The computer is where most of us do our work now. Our economy is developing into an information based economy, which means that you’re paid to think and produce information. This is great because it gives us more options. No longer are we required to come into a work site and do work. We can work from home on our computer and produce the same quality of work. The problem with being home is that you have all your distracting toys. I’m going to share some ways that you can be more productive.

First, if you haven’t already, I think you should invest in a dual monitor stand and an extra monitor. You haven’t really experienced productive computer time until you have two monitors. One of the most frustrating jobs I’ve done with only one monitor is taking information on one window and putting it in another. This means I’d have to pop up one window, get the information and pop up the other. It’s just a big waste of time. Two monitors make this easy because the both monitors can have one window up each and all you have to do is turn your head for the information.

I’ve also found that you can be much more productive if you create a user account on your computer (like Windows or Mac) that is designed for work. This means when you turn it on it doesn’t open up all your distracting programs. This means that your instant messenger won’t open. It means your browser won’t be full of your time wasting bookmarks. It’s just a simple environment for you to get work done and that’s really the goal. You may have a tendency to open up Facebook or something like that. Simply blocking this website with your firewall for your Windows/Mac account or using a browser addon is quite effective. You’d be surprised how efficient you are when you can’t go to your favorite websites. The computer ceases to be a toy and you just work.