescent light.  Currently I have a south-facing room which allows sunlight in during the majority of my work day. With an overhead ceiling light, a desktop halogen and 2 CFLs near by I get a fairly decent amount of light. Ideally I would want my desk above the ground floor with a large south facing window but I’ll have to make due with what I have.

I also try to keep my desk area clear of any mess which includes papers, gadgets, garbage etc. I find that if there is desk clutter it tends to bug me and make me not want to work. This also goes for the area in which my computer desk is in, I need it clutter free else I’ll somehow sense the anarchy in the room and my productivity also drops.

The largest challenge I find while telecommuting is staying productive. If I can make my work area functional, distraction-free, and clean I can stay on task more efficiently and get things done without stress.

My Work Area

As you can see from the above photo my desk area is fairly clean (now). I removed the keyboard tray and put my keyboard and mouse above which I find keeps my wrists from hurting during long periods of typing. Yes I know I really need to get a new chair, the wooden kitchen chair is large improvement over the Ikea $10 special I was previously using.  I also find that keeping the keyboard and mouse on the desk area allows for less clutter on the desktop.

Yes those are 2 desktop computers you see too. The machine on the left is my main machine where as the machine on the right with the keyboard on it is my web development server.

What does you work area look like? Do you have a photo of it? If you telecommute how do you try and stay productive?