My Personal Work From Home Setup

My current workspace. <3

One of the things that a virtual assistant must have is a comfortable, organized, dedicated office space where he or she can work peacefully in. Unlike those who work in offices, we don’t have corporate allotments for tables, chairs, computers, airconditioning, and the like. We have to provide all the comforts we would like, on our own.

Thus, it is the virtual worker’s duty to create a space he or she can comfortably work in.

I used to work here. This was in Boracay, in front of English Bakery. The company has since moved.

There was a time when I’ve tried working as an employee in a company with a physical office, and I got a seat which offered a great view. Irony of ironies: distraction galore.

In my home office, I once tried putting my work table in front of a window with a view. Same as what I experienced in the office as an employee, I ended up staring at the beauty of the world outside more often than would keep me productive. Then I tried arranging my work table in front of a wall.

Awesomesauce. There I found productivity utopia. Well, not exactly. But I can focus more, thanks to facing a boring wall. So much for being calmed by a beautiful view.

I preferred my previous dorm’s setup, the one in Boracay. I am only so sad that at the time, I had no camera to capture the way I worked and lived. My work table was right before the door, in a space that fit my 24″ by 42″ table to the inch, facing a wall and the aircon. Then, my study table was right beside my bed, where I could hang out as soon as I woke up or right before I went to bed, making sure I had my Quiet Time.

My Quiet Time/Bible Study Table

Nowadays, having the Study Table somewhere a little too far from the bed (okay, it’s not too far, but it’s definitely not beside where I roll out my mattresses; it’s my work table that’s beside my sleeping area) makes me somewhat lazy to do my Quiet Time regularly. But as I learned, spending time to study the Word and talk with the Lord is a discipline you have to create and move into as a habit. So spurring myself to do exactly that is something I will have to remind myself to do, on a daily basis. It helps when there’s order and when there are systems in your life in place. That way, life is lived like clockwork.

So back to working and creating a good work area. In creating mine, I thought about the way I worked. I usually prefer a cozy space, so I really take up only a small space to work in, but a bigger space is needed for my other things. Especially when I need to crunch numbers or plan, I need an area where I can work on whiteboards, calculators and other tools aside from my laptop.

One great thing about having a long table is that you can also house two laptops or two monitors on there. But even if I add a rig, I think I’ll be happy keeping the space as a place for my mess to rest on.

Space for my mess to rest on. :p

Also, I tend to have my coffee while I work, so I need the space to set my mugs on.

Work + Coffee :p

I would want to do more with my space. I want to add more white boards, a corkboard for reminders, and more things up on my walls. But at the moment, the way I’ve set up my space is perfect for me. As perfect as it can get on this side of heaven.

Here’s a how-to of setting up a virtual worker office space.