I’ve been working from home for about 2 years now, and through experience I’ve found a desk placement that genuinely helps focus.
If you live alone, this may not matter much. But if you live with family, give this a try.
Bottom Line
Skipping ahead to the conclusion:
The focus-friendly placement: position your desk so the room’s doorway is in front of you (see photo).
For reference, the wall behind me is a window:
Why this works:
→ When you can see the doorway directly, sounds outside the room don’t pull your attention nearly as much.
What’s bad about having the doorway behind you?
Before this layout, I sat with my back to the doorway, like in the photo below.
In that arrangement, any noise outside the room pulled my attention. Even when I knew nobody was actually coming in, I’d still glance behind me.
Result: easily broken concentration.
Just my personal experience, but if you’re tweaking your work-from-home setup, this is worth trying. It’s free.
＜Update＞
One more focus tip that might be even more effective than desk placement:
Don’t bring your phone into the work room.
There’s research showing that just having your phone visible — even without checking it — reduces concentration. (Even somebody else’s phone sitting nearby reduces your concentration.)
Try it: you stop “uselessly checking your phone”, and it’s good for your overall mental state.
(Also free!)
Comments