A garden office increases productivity

It’s one thing to know something in theory, but quite different to experience it for yourself.

Woody of The Garden Office Guide knows a lot about garden office design but has only just had his first experience of working from home in the house!

In today’s sponsored post he reveals how he got on:

I have spent the last six years writing about the benefits of buying a garden office. For many years before that I helped people design their new garden workspace. It’s only recently though that I realised how working in a garden office increases productivity.

Each day for the last several years I left my house for the 2 minute saunter down the garden to my garden office which I share with my partner Jo. I spend my day there writing about garden offices & rooms and dealing with the affairs of our other business interests. It’s all worked very well as I leave my home life at the back door and focus on the task in hand.

A few weeks ago I hurt my back and could barely put one foot in front of the other so I was forced to ‘work from home’. This was a real eye opener for me and made me realise how important a dedicated workspace is.

I set up office at the kitchen table as I know many other homeworkers have done, but I wasn’t ready for the level of distraction that came with it. First off there was the background noise of other people in the house and the washing machine and dishwasher in the humming away – not good for focusing the mind.

Then there was the interruptions – family members popping into the room to quickly ask something – there was nothing quick about it. Added to which I ended up lingering longer over lunch and generally being distracted from the task in hand.

At the end of the day I had to clear my work so the table could be used. I am used to just standing up and walking away from my desk assured it would be untouched until my return.

At the end of the week I hadn’t achieved nearly as much work as I would in a normal week. This made me realise that my garden office plays a significant part in my productivity.

My garden office gives me the discipline of going out of the house to work. It also defines my work time for my family and it creates a separation so they don’t tend to interrupt when I am in the office.

My garden office has been designed around how I work, so it’s much more comfortable than working at the kitchen table – I now realise that if you are comfortable you achieve more. In addition everything I need to do my work is to hand in my office which saves an incredible amount of time.

So, for years I have written about buying and using a garden office but it’s only now that I have had an experience of home working in the traditional sense, that I truly know the benefits of a dedicated workspace.

If you are interested in creating a dedicated workspace in your garden and finding out for yourself how much a garden office increases productivity, visit our site The Garden Office Guide.