Working from your living room may sound like a dream-come-true for some, but how can you stay on track each day?
In this guide, we’ll take a look at how to work from home successfully and offer easy tips to get you started.
Create a dedicated workspace
You’re sitting on the sofa, laptop resting on your knees, with the TV blaring in the background. What’s wrong with this picture? We’ll save you some time… everything. If you’re wondering how to work from home, one of the most important things you need to do is create a dedicated workspace.
The working area you’re able to make will depend largely on the type of house or flat that you live in right now. If you’re lucky enough to have a spare room, you could turn it into a study. Of course, many of us are not that fortunate, and so have to look for other options. If all you’ve got is a tiny living room, you should still try to dedicate a corner to work, for instance.
Whatever area you choose, the rules are the same. Make the space conducive to work. You need ample desk or table space, sufficient lighting, and minimal clutter.
Dress for work every morning
Spoiler: What you wear affects how you work. Information published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology suggests that professionals experience ‘enclothed cognition’ when wearing certain threads. For example, as part of the research, participants who wore white lab coats did better when it came to tests that required attention.
While it may be tempting to lounge around in your fluffy pyjamas all day long, doing so could be hindering your productivity. When we talk about how to work from home successfully, we should never overlook the power of our clothing. Each morning, get up and get dressed as you would if you were heading to the office. It’ll make a big difference.
Track your working hours
You start the working day, sit down at your computer, and within minutes you find yourself aimlessly scrolling through Facebook or the news. Oops, you did it again. If you can’t help getting distracted, tracking your working hours could help. There are loads of handy tools online including Toggl, Harvest, and Everhour you can try. With all of the above, you simply press a start button when you work and pause when you have a break.
While you may not need to track your hours for work, this trick is a great way of staying focussed. Knowing that you’re being timed means you’re more likely to concentrate on the task at hand. You are conscious of when you take breaks and how long for. For example, you could set yourself a challenge to work for an hour and have a five-minute break.
Dealing with distractions
If there’s one thing that’s certain to ruin your workday, it’s distractions. Research shows that a three-second interruption can double the number of mistakes you make on your work. Keeping distractions to a minimum is always a smart move!
Some people can happily work away with the radio on in the background, while others find it too much. Consider what takes your attention and try removing it. If you find that you’re often looking at your smartphone when you’re working, try leaving it in another room. If you need a helping hand with cutting out the tech, start your simple digital detox today
Take an exercise break
Let’s face it, sitting in the same position for hours on end is hardly stimulating. It’s tough. You might feel like you’re stewing, which is hardly going to help you stay on track. One trick you might want to try is taking a short exercise break.
With that in mind, the next time you’re feeling sluggish, take a 10-20 minute break and do some exercise. There’s no doubt that the activities you do at home will be limited. However, there are loads of useful home workouts on YouTube that you can watch. You may also want to use some home workout gear, such as a kettlebell or skipping rope.
Plan your daily schedule
There’s nothing worse than waking up and looking at a blank page in your diary. When it comes to working from home successfully, one of the top tips is to schedule well. In some situations, you may have daily tasks that your manager sets you ahead of time. However, if you tend to work more independently, you need to take charge of things.
Scheduling well can help you boost your productivity. How you do it depends on your personal work style. If you want to go old school, you can keep a diary and write down your daily tasks in it. Alternatively, you may want to use the calendar on your laptop or phone to do the same job.
Have regular video meetings
Working with a team? While Zoom meetings may be the bane of your existence right now, they could be having a positive impact on your work style.
Research from the Journal of Organizational Behavior suggests that teams who meet regularly to debrief are better at problem-solving than those who do not. If you’re struggling to keep on track with certain projects, dedicating regular time-slots to these meetings is the best way forward.
Switch on and off
Working and living in the same space is a challenge. It’s hard to draw a line between your work and home life. When these two areas start to blur, it can be a recipe for disaster. The solution is to make sure you switch on and off from work. Be clear about what your working hours are and stick to them. When the end of the day comes, close your laptop and don’t open it again until the morning. Research suggests that the expectation that you should check emails out of work hours can harm your health.
source: experthometips
