Working from Home? Here are NINE Tips to Keep you Productive
At the time of my writing this, we’re in the grips of a global pandemic. The coronavirus has taken hold of every aspect of life, forcing self-isolation and businesses to close. For those of us lucky enough to be able to work from home, we’re doing just that.
Although working from home can have a lot of benefits (wearing pyjamas all day comes to mind!) there can be a few issues that arise too. Knowing when you should stop working for the day, staying productive and knowing the best way of prioritising tasks to name a few.
Having been working from home for some time, I wanted to share some the method and tips that I’ve learnt over the years, tips that I think may benefit anyone who is currently being forced to work from their homes during this time.
Set regular hours
It’s super important that you set a dedicated time in which you work. There can be a huge temptation to only work on things when you feel like it. Whilst this may feel fine (and may well be in the short-term) it will have a detrimental effect on your wellbeing in the long-run.
By not setting specific times for when you start and finish work for the day, you’ll find it hard to separate work life and home life. This can cause your mindstate to not “turn off” from work mode. You need this distinction in your life!
I’ve tried to keep my work hours as “job-like” as I can. I start work at 9:30 am, and finish at 5:30 pm. Once the end of the day comes around, I switch off all notifications, close the work laptop and then read for an hour or so. I use this reading period to separate work- and home-life.
Try it, it works!
Have a morning routine
Alongside setting a definitive start- and end-point for your workday, try to get yourself into a routine in the mornings.
Before you start work, get yourself in a habit of doing certain things to put yourself into work mode. Do you want to make yourself a cup of coffee before you sit at your desk? Maybe the act of getting dressed for work could be yours? For me, my day starts when I’ve finished the morning shower. Once I’m out, the day has begun
Schedule breaks!
As with setting regular hours for working, make sure to schedule breaks throughout the day. If your company has set break policy work with that. If you’re a freelancer or self-employed, give yourself adequate breaks.
My break time is an hour for lunch at noon, and two 15-minute breaks when I feel I need them. I make it a point to step away from the PC when on the breaks, too. Even if I want to eat lunch whilst watching something, I’ll do it on a different laptop in a different room.
Taking yourself out of the work environment for your breaks is extremely helpful, and I highly recommend you do this.
No really, take your breaks!
It can be tempting to get back to work early or skip a lunch here and there. Don’t do this.
By breaking up your workday, you’ll find yourself being much more productive overall, and you won’t feel anywhere near as burnt out by the end of the week.
Tools like Smart Break force you to take your breaks, by locking your PC for a certain amount of time. Very helpful if you find yourself cutting your breaks short!
Get out the house
I cannot stress this one enough!
You might be okay for the first few days of working from home, but eventually, you’ll start to become antsy if you spend all your time at home without getting out for a little bit. This is true if you’re working in the office, too.
Step out at least once a day. Walk your dog. Go get a coffee. Walk around the block. You get the idea!
Keep in touch
If you’re one of the people who have been forced to work at home because of the coronavirus, then you may feel a temptation to keep yourself to yourself, and not communicate with your team.
Don’t do this!
Make sure to stay in regular contact with your team through whichever internal communication platform you use. Staying in touch with your colleagues throughout the day will stop any feelings of isolation that may be creeping up on you.
At work, we use Microsoft Teams, but there are plenty of other platforms available. If your company doesn’t currently have one, suggest it! Everyone working from home will benefit from it! What’s more, by using a dedicated platform like this, you no longer need to communicate via Facebook or WhatsApp, helping to create another separation between work and home.
Have a dedicated space to work
I mentioned when speaking about breaks that I make a point to go to a different room when I have lunch, away from my work laptop.
This is because I want to keep a boundary between my work and home life. By having a dedicated space where I can work means that once I enter the room, my mind is ready to work. Once I stop work, I leave the space and don’t go back until I’m ready to work again.
I understand that not everyone will be in a position to have a separate laptop for work, especially if you’ve been told to work from home at a short notice. What you can do is create a separate location for your work. If you’re using Windows, you can create a new desktop that holds all of your work stuff. This is another great way of separating your work and home life, even if you use the same laptop for both!
Have an evening routine
Just as you start the day with a routine, take the time to create one for the end of the day too. This will signal to your brain that once this routine has come to an end, so has the workday. As I said earlier, mine is reading for an hour or so.
Closing the laptop, turning off all work-based notifications and reading essentially put my brain back into home mode!
Enjoy the benefits!
And finally, Being able to work from home is a huge privilege, which is something that you shouldn’t forget! Every day, I read around twice as much as I did than when I didn’t work from home. There are plenty of perks to working at home. Enjoy them!
Are there any other topics that you’d like to see covered here? If so, then please let me know via the contact page, and I’ll see what I can do!
As you can see from being on this site, I’m also a freelance graphic designer, so if you need help with any projects you’re working on, I’d be more than happy to get involved! I’m currently available for both short and long term hire.
Thanks for reading!