9 Ways To Stay Productive When You Work From Home

How to be Productive when Working from Home

The world is in the middle of a pandemic; many of us are currently restricted to working from home. As sad as it is, in 2020, we have to accept that working from home is a new trend that will last for a while.

People are supposed to be at their work desks typing away and ticking off to-do lists and reporting to their line supervisors. However, this is not the reality right now. Instead, people are stuck on their beds, couches, or in their kitchens trying to tick off their to-do lists without the habitual discipline that the office affords them.

One of the challenges of working from home is that while your home is not the same as your work environment, expectations as to your output and productivity remain the same. After all, your salary is the same as it were before the pandemic became a global threat.

Working from home is a cool thing to do; however, making the transition from office space to a workspace is never easy. The following tips will help you stay productive while working from home.

1) Choose your workspace according to your needs

Working from home can be a quite convenient, if we choose to take advantage of its benefits. The house comes with various spaces that we can work out of however we feel. This ensures that you are maximally comfortable and are focused on the tasks at hand. You may prefer the dining table for early morning schedules, and later in the day, you could be sitting on the large sofa while reviewing your tasks with your line supervisor.

You have to choose how your day will be divided. For example, you may be quite productive in the morning and tired in the afternoon. This means that you could work on your dining table for more time-sensitive tasks in the morning and choose the sofa later to execute some mundane tasks. These mundane tasks include checking your email trails, taking part in a video call with your colleagues, getting briefed by your managers, and so on.

2) Try to keep your home work environment clean

There is a reason most companies prefer their employees to report to work despite the severity of the pandemic. They need the full attention of their employees. You do not get full attention from your employee if they are lazily sitting around on their sofas with boxes of Pizza and drinks scattered all over the place. Working from home has more risk of employees getting distracted.

Therefore, to avoid this, you may want to keep your home working space neat and free from any object that may remind you of home. To avoid distractions, you need to declutter your work area. If possible, it should be a “No-fly zone” for your home stuff like food, plates, TV remotes, baby toys, etc.

Clearing up your home workspace will keep you focused on the tasks at hand and align your thoughts around completing your work objectives for the day.

3) Prepare appropriately for each day

We are at a time where over 60% of the global workforce are forced to work from home, and many of us have never tried working from home. It is such a massive transition that we are tempted to sit in front of the TV, with our pyjamas on, remote control on the one hand, and our work portfolio, on the other, trying to multitask to complete our daily work activities.

However, this is the wrong approach to becoming productive while working from home. The right approach here is to dress as though you were going to work. Yes, this means dressing in your actual work clothes and settling down for your daily tasks. No loungewear, pyjamas, or briefs! You dress up with your office clothes, put yourself in the proper work mindset with a coffee, and settle in for the day.

Dressing officially for work while working from home helps you stay alert. This way, you work optimally to ensure that you meet up with your daily output as expected by your managers.

4) Create appropriate work hours

One of the risks that come with working from home is the temptation and urge to work beyond your standard official work time. It is a nine-to-five job, and therefore, you should resist all temptations to make it an eight-to-eight job. It would be best if you did not confuse your work life with your home life.

To stay productive while working from home means that you also have to create flexible work hours and stick to it. It would be best if you avoided the temptation that comes with being an unfruitful workaholic. Being productive is a measure of how much you can accomplish in a short time and not how long you work.

There is a subtle difference of productive output between the two concepts when it comes to employee efficiency.

5) Keep your work area bright and adequately lit

Studies have proven that people who work in bright and properly lit spaces are more productive than people who work in places that are less bright and not adequately lit.

Talk about needing to switch on the lights to find your pen! Open up those windows and keep the lights on, to help your eyes quickly assimilate images as you shuffle through your work documents. This helps the brain to work faster. However, it would help if you kept your homework environments optimally bright and lit so that this does not create a glare on your home PC. Carefully position your PC screen to avoidlight glimmers and flashes from appearing on it.

6) Your home work area should come with an office ambiance

Among the benefits of working from your home’s comfort is the ability to make your chosen work area look more like an office. It would help if you tried to surround yourself with office paraphernalia while working from home.

This ensures that your productivity is optimized. If possible, you should try surrounding yourself with to-do stickers, motivational quotes, and other professional office paraphernalia. This means that you need to prepare a productive and cozy space that is ideal for your work style. It would help if you kept objects that promote an inspirational and calm environment. Items that would seem helpful in this regard include beautiful crystals, aromatic candles, task lighting, houseplants, and fresh flowers.

7) Remember to take occasional breaks

Working from home comes with the temptation of not being disciplined enough to follow regular office routines to observe some time for a break. It would help if you created your home work schedule to include official break and un-official break periods.

Working from home to stay productive does not usually mean that you break your spine, trying to meet your daily targets. Get up and have a light food or drink. You could use this period to perform a light working out routine to help you prepare for more tasks at hand.

8) Create sometime after work to finish up your tasks

Being productive means that you get to finish up the days work with little or no disruption to your home life. When you are taking part in a serious project, it is beautiful to working for one or more hours to conclude a part of it before you call it a day. The next day you can try to reduce your workload to avoid your work time from invading into your home life.

9) Log off after the day’s work

If you want to stay productive and healthy while working from your home, you need to establish your homework boundaries. You should know when to log off at the end of each day. If you have some last-minute ideas after regular work hours, you can jot this down and act on this the next day.

Regardless of our types of work, we all need some downtime to maintain a sense of balance in our work-life. Everyone needs the ideal work-life balance to remain productive in their work-life endeavors.