Find a Job You Really Want In
As remote working becomes more popular, some people are ditching the typical 9 to 5 in the office for a more flexible remote schedule. This helps people be home more often with their families.
Without the office and having coworkers around, some people are having a hard time staying productive. In this article, we will go over 20 tips to help you stay productive wile working at home.
Key Takeaways:
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Creating a regular schedule and setting boundaries on those hours will help you separate work hours from your personal life while working from home.
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Having contact with your coworkers and contributing to virtual meetings will avoid feeling lonely and promote socialization.
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The majority of workers claimed to be just as productive at home as they are in the office, with 1-in-5 workers working more hours than usual.
20 Tips for Working From Home and Being Productive
Being productive and efficient when working from home will allow you to prioritize tasks, meet deadlines, and achieve job satisfaction. Here are the top tips you should use to stay focused when working from home:
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Maintain a regular schedule. Sticking to a regular schedule will help you stay at the top of your game. By maintaining a regular schedule at home, as you would if you were going into the office, you’ll be able to prioritize tasks and increase your daily productivity.
Developing a morning routine is one of the easiest ways to maintain a regular schedule. Having a regular morning routine is a powerful way of telling you when it’s time to get to work each day. Similarly, it’s also a good idea to create a routine that you follow at the end of the day to signal when to put work away for the night.
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Set boundaries. Along with creating and maintaining a regular schedule for yourself, make sure you set boundaries with your company. Make sure they know the hours that you work so they aren’t contacting you when you are away from your desk. This will also help maintain a work-life balance and keep you from burnout.
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Work out a schedule with your family. There are going to be times when your family will be home during your work hours. This can become a struggle when you are trying to take care of children or contribute to family duties while working and staying productive.
Establishing a schedule and setting boundaries with your family for what your work hours are will give you the time needed to be productive. This will also help with a work-life balance because you are not trying to juggle everything at once.
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Get dressed. Working in your pajamas may seem like a great idea, but it can make you want to go back to bed and not work. You don’t have to wear the same thing that you would to the office, but establishing different clothes to wear while working can help you shift into a work mode. When you wake up, get reading and get dressed to start your day just like you would for the office.
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Set daily and weekly goals. At the beginning of your week make a master list of goals that you want to have completed. Put it somewhere visible so you are able to see it every day. Also at the start of the day make a list of the goals that you want to have completed during that day. These goals can start small and gradually get larger as you go.
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Make to-do lists. Making to-do lists is a great way of sticking to a regular schedule and being productive as a remote employee. Seeing a physical list can also help measure your productivity through out the day. Crossing off your tasks can be rewarding and make you want to finish out the day.
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Take breaks. When working from home it’s easy to get caught up in a task and skip breaks. But, the thing is, taking breaks during the workday will increase your productivity by avoiding burnout.
Whether that looks like taking the dog on a walk or just sitting in the backyard with a cup of coffee, the fresh air will help you maintain focus for the duration of your workday.
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Have a designated workspace. Your work area at home should be free of distractions and equipped with everything you need during the day to complete your work. As a general rule of thumb, you should have good cell service, WiFi, and access to all the files and computer software you may need to complete your daily responsibilities.
A home office will allow you to only focus on work-related tasks when you’re in that space, and when you’re done working for the day you’ll be able to physically close the door and separate your work life from your personal life.
Having this physical separation between work and your personal life can help remote employees avoid burnout and stay motivated at work.
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Prioritize tasks. Without your manager with you, it can be difficult to know which projects need to be done first. Learning to separate your more urgent tasks to your less important tasks can help you get your work done quicker.
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Set ground rules. Sometimes telecommuters fall into distraction traps when working from home. When your home becomes the place you live, socialize, and work, it’s easy to become distracted. It’s important to set ground rules with yourself too, to avoid distractions and maintain productivity.
For example, some ground rules you may set for yourself is not turning on the television or the radio during work hours, only answering personal calls, texts, and emails when you’re off the clock or on your breaks, and not doing any cooking or housework while you’re working.
Creating rules and boundaries with yourself, your housemates, and your family while you’re working will ultimately make you happier, as you’ll achieve that highly sought-after work-life balance.
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Communicate with colleagues. Your relationship with your colleagues can often make or break your work-from-home experience. When working from home, it’s especially important to communicate with your colleagues, since you can’t see them in person.
