If you’re anything like me, you have a hard time spending your hard earned cash on bigger ticket items, especially if they’re for business, not fun.

Take computer monitors for example. Currently at home I work on my MacBook with a 13.3” screen. I have a stand for it, and a keyboard and mouse, but I am still working on a tiny screen. To me, this isn’t such a problem and I really don’t notice it, but after reading this article from the Wall Street Journal, I think I’m going to start noticing.

The article cites a University of Utah study that found that having a larger monitor can help you substantially increase your productivity. Based off the study people were tested doing tasks on a 18-inch screen, a 24-inch screen, and two 20-inch screens. The results were pretty amazing.

When people used the two 20-inch screens they were 44% quicker at the tasks assigned to them than with the 18-inch screens. Even more amazingly, the people who used the 24-inch screen were 52% faster at completing tasks.

Interestingly, the researches found that the productivity increases dropped off when a 26-inch screen was used.

Of course, everyone’s experience will differ – and different people will work well with different sized monitors. But if you are like me, working on a small laptop screen at home, it might be time to consider picking up a something larger. I mean, just imagine what a 52% increase in productivity could mean to you and your commissions.

Here are a couple more posts about why and how buying expensive equipment can be more cost effective for you and your company in the long run:

If You Want to Be a Super Affiliate…Act Like One
How to Save Money Running a Startup