You may be loving this season of working at home.
Or you may be needing some extra effort to make staying at home work for you.
Chances are you can feel a little bit both sides of this forced stay-at-home workplace. Working from home comes with both opportunities for freedom and flexibility but also abundant with internal and external distractions. When you’re stuck at home without your coworkers around to encourage you or keep you on track, you can easily become your own obstacle in getting done what you want to accomplish.
If you’re having one of those days, or weeks, in dragging by to stay motivated to get your work done, you’re not alone. Here we share seven easy tips you can incorporate into your work schedule to stay productive and motivated while working from home.
7 Ways to Stay Productive as You Work At Home
1. Keep Your Office Separate
Our surroundings can heavily influence our mental state in how we work. Create a designated space in your home or apartment that you dedicate to getting work done. Avoid the temptation to work in the same places you associate with leisure and relaxation. Keeping that place consistent can help your mind associate your space with getting to work.
If you don’t have access to a separate room, make sure you still incorporate some sort of distance between your computer screen and where you sleep and relax.
2. Separate Your Communication
When you’re working from home, you can easily start to feel as if you’re always working. Rather than leaving those unread emails or project updates at the office, those lingering reminders carry with you even after you’re done working for the day. Keeping your phone calls, emails and texts in a separate account rather than your personal cell phone can help you draw that important line between work and the rest of your life.
Keep your business and personal life running separately, smoothly, with services like Grasshopper. This remote work platform provides access to a separate phone system so you can easily tell and distinguish calls and texts from your professional and personal life.
3. Sit Comfortably
Chances are, you weren’t able to take your luxurious office chair with you when you started working from home. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be comfortable as you work. Find the best chair you have in your home or find one online that can help you stay comfortable. Home decor and furniture stores like Pier 1 Imports may have a chair that both feels comfy and matches the decor of your home, not to mention offering great discounts.
4. Make Your Space Your Own
Bring some creativity into your at-home work space as you make it your own. Whether you set your desk up by a window to let in natural light or hang warm LED lights to add a relaxed vibe to your space, the possibilities are endless.
Stock your station with those resources you need. If you’re new to working at home, you may need to order a few office supplies — which you can find at great discounts.
5. Remember Your Breaks
Have you ever been deep into a project for hours, only to realize that a lot more time has passed than you had anticipated? Just like those quick coffee breaks to catch up with coworkers or taking a walk around the office, pausing your work periodically to rest your eyes or stop for a deep breath can help you continue moving forward when you get tired.
Returning to your work after a break can also help you see a project or issue in a new light to help you rediscover something you may have overlooked before.
6. Get Ready Every Day
When you’re not attending in-person meetings, it can be tempting to start your work every day right after pulling yourself out of bed, still in your pajamas. While this may be fun to do once in a while, cultivate productivity and focus by getting up, getting dressed, having breakfast and following your normal routine as if you were actually about to head into the office. Following that routine what you’re used to can help your mind better transition into work mode and help you to be more productive.
7. Share Your Schedule With Others
If you have kids running around the house or are living with others, they might not realize the times you’ve set aside as your “working” hours and your “leisure” hours or other times to dedicate to other responsibilities. Having open communication about when you need to work and when you can be available for other things can be highly valuable in keeping others around you informed and help you stay focused when you need to work. At the same time, you can maximize your time at the end of the day by using food subscription services like Blue Apron to make mealtime easy for you and the kids.
Stay Productive, Even at Home
Working from home can be a great opportunity to enjoy some flexibility in a normal work routine. With these easy tips, you can also ensure that this forced stay-at-home season is one of productivity and growth in your career and other areas in life.
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