So here’s the thing, We’ve all been working from home for a while now, and while I feel like I’ve beaten this point to death, I think that there is one point about your home office that I don’t think I’ve hit home on yet. We all work on our computers in our own spaces at home, and it’s important to have an area where you want to do your work. In previous times you would like to have a large desk with multiple file cabinets and an inbox and outbox (ever hopeful that your outbox was far fuller than your inbox) to accommodate all your work. Now that everything is digital, you may need a smaller physical workspace, but it’s still important to have a larger digital workspace to get done everything you need to. Having a second screen at your desk has almost become a standard in the modern workplace. Heck, I use three if you include the desktop that I use in my home office.
1) More Real Estate – I don’t know about you, but when I” m working, I typically have four or five different things on the go. I have my e-mail open, Notion(My writing program), Excel (I work a lot on excel) as well as Chrome, and whatever music or podcast I happen to be listening to. I like being able to see the stuff that I’m working on and mentally (if nothing else) switch from one to another easily. If I were to have everything on a tiny screen, not only would it be exceedingly cramped, but I would be spending the bulk of my time switching from program to program, which is a waste of time if I’m just (as an example) looking an the most recent e-mail to come in is. Having more than one monitor allows you much more flexibility for what goes where. It also means that you can dedicate specific areas to certain things. As an example, I like to dedicate one whole monitor as my “communications zone,” so I will typically have my e-mail and messaging program open on one screen. At the same time, I do whatever work I’m focusing on, on another screen. This allows me to be much more productive throughout my day.
2) Bigger is better – When it comes to your screens…..ahem….size can most definitely matter. This can be for a couple of different reasons. If you’re looking for more real estate only and want to have more things on your desktop at once, having a bigger screen is undoubtedly beneficial. The other reason that I have found is that because the screens are bigger, the aspect ratio is also bigger. This means that fonts and anything that you need to look at are also bigger. While I’d prefer not to age myself, having things on a bigger screen makes the font easier to read, so if I need to go through a few documents on my computer, I can read everything with ease.
3) Who doesn’t want a Batcave? – I recognize that this is a bit ridiculous, but when I’m working at my monitors, I feel a bit cooler. I’ve spoken before about being a Batman fan, and frankly, I’ve grown up with Batman having the best computer imaginable. His computer had always had multiple screens, and so when I was setting up my office in my basement (my own personal Batcave), having multiple screens was never in question for me. I recognize that there is no practical reason for having a second screen in this regard, but not everything about technology has to be practical 100% of the time.
For the past year or so, we have been living, learning and working in our homes, and while I’ve only talked about it a little, defining your own space has been something that you can take advantage of while we’re in this situation. I know I did. I don’t know what the case is like in your office if you have one monitor or two or what size, quality etc. However, while we’re still working from home (for those of us who are lucky enough to one able to do that), I would seriously advise that you take advantage of the fact that you have complete control of your home space. If you can make an office for yourself, do it. If you can purchase a second monitor, go for it. If it’s a bigger or higher definition than the one you would typically get at work, guess what? You can do that, and it will be fine. There is nothing wrong with defining your own space. It’s a great opportunity to work precisely in the way you want to for the time that we have left to do it. I’m hopeful that with all the vaccines rolling out, we’ll get back to work in office towers and whatnot, but for the time being, you can take the time and opportunity to trick out your own space and make it the best place you would ever want to work.
Do you like your workspace?
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