There was always a high demand from employees for greater flexibility in their work and with today’s greater access to a better-performing internet, working at home is becoming a fairly common thing. The popularity of this trend is increasing and it’s picking up speed, especially when it comes to small businesses. People may have to work from home for various reasons – home repair scheduling, childcare obligation, illness, etc. – but many simply opt for it for convenience and ease.
And this could be a perfect setup, full of productivity, quiet, and peace. Working from home offers many luxuries – there’s no need to get up too early, no rush-hour commute, etc. But it could also lead to negligence and a decrease in productivity. Leaving the disciplined environment of an office can make your home look like an insurmountable hill of distractions. That’s why we’ve prepared some tips which will help you harvest the benefits of this rising trend and keep your productivity at the highest level.
Don’t Sleep In
If you think you can wake up just in time for work, you need to think again – your body needs about two hours to wake up fully and achieve its best concentration level. You can’t be productive in the state of early morning grogginess caused by still relatively high melatonin levels. If you don’t give your body and mind the appropriate amount of time to adjust that can inhibit your productivity. Furthermore, you need these two hours in the morning to do something for yourself. It’s important to set aside some personal time before the time for work comes around so you’ll be able to fully focus on tasks at hand.
Get Out of Your Pajamas
Maybe you think it’s not important to comb your hair, brush your teeth, or put your clothes on. Maybe you can simply stay in your pajamas and start typing emails from your bed. Well, if you want to be productive, you can’t. Getting under the shower and dressing up are required actions that will put your mindset in a state of work and professionalism. Besides the fact that you’ll feel as good as you look, it’s been proven that wearing formal business attire makes you feel more competent, trustworthy, and authoritative.
Organize Your Home Office
Offices are designed with productivity in mind, which is not the case with your living room. But that doesn’t mean you need to remodel an isolated room into a formal workplace – the point is in creating a place that will be your work sanctuary. That can be any place that’s free from interruptions, relatively quiet, and comfortable. Not too comfortable, though – stay away from the couch, since it’s a piece of furniture we engage to watch TV, read, or nap, not work. So a desk and a proper chair are mandatory. In order to eliminate distractions you need to keep this place free of clutter, but it’s equally important to have essential equipment – from choosing a printer with refillable cartridges to scanners, chargers, papers, pens, etc. All this equipment needs to be within arm’s reach so you wouldn’t need to get up constantly – this could turn into a huge waste of time and shatter your productivity.
Make a To-do List
In an office, you have a manager who checks in on you and keeps the productivity at a level, but at home, you alone need to hold yourself accountable. Sometimes it’s hard to keep numerous tasks at the forefront of your mind and there’s always a chance you’ll forget something. That’s why making a daily list of to-do tasks that need to be accomplished is highly advisable. That way you’ll be able to make a clear schedule and achieve the optimum use of your time. We recommend working in shorter amounts of time followed by quick brakes because that way you’ll be able to work more intensely without burning out, keeping your focus intact. Breaks are also extremely important for productivity, so schedule them, too – that way you won’t stress out about downtime.
That’s all you need. A morning routine, the right clothes, comfortable but functional surroundings, and a clear view of tasks at hand. In the end, keep in mind that there’s always time to work and time to relax – in order to retain this productivity cycle remember to separate yourself from the house every so often.