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As freelancers, our workstations are our battlegrounds.
They’re our combat zones when we invade job openings, conquer interviews, fire research bullets, and blast deadlines.
They’re the fields for our online journeys, struggles, and triumphs.
So, if you plan to survive and come out victorious in this freelancing craze, you must prep up your workstation and get it ready for some serious action.
A good workstation is any area where a freelancer can maximize his focus and productivity during work hours.
Because we all have diverse attention spans and efficiency levels, workstation set-ups vary for different individuals.
For freelancers who prefer to work in changing environments, their workstations may consist of just one laptop that they can easily bring with them.
For others who could concentrate more in familiar surroundings, they would prefer having a designated home office.
While we all have our own workstation preferences, there are five common factors that influence how effective our workspaces can be.
You may not realize it, but lighting plays a huge role in how we work.
If you work during the day, it is best to set up your workstation close to a window for natural lighting.
This does not only help you become more awake and energetic but according to a research by Northwestern University in Chicago, being exposed to daylight has positive effects on office worker’s sleep, quality of life and overall health. (Source: Impact of Workplace Daylight Exposure on Sleep, Physical Activity, and Quality of Life, http://www.aasmnet.org/jcsm/acceptedpapers/jc-274-13.pdf)
However, if you work at night or in a windowless room, you won't have access to natural light. You’ll have to go with artificial lighting.
The kind of bulb you choose can affect your work mood.
Warm lighting tends to make people relaxed and comfortable, so it's ideal when doing creative work. Blue or cooler lighting helps one feel energized and alert, so it’s best for technical, analytical, or research work.
[Photo Credits: Evangelin Tan, France Paul Pastrana]
2. Quiet Environment
Background noise can be a distraction, especially when you’re talking to a client or are doing tasks that require deep concentration.
If you can find a spot in your house away from the sounds of honking cars, clucking chickens, crying babies, televisions, and chatting family members, then you’re lucky! Immediately claim that spot and set up your workstation there.
However, if you’re like me who lives near the main road (and often gets distracted by trucks’ backing-up beeps), this can be a challenge.
In this case, it’s best to invest in a good noise-canceling headphones.
I use these cheap, noise-canceling earphones from Lazada: 
They're less than 500 pesos but for me, they do a really good job of filtering background noise. I use them to listen to white noise from Brain.fm to totally block the road noises.
For WAHMs and WAHDs, it might take a little more effort to evade children’s sounds.
If you have someone to help take care of the kids, you can set aside a few hours as ‘strict work hours’ where you shouldn’t be disturbed at all. In these hours, you can put on your noise-canceling headsets and perform online tasks that require focus, concentration, and creativity.
Otherwise, you’ll have to either schedule your work hours around your kids’ sleeping schedule or simply keep them occupied. (Most kids are good at entertaining themselves - up to a certain point.)
[Photo Credits: Marieyah Sevilla, Mavi Maranatha, Anna Soriano]
But if all else fails, you have no other choice but to embrace these amusing distractions. Like most work-at-home super parents I know, they’ve learned to work around children sounds and use them to stimulate focus, treating them like white noises.
According to TheFreeDictionary.com, ergonomics is “the applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort.”
Online work causes us to spend lots of time sitting at our desks, staring at computer screens, and typing on keyboards, etc.
This might sound like a perfectly ‘harmless’ situation but doing all these repetitively without paying attention to proper posture and injury prevention can cause back problems, wrist injuries, or eye strains.
To avoid back problems, invest in a good chair that has an adjustable height, armrests, and great lumbar support. If you’re into burning extra calories while working, you might want to try working on standing desks.
To protect your wrists, check out ergonomic keyboards that have wrist-rests that help reduce the risks of having carpal tunnel syndrome.
Also, take care of your eyes and lessen eye strains by taking short breaks and resting. Install display adjustment apps such as F.lux to automatically regulate your computer lights and brightness according to your surroundings.
If you need a guide on how to adjust your workstations and make them more ergonomic, you’ll find this checklist from Chairlines helpful:http://www.chairlines.com/ergonomics-tips-tricks/workstation-checklist/
Sometimes, our battlegrounds may look like it has just experienced “actual war.”
This happens a lot to me. When I’m on work mode, I slowly get buried under piles of papers, chargers, cables, coffee mugs, etc.
