8 Tips for Working at Home Productively
These days, a lot of us have been working from in a new normal that is probably here to stay for the foreseeable future. Freelancers have been working from home for many years and have worked out routines and ways of adapting to do this. If you’re new to working from home, here are some tips to do this effectively, and to make sure working from home works for you.
Workspace: Your workspace is key to working from home, and places like Grays Online will help you find what you need. Your workspace should be functional yet also comfortable. Your home office should also be professional, if possible, even if working from home is a more casual situation. Entrpreneur.com says this workspace will depend on what your business is, and this will guide what you need for working from home.
Time management: Scheduling time for meetings and projects is also crucial to working from home. Julie McCormick suggests creating to-do lists as well as blocking in long periods of time to work. This can ensure you will stay on track with what needs to be done, and gives you goals for each day, and each stage of what you are working on.
Don’t procrastinate: When working from home, it is very tempting to procrastinate with books, social media, and television. We’re all guilty of it, and it is easy to do. But when working from home, you need to stay on task. As Julie McCormick says, do everything on your to-do list, and don’t leave it for tomorrow. You’ll just have more to do then.
Stay Connected: Working from home is often isolating and solitary. We’re in our own little bubble, often without speaking to anyone, apart from the odd email we might get. Emma Burrows suggests staying connected using phone calls or video calls and says to join relevant industry and work from home groups. Hub Australia provides a few suggestions for video conferencing software including Zoom.
Using the right tools: The tools you use when working from home will depend on the industry, you’re working in. This ties into what Hub Australia outlines above, but can also be as simple as whether you use Word, Excel or an internet-based database system, for example. Your tools should be appropriate for your job. This ties into your workspace and making sure that it works for you and your business, or what you do. Knowing what you need will ensure that when you use sites like Grays Online, you will find the right tools to perform your job.
Taking breaks: Seems obvious, right? When we’re working in an office space or even at school, breaks can be scheduled or we’ll have someone around to remind us to take a break, or who come and chat to us. At home, we don’t necessarily have that. Hub Australia suggests setting a timer for breaks for yoga, a walk or coffee.
Minimise distractions: One of the biggest challenges we face working from home is distractions. How do we avoid them? We are constantly connected to the Internet and many of us need that to do our work. Julie McCormick gives some good tips on how to combat this, and whilst they might not always work, they are sure to help you find a way to minimise distractions and learn to find ways to work around these distractions.
Self-care: When working from home, it is very tempting to work through illness. We don’t have to worry about anyone getting sick, so why does it matter? There’s more to it than that though, and obviously, when you’re sick, you should be resting. Julie McCormick looks at self-care in a different way–how you approach your work, and your workday. Getting dressed, taking breaks, eating well–all ways to practise self-care. Self-care comes in many forms and will help you work productively.
Working from home is a new unknown for many people, and it does require discipline and determination. Following these steps, and the others in the linked articles can help you pursue an efficient and effective work-from-home strategy that will allow you to be productive when working from home.
