8 Tips For Working From Home

Mar 17

All of a sudden workers across the world are being asked to work from home. Some of us have been doing this on a regular or semi-regular basis already, but a lot of people are new to remote working. There are many great advantages to this, but of course, there are many pitfalls to avoid so that you don't become unproductive or start to feel claustrophobic. If you spend an hour in traffic in the morning and an hour at night to get home, working from home could just be the best thing that ever happened to you. Apart from the fact that you will have two extra hours in your day, you will also save money on fuel or travel costs. If on the other hand, you love the company of workmates and thrive in the office environment, this remote working thing might be a bit of a shock to the system. Here are a few tips for working from home.

Don't work in your PJ's

It might seem like one of the benefits of working from home, but pajamas equals relaxing, winding down and sleeping. Instead, get up in the morning and get dressed for work. I'm not saying you should wear a suit (if that's what you normally wear), but wear something that feels like work, albeit something comfortable. This is especially true if you will be making phone calls or video calls.

Workspace

Not everyone has their own office space at home, but it is important to find somewhere in your home that is as free of distractions as possible. This is even crucial if you have kids at home, especially young kids that don't understand when Mummy or Daddy is working. A room with a door that can be closed is ideal. You close the door when you are working and open the door when you are on a break. The rest of the house will get the idea pretty quickly.

Have all the tools at hand

This goes for any workspace, be it home or office. Have the tools you need as close to you as possible. Having to get up and walk across a room to file something can lead to just piling things up on your desk. Having to walk to another room in the house when you need to print something can lead to being distracted buy family things. So make sure you surround yourself with the tools you need; computer, notebook, pens, phone, printer, paper, etc, etc.

Time Blocking

Time blocking is very important and essential for being productive. You might want to try out a few different ways of doing this to see what works for you but I suggest starting with 30 min blocks and extending these as needed. For instance, you might use a 30-minute block for phone calls and then use the next two blocks for writing a report. Or for larger tasks, it can often be easier to break them up throughout the day.

Another productive way of time blocking is the Pomodoro method. The idea is that you work for a set amount of time and then take a break. So you could work for 40-minutes and then take a 5-minute break. There are many great apps out there for your phone on the computer. I use Tomato Timer on my Mac and Flow Timer on my iPhone. Another good one for the phone is Pomodoro. All of these apps allow you to adjust the time that suits you. Remember that 90-minutes of work is the longest recommended without at least a 5-minute break. After that, you tend not to be productive.

Be aware of the times of day you are most productive

Are you a morning person or an afternoon person? Maybe you fire on all cylinders first thing in the morning, but flag a tittle in the afternoon. Then you should schedule more intensive work first thing and leave the things that don't take as much effort until the afternoon. On the flip side; if you take a while to get going at the start of the day you might want to reverse that. If your work is not tied into a rigid 9 am - 5 pm, you might want to try a 5 am or 6 am start.

250 Steps

If you use a Fitbit or a smartwatch you will already be familiar with this, but if not...

Get up from your desk every hour and walk for 250 steps. You don't need a ton of space, you could walk between your living room and kitchen, or between bedrooms. But by getting up and getting the blood circulating it will re-energise you and make you more productive. Plus it is much healthier too.

Hard Stops or the lack of them

One of the most difficult things about working from home is the lack of hard stops. Starting at a set time is the easiest thing to do, but taking lunch at a regular time of the day and finishing work at the proper time is more difficult than you may think. If you time block your day, lunch shouldn't be a problem. But what can often happen is getting into what you are working on so much that by the time you realise you are hungry, it's 4 o'clock.

Stopping work at the proper finishing time is the most difficult in my opinion because you tend to finish on the completion of a task rather than say 5 pm. If you are not careful, you could end up working an extra two hours without even realising. Using the Pomodoro method mentioned above can help with this, or even just setting an alarm on your phone.

It is extremely important to have a hard stop at the end of the day and shut down your computer or close the door to your home office, otherwise, your brain will be in a state of limbo, not knowing if it's at home or work.

End the working day

Do something to end your workday and create a space between work and home. This could be a walk outside or making dinner. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it is something unrelated to work.