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In these trying times of self isolation, social distancing, and job layoffs we are lucky if we can find ways to stay sane, much less stay productive.
For those of you that have been given the option to work from home, or if you're a business owner that has converted to an at-home office, you may be struggling to find ways to stay focused and motivated to power through your workday.
Fear not, we've come up with these 7 helpful tips to keep you on track while working from home.
1. Wake up around the same time everyday
Set an alarm and get yourself ready "for work." Whatever that might look like. Brush your teeth, wash your face, put on a clean pair of comfy pants, full up your coffee cup and be ready for work at the same time each morning. Maybe it's 8am, maybe it's 10am, either way, creating a schedule and sense of routine around your workday will help tremendously with your productivity.
2. Get ready for the day
This might look different for each person. But there's definitely something to getting ready for your day like you might interact with real life humans, rather than just your computer screen, that helps you feel ready for work. Again, this adds to the sense of routine we talked about in the first section. Nothing screams lazy day like your favorite sweatpants, your hair in a bun, and sleepies in your eyes - so be sure to dress for success.
3. Don’t spend the whole day cleaning
Not the typical item you'd see on “productivity” lists, right? But if you're someone that can be easily distracted by the pile of laundry in the hall, or the dishes in the sink, it's important to carve out specific times for chores either before or after your "set" work hours. If you don't, you could find yourself taking a magic eraser to the walls and looking up and seeing that you've cleaned more than half your day away! Be sure to utilize the most valuable hours of the day for work!
4. Do a brain dump
Spend the first 30 minutes or so just writing down everything that's floating around in your head - this can really help you to organize and prioritize your thoughts so that you don't spend brain power dwelling on things that are off topic. This is especially important when you're feeling stressed or overwhelmed, get it all out on paper so you can move forward with your daily work tasks.
5. Eat a real meal
Start your morning with brain fuel [and that doesn't just mean coffee] to help sustain you through to mid-afternoon, then make yourself an awesome, healthy lunch! Your body will thank you and your brain will be so much more productive than if you just take a bag of chips and a jar of salsa into your home office and call it a day. Kind of more of a perk of working from home, than tip.
6. Know your most productive hours
This goes back to waking up at the same time everyday and creating a routine for yourself. For some, your most productive hours might be from 10am-3pm. You'll come to learn which hours work best for you and when your brain is able to really focus and get stuff done. This also means that it's important that you don’t do time-wasting activities during these hours.
7. Protect your time
Turn off the news, don't answer your phone to friends and family [unless it's urgent], and learn to say no to anything that might interfere with your most productive workday hours. To use the 10am-3pm example again, this would mean that everything is off limits during these hours EXCEPT for work. No scrolling Instagram, no hour long chat with Aunt Karen to get her lasagna recipe, just work! After 3pm or your allotted end of workday time - then you can clean the house or play Words With Friends online until your heart's content.
Hopefully these tips will help you to stay on track and maintain productivity. Is there something that works great for you that we didn't mention here?
Comment below we’d love to hear your best tips for working from home!