According to Flexjobs, more than 4 million people work from home.
Even the managers from big brands have reported that remote employees are more productive when they are working from home.
Even the remote workers said that they feel less stressed, which is useful for decreasing absenteeism and increasing morale.
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Work from home is not only good for employees but also good for businesses and brands.
When working from home, there are particular challenges that you have to face.
Some of them are related to your mental health, and some are related to physical health.
Today, I am sharing some of the essential tips that you should follow to be more productive when working from home.
Schedule:
Routine:
Routine is the first thing that you manage to increase productivity when working from home.
You may have the feeling that you can do whatever you want and whenever you want.
But, the same time it is important to schedule everything.
There was a time when in college you have time between two classes, and you were doing whatever you wanted. Working from home brings the same kind of freedom.
In college days, it can be crucial for students to establish a routine, but at the same time, they find themselves surfing the internet, using social media and streaming YouTube.
Routine is important.
You need to manage your time and fix the time slots of all the essential things to do.
By maintaining a schedule, you can easily understand that how long it will take you to get the desired results or get the job done.
Batch:
Batching is the strategy that will help you to the more in less time.
People mostly fall for multitasking but batching is different than this.
In batch, you will spend time to set a significant amount of time to get the work done completely.
For example, you can spend the first day of the month planning what you want to do in the whole month or create a social media calendar or content calendar.
Get Dressed:
When working from home, if you hop on to your system in your nightdress, then you are not ready.
You may think that it is more productive than you may be investing more time.
There is something we all know as "get ready."
Getting dressed gives you a feeling of "I am at work" and also make your mind stay focused.
Remember: What you wear shows what you think.
I like what people call " Dress for Success."
Fixed Time:
When you work in an office, you have to set the time to start and stop work.
But when it comes to working from home, most of the population keep stretching the work for 30 minutes or more.
You can overburn yourself with this behavior.
If you are not able to stop the work at the designated time, then you should schedule something that will force you to finish the job at the designated time such as, Dinner, time for family, exercise, etc.
If you are working more than 8 hours daily, that means your productivity is decreasing day by day.
Both your body and mind need to break at 5 p.m.
You can also batch your work by scheduling days for tasks, meetings, and calls.
Before you do that you also need to be ready for the type of conversation and what you want to achieve with these tasks.
This will save you from interruptions when performing these tasks.
Since I started working full time in 2014, I realized that it was not easy to start a new task without closing the already running job.
Most of the times, I thought that after I finish one task, I will do the call.
This was a time when I was rescheduling calls again and again.
I also had days with no calls, conversion, and emails.
Track:
Tracking is essential for every business.
Some professionals believe in tracking every hour or measure the performance.
If you are working from home or working as a freelancer, then you should track hours for clients.
Tracking will also bring your attention to all the critical details.
Tracking will help you to find out where you are losing your precious time and where you can be more productive.
Manage Physical Space:
WorkSpace vs. Home Space:
There is no doubt that you can work from anywhere when you are working from home.
Sometimes you may find yourself working in the living room or kitchen table also.
But this is not how you can improve your productivity.
I am always the most productive when I am sitting in front of my computer, not a laptop.
You need to create a separate workspace in your home space to save yourself from distractions.
This will also tell your family that they should not disturb you as long as you are in your working space.
Maintain order in your physical workspace:
A nice clean and tidy workspace not only brings positive energy but also save you from distractions. It will also save you money and time.
Lack of organization in your workspace will cause a lack of productivity.
Dirty desk not only decreases your productivity but also spread viruses that may infect you. You must keep your desk, computer, laptop, and smartphones clean.
It will hardly take 10 minutes of your time to clean your workspace.
Invest in Office Furniture:
When running a blogging or freelance business or working from home, you may end up sitting more than 8 hours every day in front of your laptop or computer.
This will surely hurt your body.
To save your body and mind, you need to invest in ergonomic and comfy furniture.
Take breaks, drink water, walk for a minute or two, or do calls.
Invest in furniture that suits the human body posture and according to your body ergonomics.
Work Ambiance:
The big reason behind open office controversies that we all are different, and we all behave differently in different situations.
As a work from home professional, it is your job to ensure the professional environment. It also includes a perfect desk, perfect lights, and the right playlist.
If you think about working in a coffee shop or open office, then you find yourself in the middle of a lot of distractions.
So, it is your job to ensure that your focus should be on your work.
Breakup with distractions:
Social Media:
Social media is the biggest distraction for all.
On average, we waste more than 2 hours daily on social media.
Here I am not saying that you should not use social networks, but you should not get carried away.
I have learnt this lesson in the past few years, and now I get less distracted when using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social networks.
Social media connects us all, and I also utilize social meetings for my business, but you need to make sure that you should not waste your time in non-productive things.
Use Apps but set the timer to remind yourself of the time you have spent on these.
Emails:
You may find 100's of email every day falling into your inbox. It can be time consuming for you to go through all of them.
You cannot waste your time in your inbox if you want to be productive.
I recommend you to check the email only at a predefined or specific time.
You can also take help of autoresponders to let the sender know when will you reply to them.
