⏱ 3 min reading
There’s no denying it: working from home can be a real challenge. There are many things that can distract you from your tasks. Laundry can always be done, your dog is hungry for a walk and your partner could easily interrupt your work flow. We wrote this blog to inspire you to work from home as productive as possible!
Pick a working spot
Create a working spot where you can sit comfortably but not feel too relaxed. You should make sure that you will be in work modus, instead of feeling like you’re about to watch a movie on the couch. Find a calm and neat spot in your house, this could be a seat on your kitchen table or in your home office. Keep in mind that a good chair is very important. You could easily get neck pain if you have a wrong working posture.
Create a routine
Set an alarm! Make sure you wake up at the same time everyday and create a schedule for your fixed tasks. Working from home could give you a holiday feeling, because your boss is not looking over your shoulder. If you create a structure for your day, you can easily avoid this.
Challenge yourself
What do you want to get done today? Make a checklist and make sure to write down if you want to do it in the morning or in the afternoon. This will give you a clear overview of what your day will look like. You could also make the checklist the day or evening before, so you know where to get started in the morning!
Eat that frog
Figure out when you are most productive. Make sure you do the most boring or hardest tasks at that moment, so you can do your easy tasks when you’re not that concentrated anymore.
Divide your day
For most people it’s not possible to be fully concentrated throughout the day. A good solution for this is dividing your day into blocks of working and little breaks. The advantage of working at home is that you could do some chores between your tasks ;).
Harvey Schachter wrote a great article about how to divide your day. Make sure to read that when you’re interested in this topic!
Take a real break
Allow yourself to have a break without thinking about your tasks. Go for a walk or have a chat with somebody. This will help you clear your mind and it will give new energy for your work!
Use online tools
It can be hard to communicate with your colleagues when you’re all working from home. Tools like Slack, Trello and Zoom will help you stay connected. Slack is a platform that can replace your internal email and helps you to organize communications. You can send files and private and group messages. Trello helps you with project and task management. It will give you a clear overview of all the tasks that need to be done. Zoom is a great platform to use when you want to have online meetings or calls with your colleagues. Their platform is reliable and easy to use.
Use noise canceling headphones (if you have them)
Especially when you’re living together with a partner or flatmate, this could be a great outcome. Every noise they make can be a distraction from your work. It could be very frustrating and time consuming to pay attention to these distractions. We highly recommend the Sony WH-1000XM3 just in case you’re looking for a good pair of headphones!
Quit on time
It is easy to keep working and working. However, this can result in a restless feeling. Give yourself time to do some fun things in the evening, so you are ready to kick ass the next day!