Today, work from home jobs rely heavily on email communications and video calls, like FaceTime, Zoom, and Skype. Whatever method of communication your company and colleagues use, it’s important to take advantage of that and communicate with co-workers to complete tasks and projects.
Although the perks are vast, remote work can sometimes be isolating. The best way to avoid feeling lonely is by socializing with your co-workers. Besides attending the required meetings and communicating with colleagues about work projects, it’s important to mingle with them as you would in the office.
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Contribute to virtual meetings. Virtual meetings are especially important. When a colleague or supervisor schedules a meeting it’s so important that you attend and stay focused and alert. When working from home, these virtual meetings are the closest thing you’ll get to face-to-face interactions.
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Ask for regular feedback. Getting regular feedback from your manager or supervisor is essential to understanding where stand with your performance. When working in an office, it’s easier to get feedback than working from home. Ask your manager to have regular meetings with you so you can get feedback on how you are doing while working at home.
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Meal prep the night before. Working from home may seem like a great time to cook lunch instead of ordering out or getting something from a vending machine. Taking time out of your day to cook a meal can often lead you to feeling less productive after.
Making a few meals and portioning them out is also a great way to watch what you are eating and eating healthier while working from home.
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Stay hydrated. Make sure you are drinking water and staying hydrated through out the day. It can be easy to forget to drink something while working. Becoming dehydrated will lead to you feeling sluggish and tired. Drink water to give you energy and stay focused through out the day.
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Be aware of your background noise. If you like to listen to something while you work, make sure it’s not something that will distract you. If you are someone who likes to turn the TV on for background noise, but you find yourself paying attention to it more than working, try listening to music instead. Try to find something that will influence your mood and keep you focused.
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Limit distractions. If you find yourself reaching for your phone to scroll on social media, try putting it in a different room. This will help limit you from reaching for it when you start to feel unmotivated. Removing any distractions from your environment will keep you on task and motivated to do work.
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Don’t go back to work once finished. Once you log out for the day, don’t turn your computer back on. If you have an idea, write it down on a piece of paper and leave it on your desk for when you log back later. This will help maintain a set work schedule and keep your boundaries in place.
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Ask for support. Working from home can be an adjustment, especially if you are new to it. If you are feeling frustrated with it or are feeling stuck, reach out to someone and ask for support. This could be your coworkers or your manager. They are going to in the same boat as you and will be able to help you work through it. You can also look online for remote worker support chats if you don’t want to talk to someone from your company.
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Stay positive. Maintaining a positive attitude is the best thing you can do for yourself, your colleagues, and your company when working from home. Even if remote working isn’t your favorite thing, it’s important not to be too hard on yourself and to stay positive while navigating this new work landscape.
By keeping a positive attitude you’ll be able to be much more productive during the day and get things done quickly. Happy employees tend to focus on productivity, have better time management skills, and adopt good work habits.
Benefits of Work-From-Home Careers
Working from home comes with a slew of attractive employee perks. Overall, home workers have higher job satisfaction, more flexible schedules, and improved work-life balance.
Working remotely from a home office can be a great option for job-seekers looking for flex-jobs or people who need to stay at home, like caretakers, mothers, or those recovering from an illness or injury.
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More flexibility. One of the most sought-after job perks is a flexible work schedule, or an alternative to the traditional 9 to 5, 40-hour workweek. Working from home typically comes with a highly flexible work schedule.
Whether working from home full-time, part-time, temporarily, or permanently, telecommuting typically allows you to determine your preferred working hours and work during the times you’re most productive. By choosing your hours and working in a comfortable workspace, you’ll likely increase your efficiency and improve your work habits.
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Increased productivity. An increase in productivity goes hand-in-hand with a more comfortable working environment. Remote work affords employees the luxury of working from virtually anywhere they want, so long as they have WiFi and cell connection. This translates to the perfect work-life balance.
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The ability to learn new skills. Working from home can also be a great way to gain new skills to be even more productive when completing work tasks and projects. Various online resources can help job-seekers, entry-level employees, and even high school students learn new skills and further explore their career interests.
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Cost saving. Working from home means that you are able to save more money from not buying gas, eating at home more often and saving money on work clothes. Having more money in your pocket means doing more thing that you want to do or using the money to get a better house or living situation.
Author
Elsie is an experienced writer, reporter, and content creator. As a leader in her field, Elsie is best known for her work as a Reporter for The Southampton Press, but she can also be credited with contributions to Long Island Pulse Magazine and Hamptons Online. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Stony Brook University and currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee.
