3 Savvy Resolutions For Your Workspace

The universal problem with New Year's resolutions? Follow through. After pledging to make real changes in our everyday lives, resolving to welcome the year with only the best versions of ourselves, somehow, not even a full month into the new year, I see it all slip away. So, for this coming year, in order to see these resolutions all the way through, create a work space at home that will motivate and equip you to do the work you're setting out to accomplish in 2010.

• Create a Home Work Space: Even with the best intentions to weed through your finances, balance your checkbook, and manage your 401(k) during your downtime, you might waste all your free time if your space for financial planning is on the couch, while catching up on your Netflix queue. Instead, if you're really setting out to do work, you need a real work space to get things done. Set up a part of your apartment or house that feels like a workplace. Designate a small space for a desk and the materials you'll need to make good on all of your resolutions, including a filing system and a detailed calendar. Check out my furniture and design suggestions.

• Organize Your Paperwork and Files: If you are lucky, you might be able to leave work at work. Most people aren't that lucky. Creating a workspace at home that will motivate and equip you to do the work you're setting out to accomplish in 2010 is key to your mental health and productivity when working on your time. Check out inexpensive tools that will help you get organized.

• Create a Pleasant Workspace at the Office: Unless you are a hoarder, working amid clutter - whether at home or in the office - can be distracting. I recently learned that 38 percent of SavvySugar reader's work in a cubicle, while 62 percent either work in a shared workspace or their own office. No matter what your desk arrangement take some time in January to clean things up, add a little personality to your area and make it feel like home. The number one rules is if you are genuinely unhappy when you sit down at your desk do what you can to make the space more inviting. Here are some simple tips to get you started.