Next time you're feeling distracted, and having a hard time focusing on work, start organizing. And work on picking up a few basic supplies for redecorating your home office.
Cheap Office Furniture.
In October, when the back-to-school overstock is on clearance, you can get office furniture from retailers at a discount. Even at a discount, it's still a more expensive way to buy furniture, though. Consider checking your local FreeCycle group or CraigsList for people selling discounted desks and filing cabinets. Businesses go under all the time and some cities have office supply liquidators that buy furnishings at creditors auctions. Check your yellow pages for furniture liquidators. Learn a lesson from these businesses, though. Fancy furniture never made anyone succeed, and if you're using credit to purchase furniture you might not need it.
Home Office Wall Art
Motivational speakers often advise people to make some sort of a dream board, a bulletin board wish list that helps you envision your success. Keeping motivational images artfully arranged is said to help you focus on your goals. Some people like a mishmash of items, others like symmetrical framed items with clean borders. Whatever floats your boat, it's a good project to help you visualize your success.
Painting the Home Office
Choose a paint color that gives you a happy and optimistic feeling. Luckily painting is an inexpensive activity. Sage green is a popular choice for calming environments. Choose sage green if you're flighty and tend to skip around form one task to another without finishing anything. Deep red, a vibrant and passionate color, affects people differently, some are overstimulated by it and others come alive with ideas and commitment. Blues can be calming, if you need to calm down or de-stress frequently, blue might be a good color for you. Deep blue has been reported to inspire creative thinking. Basically, choose a color you like and pay attention to how you feel when you walk into the room. If it's not helping you change it fast (you can do that with paint).
Computer cords and paper mess can be handled inexpensively, too. Tame the mess of cords by using clear plastic clips screwed onto the backside of your desk or into the molding. Also, you could use duct tape to secure the cords to the back of your desk. Manage paper clutter by keeping everything in a filing cabinet. You can make homemade magazine boxes by cutting a 6 inch corner from a cereal box and covering with wallpaper, contact paper or even spray paint.
