Make Smart Home Office Furniture Choices
Choosing the right computer desk for use in your home office isa more important decision than a lot of folks who work from homerealize. This is especially true for those of us who run onlinebusinesses from home. Why? Because we tend to spend more hoursat our desks than those who are self-employed in offlineventures. Any business person who relies heavily on computersshould pick a desk (and desk chair) carefully.You might be asking, 'what's the big fuss? It's just a desk.'The ...
...fuss is your bottom line! Several studies in recent yearshave proven conclusively that the furniture we use in officesettings (desks, chairs, etc.) has a direct impact on workproductivity. And that has a huge effect on your earnings!Ergonomics is one part of the equation. What is ergonomics? TheAmerican Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines itas: "the applied science of equipment design, as for theworkplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducingoperator fatigue and discomfort." The idea is to choose officefurniture that allows your body to be in the proper positions asyou perform your duties. This reduces negative physical effects,such as sitting without the proper back and leg support, typingin an awkward position because your desk is not at the correctdistance or height, and other considerations.Beyond merely being annoying, an uncomfortable desk and deskchair combination might just be causing you to get less workdone. After all, who wants to work in such an environment? Evenwhen you know the work needs doing, most people find convenientexcuses to do other things when their bodies are being stressedby poorly designed furniture. The end result of all of this is,of course, low productivity.The other major factor involving your choice of a computer deskand your work productivity is organization. Now, I'm not exactlythe world's most organized person in my home office, but onething I've learned is that a bad desk choice makes it a lotharder to stay organized. There's more to this decision than you might think. Probably thebiggest consideration is surface area. Smaller desktops areusually a 'no-no,' because they either tempt you to pile upimportant papers in an unorganized fashion, or to put themsomewhere out of the way (and thus, easily forgotten). Unlessyou are severely limited in terms of office space, investing ina desk with a large desktop will pay for itself many times overin the ensuing years.There's another good reason to go with a larger desk: yourcomputer. Small office desks just don't give ample room for themonitor, keyboard, mousepad, etc. Add a printer, a fax machine,and a phone, and you'll find that there isn't room for anythingelse. That just isn't practical. Skip the small desks that looknice and match your other furniture. Go with a larger one, evenif it isn't as visually appealing. Your home office, while it isin your home and you want it to look nice, is ultimately aboutyou making money.If you look hard enough, you can find a computer desk that fitsboth criteria: ergonomically designed and large enough to helpyou organize the important stuff. At the end of the day, youwant your furniture to be an ally in your home office, not theenemy. Pick pieces that help you work more comfortably. Thatwill put more money in your bank account.
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