Many of us are now working from home for the foreseeable future. It can be challenging to get used to this new way of working if you have never done it before. With the right mindset and tools, you can make it work and be productive.
Here are our tips to increase your productivity and motivation whilst working from home.
Create a workspace
Having a dedicated workspace is one of the key components to successfully working from home. Create an environment for yourself that gives you the sense that you’re leaving personal time and entering work time. Being close to a window where this is plenty of sunlight helps with productivity and can lighten your mood.
Keep your bedroom a sacred space for sleeping and relaxing where you don’t do any work. Sign out and turn off notifications for work-related emails when you’re done with work. This will help make your work and personal life more divided.
Get dressed
You may be thinking that you can now work in your pajamas seeing as you don’t have to go into the office. Getting dressed, having a shower and brushing your teeth in the morning will help you get in the right mindset for work, and its a great way of dividing work and personal time.
Create a routine
A great benefit of working from is that you can work whenever you want, but it doesn’t mean you should. Creating a schedule can help boost productivity and it makes it so much easier to keep your personal and work life separate.
Overworking and underworking can become a real issue. Pick the times in the day that you feel the most productive and energetic and build your daily schedule around that. If this doesn’t work for you, another option is to plan your work around your company’s business hours.
Take breaks and get moving!
Research shows that taking regular short breaks helps with productivity and mental stamina. If possible try to work in blocks. Taking breaks every 50- 90 minutes will renew your energy, stop you from getting bored and gets you ready for the next task.
The length of your break is just as important. Depending on how long your working block is, make sure the break is long enough for your brain to do everything it needs to make the break more profitable. 5 to 20 minutes is the ideal length for breaks.
During your breaks, you should stretch, get some fresh air, grab a snack, refill your water bottle. Do something that’ll make you come back to your work feeling refreshed.
Moreover, make sure you’re getting some moderate activity throughout your day. Clean, take a walk, exercise. Sitting all day is not good for your health.
Socialise after work
Due to the current lockdown, physically socialising is impossible. But there are still ways you can stay in touch with your friends and family.
Apps such as Houseparty have become increasingly popular. It is a video call app where you can play games such as Heads Up and do quizzes with your friends and family. You could host a Friday quiz night or evening drinks after work on there!
Recently, Netflix released a new extension on Google Chrome called Netflix Party. This lets you start and stop Netflix movies and shows at the same time as your friends and family. There is also a chat bar where you can discuss with your friends what you’re seeing.
Apps such as the two that we mentioned make social distancing, working from home and self-quarantine more tolerable. And it also helps keeps loneliness at bay.
We know that this is a new territory for everyone and there is a lot of uncertainty about when things will go back to normal. We hope you found some of these tips helpful. Stay positive and stay safe!
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