Reality bites - this is how my workstation looks like (sometimes) 😉
I don’t know about you, but when my surroundings get cluttered, my thoughts get messy, too. Then I slowly lose my focus.
Indeed, mess causes stress.
It pains my lazy self to say this, but organization is key. There’s really no better way to have a clean workspace than to start decluttering it.
a. Decide what you truly need.
If you find that you have too much stuff around you, it’s time to evaluate which ones you truly need for work and which ones are just wasting space. Those that you DON’T need can either be filed, stored, or tossed away from your workstation.
b. Organize!
Now that you only have the remaining stuff you want to keep for work, allocate some dedicated space for them.
If you’re keeping lots of pens, you can keep them all in pencil cups or holders.
If you scribble a lot on paper, you can keep a paper holder or an envelope.
If you’re fond of having little notes as reminders, you can hang a corkboard or a whiteboard to your wall where you can stick and keep them all together.
If you’ve been keeping that used coffee mug on your desk for who knows how long, you should send it to the sink.
If you’re naturally messy (like me!) and you find that organizing your workspace is a huge chore, having these little storage boxes can save you.
I use them to group and store similar things together, plus they also come in cute designs to double as decorations.
I also keep one “mess box” where I can dump everyday things that I often leave everywhere such as keys, chargers, tape, and miscellaneous items that don’t belong in the other box groups.
I got this one from Daiso.
This might be called 'cheating' by the cleanliness gurus, but I usually just dump everything in my "mess box."
Organizing your workstation may sound like a lot of work, but really, it’s just putting things in their right places.
If you’re into setting up a home office, you must design your space according to your personality. Its entire feel must appeal to your senses so much that it fires you up for work and inspires you to do your best.
The key here is to surround yourself with little reminders to keep you going. These may be photos of loved ones, motivational quotes, favorite collections, etc.
Check out how some WAHPers have done it:
Perfect Spot for WAHM's
[Credits: Mitch Carvalho - Check out Mitch's interesting post about the importance of a pleasant workspace at http://www.mitchteryosa.com/the-importance-of-a-pleasant-workplace-at-home/ ]
Clothespin Photo Display:
[Photo Credits: Regin Paloma]
Toys for the Boys:
[Photo Credits: Kenet Guevarra]
[Photo Credits: Jerome Jimeno]
[Photo Credits: Lexter Longalong]
If pandesal gets you going:
[Photo Credits: Jem Canlas]
For the Plant-Lovers
If you love plants, consider adding some greenery in your space. They not only look good, but they also clean the air and are scientifically proven to increase productivity.
[Photo Credits: Joy Santiago]
[Photo Credits: Nicoy Guevarra]
In a study by Dr. Virginia Lohr (Washington State University), she found that people’s “reaction time in the presence of plants was 12% faster than in the absence of plants, indicating that plants contributed to increased productivity. Mental fatigue has also been shown to be reduced by plants.” (Source: http://public.wsu.edu/~lohr/pub/2010LohrBenefitsPltsIndoors.pdf)
We got an overload of pictures from our ever-helpful WAHPers who wanted to share their workstations. So here's more of them for your viewing pleasure:
[Photo Credits: Jean Pierrie Agnes,Marieyah Sevilla, Cian Maglalang, Emmanuel Gabrido, France Paul Pastrana, Alexander Yee, Benjoe Dayao, Betch Cruz, B-shey Abria, Cathy Buela, Del Drilon Cua, Divina Mercullo, Don Papa, Emily Ballon, Enzo Dupa, Evangeline Tan, Jem Canlas, Jerome Jimeno, Jolee Austria, Jonah Galfo, Joy Santiago, Kenet Guevaraa, Kim Ejusa Viray, Lexter Longalong, Liza de Vera, Louell Lopes, Marvie Alinsub, Mavi Maranatha, Mianna, Mikka Lagrimas Cruz, Monz Melecio, Mstee Park, Nicoy Guevarra, Regin Paloma, Rich Sancher, Sieya Naviin, Simon Semblante, Anna Soriano, Mitch Carvalho (www.mitchteryosa.com)]
So, there you have it guys! Thanks to everyone who shared their pictures.
Your freelancing workstation doesn't need to be uberly fancy.
It's YOUR workstation - your own personal space where you can focus, analyze, strategize, and be productive.
As long as it helps you reach your goals, then it's definitely effective!
What does your workstation look like? Feel free to share your pictures in the comments section. 🙂