Manage Expectations:
Your family always has a lot of expectations from you, but you cannot spend your whole day managing things other than your work.
It is your job to manage expectations.
Set expectations about your work time and let your family know that when you are available. This will make them happy and also save you from interruptions.
Procrastination:
Breaks will help you to refresh your brain and be more productive, but sometimes procrastination will make you waste a lot of time.
Have you ever visited Facebook to find some solution, but end up watching movie trailers? If not, then it's okay.
- Get dedicated cut-offs rather than long unintentional breaks.
- Go to the kitchen grab some cold drink, have some snacks, and come back.
- Or take a walk around your house.
Working from home Parent:
Are you a parent who is working from home? If yes, then you have to face some unique challenges.
You may find it challenging to manage your time when caring for your children.
Taking care of the kids is itself an outstanding job.
This is the time when you have to create the balance between your work and your family life.
You can also take help of your family to take care of kids for the time you are in your workspace.
Say no to Notifications:
Notifications are the culprit behind distraction.
Notifications are there to be seductive and attract users to spend their time on all such networks.
Apps always trying to grab your attention with what's new, offers, and other sorts of notifications.
Turn off all the apps when you are in your workspace. Only check them in breaks.
Use Technology:
Use Right tools:
As a blogger, I understand the importance of tools.
Tools are there to make your job easy and effective.
If you are a freelancer or an entrepreneur, then you should invest in useful tools.
In an online business such as SEO or blogging, you should use available tools to boost your productivity.
For example;
In short, no matter what you want to do, there are tons of tools available online, use them wisely.
Noise Cancelling Headphones:
Noise-canceling headphones!
Why?
Use them to save yourself from audio distractions.
If you are traveling and working at the same time, then noise-canceling headphone can be valuable.
Save Yourself from WFH Loneliness:
The biggest drawback of working from home is that you will not have the chance to build in-person connections.
Sometimes you need someone to talk and engage with to not only refresh your mind but also create a place for new ideas.
Online communities will save you there.
You should join online communities related to your business on popular social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Slack.
Go Outside:
The most significant benefit of working from home is that in fact, you can work from anywhere you want. You can even sit in a coffee shop and working when having snacks or drinks.
You can also establish a coworking space with other freelancers or your work from home friends.
Sometimes changing the location of your workspace will help your mind to give birth to new ideas.
Tell your family About Your Work:
This is something that you can do on a daily basis.
Telling your family about your work will help them understand the importance of your work. This will also save you from interruptions.
You can also earn respect from your family and friends.
Sometimes you might find helpful ideas coming your way.
Breaks your routine:
I have already said that you must have a habit to improve your productivity, but sometimes you need to break up the routine.
Rather than just working from home every day, plan some days to go out for networking events, plan seminars or meetups.
Go to the local cinema, a park or attraction.
Work from home brings flexibility in your schedule, and this improves the circle of your life.
Physical Health:
20-20-20 rule:
My doctor told me about this rule.
The rule says that takes a 20-second break after every 20 minutes and focus on an object 20 feet away from you.
This will relax your eyes.
Eat Healthily:
When I started working from home, my desk was a place for junk food.
Within a few months, that showed the effects.
I realized the importance of healthy food and exercise.
From that day, my home-cooked food is my preference.
99% times I skip the readymade meal.
I am surely not the healthiest person, but still, I am better than many who live on junk food and complaining that work from has made them like this.
Take lunch break:
Lunch break plays an essential role in your life.
Every day you must take a lunch break and get away from your computer or laptop.
This will help you stay productive.
Drink enough water:
How much water do you drink every day?
1 liter, 5 liters, 10 liters, let me know via comments.
Study shows that half of the Americans do not drink enough water.
Your body must stay hydrated.
Do you know that dehydration can cause short term memory loss?
So start drinking more water.
Walk and Stretch every hour:
Moving around will help your blood to flow correctly in your body.
If you are already drinking enough water, then you must be leaving your desk regularly, but if not, then you must take short breaks after every hour to walk and stretch for a couple of minutes.
Here is the list of stretches that you can do.
Mental health:
Meditation:
Meditation can be life-saving for you.
Meditate for atleast 10 minutes every day.
You can use some meditation motivation from Youtube or add meditation music to your phone.
Meditation can also clear unnecessary thoughts from your mind and help you stay positive and focused.
Day Off:
When working from home, most of the people forget the importance of a day off.
Day offs are importance to cure your physical and mental health.
You can work from anywhere, but it doesn't mean that you should be working on the hospital bed.
Travel:
One of the significant benefits of work from home is that it allows you to work even when you are traveling. All you need is a laptop with an internet connection.
Take advantage of this and plan a trip to your favorite destination.
Perfect or not:
Perfect or not, you are always a human being, and you have the right to live your life the fullest.
There are the days when you get stuck at something can can't complete the job, or you choose sleep over-exercise.
Sometimes even your happiest clients can yell at you.
But this is the life.
You cannot make every day perfect for everyone.
Be flexible, and that is the beauty of working from home.
Flexibility will also improve your productivity and make your life more happening.
If you still have any question, do share via comments.
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