We regularly face the arduous task of making tough decisions at a certain point in our lives, and one of those decisions entails either to work remotely from home or to work in an office space. This choice is not one to hastily decide, and a lot of important details have to put into consideration.
However, studies have shown that those who work from home are relatively more productive than their office counterparts. It is believed that working from home leads to one enjoying a healthier lifestyle, and this counts for so much.
Regardless of how you look at it, the pros of working from the comfort of your home outweigh the cons, and it’s up to you to find ways to balance things out.
However, while working from home has lots of perks, one cannot ignore the distractions that are attached to it. There’s so much distraction and comfort that working from home might start to sound like a terrible idea for certain people.
For those with kids, it might seem like an impossible challenge as kids tend to present the chunk of distraction telecommuters are likely to encounter. Nevertheless, there are ways to bypass these distractions and make the most of your work hours while working from home.
This article contains several tips that will tremendously boost your productivity as a telecommuter in ways that you never imagined:
13 Ways to Boost Productivity While Working From Home
1. Create an Ideal Workstation
Working from home is all about bringing your office to your home, and this is precisely what you should do. It’s not suitable for working from your couch in your living room while your favorite T.V show is being aired; there’s no more significant distraction. Try as much as possible to designate a secluded area in your home for work, and if you don’t have one, create one.
A proper office should contain all of the necessary gadgets and equipment a standard office should have, and this includes a table, computer set, telephone, and chair. If you need to purchase any of this, then you might want to visit https://www.officemonster.co.uk/ as there is some great office furniture available there. Just remember that the table and chair should be comfortable but not to the extent of you being so comfortable that you doze off while working.
The office space should also have doors with functioning locks in case you have kids that like to wander around the house. Furthermore, your proposed office space should be well ventilated and also have proper lighting to enable you to concentrate and stay organized while working.
It’s also worthy to note that a home workspace affords you the chance to tune your office space to your taste. It is something you sure can’t do in an office environ. Surround yourself with your favorite scenting flowers, plants, and decorations.
2. Make a To-Do List for Each Day
The importance of this tip cannot be overemphasized, and it might just be the most important one. Working from your home space requires utmost discipline and dedication, and a well-prepared to-do list should do the trick. Smartphones have made the creation of a to-do list quite easy, and it’ll smart to have one by your side.
Start each day by creating a list of things that you’ll like to accomplish for that day and set a clear duration for each task. Ensure you tick off each task as soon as you get them done and do not let the tasks overlap into each other, as this might jeopardize the purpose of the list.
3. Dive Into Work Early in the Day
The biggest fear for most people who have been contemplating the idea of working from home has got to be the transition from bed to work desk. It’s even more difficult when their bed is pretty close to their work desk.
However, working from home requires the utmost discipline, and you should make it a habit to get out of bed early and set to work. Furthermore, it has been observed that much more productivity is guaranteed in the early hours of the day, and you should look to gain the advantage of this.
4. Keep Social Media Away
It’s important to stress that social media accounts for a huge amount of distraction for telecommuters. It starts with you wanting to take a glance at the latest updates on your homepage and you’re deep into it before you even realize it.
An excellent way to discipline yourself and keep off social media is to do all of your browsings early in the morning and stay determined not to check back until you’re done with all of your work.
There are also useful applications and software that will do the job of locking you out for the desired period. Ensure you close all opened tabs on your device before setting out to work, and you could also log out from your accounts in the meantime
5. Less Procrastination and More Action
Procrastination devours time and the earlier you realize this, the better for your everyday work schedule. It’s essential to finish off whatever task is on your to-do list for each day and not shift some to the next day. When you begin to shift some tasks, the trend continues, and work begins to pile up. This isn’t ideal for anyone who’s looking to boost productivity.
6. Take Regular Breaks
There’s a need to take breaks at intervals while working so as not to clump things up in your brain. Studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex, which is the part of the brain responsible for reasoning, requires regular breaks from work to boost productivity.
You could schedule a walk around into your to-do list at specified intervals and ensure you do not stay in a spot during these breaks. Walk around the yard and stretch your legs while simultaneously taking in some fresh air.
7. Rest Well Over the Night
A good night’s rest goes a long way in ensuring optimal productivity. You must have a good nap after work every day. It won’t make for a good site for you to start to doze while you’re meant to be working, as this might hamper your overall schedule. A nap of at least five hours every night relieves you of all the stress you might have during the day’s work.
8. Pay Attention to Your Diet
This point is an important one as what you eat is an excellent determinant of how effectively you’ll perform. Some meals might end up making your visit the convenient room now and then. While some others might as well pass for sedatives.
If you’re serious about making the most out of your daily schedule. You should create a diet table that will act as the perfect guide when it comes to what to eat and when you eat them. You should also ensure that you eat as at when due so as not to work on an empty stomach; keeping your body hydrated at all times is also very important on your way to staying fit for work.
9. Employ the Use of Helpful Apps
There are so many applications and software that aid productivity, and you’d do well to have those apps on your devices. These apps help you to plan meticulously and also always remind you of pending tasks as at when due.
Applications like Todoist, Trello, Slack, and lots of time tracker chrome extensions have on display. These apps can be used to manage your time and boost productivity simultaneously effectively.
10. Make the Most of Your Productive Hours
While it has been assumed that the early hours of the day could be the most productive hours for humans, this assumption doesn’t work for everyone. It’s up to you to observe what periods you’re usually at your most productive and try to build around that period.
You could schedule the most challenging of tasks for those periods while you tackle the simpler ones during the remaining periods of the day. It ensures that you have full firepower to tackle those tough challenges and in turn, boost productivity.
11. Plan Ahead of Time
There’s nothing sweeter than planning for specific scenarios ahead of time. This is a certain way to enhance your productivity while working from home. Anticipate several situations and try to infuse them into your schedule to be ahead of such situations when they arise.
12. Turn Off Notifications
You’ll agree with me that a larger part of your day is spent on answering calls and replying to texts. These calls and constant texts could prove to be a huge source of distraction, and there’s a need to shut it down from the source. Switch off your device’s notification for the period of work. If there’s any need to make a call or reply to a text, ensure it’s quite brief.
13. Use Music to Relax
If you’re the type that likes to work while soft and soothing music plays in the background. You should not hesitate to create that environment. Try to create a playlist of all of your favorite jams and let them reel out while you work. However, you shouldn’t get carried away by this music while working as this defeats the purpose of working from home.
Conclusion
Working from home isn’t always going to be an easy task. It requires a considerable amount of dedication, concentration, and focus. Distractions are likely to abound at first. But when you stick to your schedule, there’s a vast chance those distractions will fade away.
The main advantage of the home workspace over the office workspace is the absolute privacy it offers. You should look to take total advantage of this. Make your workspace at home as personalized as possible.
Do you think there’s any tip we’ve left out? Please share your opinion below in the comment section.