HOW TO WORK FROM HOME EFFICIENTLY
HOW TO WORK FROM HOME EFFECTIVELY
I made the decision to pursue blogging as a potential full-time job late last year, and joined the increasing number of Millennials and Gen X’ers working solo and working from home. Things changed around a little in the last few months, however, and I began working a more corporate job full-time, while still working on my blog and content creation. Having that second job meant that I was going into an office, had a team of people to work with, and had my targets and deadlines set externally. In this time with COVID-19, however, my ‘regular job’ has now transitioned operations online and I am back at my favorite desk in my improvised home office, working from home again.
Through both working for myself where I had to set targets and deadlines, and create and execute projects myself with my own internal motivation; and now, working with a team, I have learned some best practices for working from home effectively. I am sharing everything I have picked up that has been particularly useful in keeping me motivated and on track while I work from home.
BEST PRACTICES FOR WORKING FROM HOME
The most important element in how well you will work from home is your wake-up routine. When you don’t have to physically clock in to an office, it can be very easy to keep that alarm snoozing and snoozing, or even have no alarm at all. I have found that waking up as if I had an office to get to by 8:30 puts me in the mindset to actually treat my day as a working day, and keeps the hours from slipping away. I generally wake up about 6 – 6:30, and I go through the getting ready routine [showering, getting dressed, drinking water and a cup of tea] so that by 8/8:30, I can be settled down at my desk, ready for the day.
We all have different work times that are optimal for us, however, so maybe my model of following the 8-5 work day will not work for you. The key point here, is just to make sure that you are setting up your day so you are ready to work within your optimal window. And, be honest with yourself. If you know you work best in the morning, try to actually get up as soon as your alarm goes off. It’ll stop you from spending an hour scrolling through social media and later wondering where the day went.
The second change I found helps to get me in work mode is wearing real clothes to work at my desk. When I am at home, I wear very casual clothes or just stay in my night wear for as long as I possibly can. If I am trying to have a productive work day but go about it in my night clothes, well, I just don’t have a productive day. A part of the reason I think getting dressed properly helps is that it sets your mind up to recognize this time as work time. This also benefits your ability to separate working from relaxing so you can shut down from work at the end of the day when you change back in to your chill clothes. Now, I don’t mean wear a blazer and your best shoes to your desk, but something as simple as a white tee and nice trousers can be very effective to put your mind into work mode.
I also generally advise working at a desk over working from your bed, or if you don’t have a desk maybe sitting up in bed with an improvised desk surface. For me, something about actually sitting up and being slightly uncomfortable makes banging out tasks a whole lot easier. I generally take a lot of breaks– to go get a bottle of water, walk around the rest of the house, talk to my mom about something– so that the day doesn’t feel too monotonous.
To optimize your work time, making to-do lists the night before, will be your best friend. I love making to-do lists. I especially love making them look pretty so using Canva or something similar to create a to-do list template, helps me stay excited about work and keeps my focus and expectations for the day clear. It’s especially good to have them done the day before so you don’t have to spend time in the morning worrying about making sure you know everything you need to do. This advice goes for all small decisions like what to wear, having your makeup laid out if you wear it, what to eat in the morning– having all those decisions made and planned out the night before makes your mornings much more productive.
HOW TO COMBAT PROCRASTINATION WHILE WORKING FROM HOME
The main thing I waste time on, is undoubtedly my social media. It’s so easy to just reach for your phone and mindlessly scroll, and before you know it, you’ve spent an hour laughing at memes on Twitter. I generally put my phone out of reach so if I want to use it, I have to physically get up and walk to it. Most of the time, reaching for my phone is a very spur of the moment, unthinking decision, and if I put the phone out of reach, I won’t actually want to get up and walk to it.
When it comes to procrastination, though, sometimes it is your mind telling you it wants a break from the type of activity you’re doing. So if you’ve been writing for an hour, take a break and do something visual like for me, editing a photo or grouping images into dedicated folders for blog posts, or designing a pitch deck for a brand proposal. You can also take a real break and go watch an episode of something on TV, fold your laundry, or cook. There’s nothing wrong with needing and taking breaks in your work day. As with everything else, doing it in moderation and with intention will keep procrastinating from having a negative impact on how much you want to get done.
HOW TO STOP WORKING WHEN YOU WORK FROM HOME
When your work and home life become this intertwined, it can be really difficult to enforce that separation and make sure you are actually switching off at the end of the day. You can ‘one more thing’ yourself into working 18 hour days surprisingly easily. When working for myself, I found ending my day and getting up from my desk by 4:30 or 5 each day was an effective measure(I was really bad about this though and would be editing or posting at random times in the nighttime), and when working with others, trying to enforce a policy of no evening calls and no early morning calls can be helpful as well. You want to be productive and a good team player, but you also want your coworkers to respect boundaries, and to respect your own time that you have for yourself and your family.
Those are all my tips and best practices for working from home effectively. Do share in the comments if you have any more that work for you!
Stay safe,
Amoafoa.
