Productivity Tips for Working from Home

With all this coronavirus nonsense going on, I’m sure quite a bit of people are now working from home. If you’re struggling to adjust to the remote-worker life, I get it. It’s different, and for it to happen so suddenly makes it even more stressful. Fortunately, I was already working from home three days out of the week, so adjusting was quite easy for me. I also had my challenges because something about being in the office made me a little more productive.

With that being said, I wanted to share some work-from-home productivity tips that have helped me out over the last few weeks. Hopefully, they can be helpful for you as well!

• Set a routine/schedule and stick to it. Even though I’m not driving to work, I still get up at the same time that I do as if I were. I still brush my teeth and wash my face in the morning, and then I start working for about an hour or so before I go downstairs to eat breakfast. After eating, I get right back to working and won’t stop until I’m done for the day (obviously, with small breaks in between 😊). I always prefer getting all my work done and out of the way before I do anything else. Of course, you do what works best for you! If you prefer eating your breakfast before starting on your work, then you do that. As long as you have a routine that helps you be as productive as you can, you should be gucci. 👌🏿

• Set up a designated workspace. If you need to, kindly ask those who live with you not to distract you. Even though you’re home, you still have work to do. Find an area in your house and turn it into an office space for you to work, and make sure that area has minimal distractions. For me, my workspace is the office-turned-storage room at my house. It already has a desk and a chair, so it was perfect to use. I can also close the door if I need to. And please, for the love of God, DO NOT work in your bed. As tempting as it may be, it’s not the best thing to do if you want to be productive. Doing your work in bed is only going to slow you down. Trust me. Your bed should be for sleeping and love-making only, so no work!

• Take breaks AWAY from your computer. I can’t stress this enough, because I never used to believe this was true until I started doing this myself. Taking short breaks in between working can help with your productivity a lot. About every hour or hour and a half, I usually take a stretch break, go for a walk, grab a snack, or just do something to get away from my computer. Since I like getting my work done early, I sometimes would keep my behind glued to the chair and won’t leave until I’m finished with all my work (I know, it’s crazy 🙃). Then I would have the audacity to wonder why I was so grumpy, stressed out, or tired. Brain breaks are so important for your productivity, and I sometimes have to force myself to get up and take a break when I’m in the zone. Also, eat your lunch away from your computer as if you were still at the office. Take it from me, eating and trying to do your work at the same time is only going to slow you down.

• Distractions are for later. That means doing laundry, cleaning the house, talking with friends or family members, all of that can wait! It’s so tempting to get some household stuff done since you’re home all day, but pretend like you’re back at the office. You wouldn’t just leave your desk to start cleaning the toilet, would you? Of course not! Save your chores and such for the evenings or the weekend. Besides, if you’re anything like me, you won’t want to stop what you’re doing until it’s finished, which will put you even farther behind with your work.

• Separate home and work time. Since you’re at home, it’s easy to get sucked into working all day. This is why, in my first point, I stressed not working in bed and finding a designated workspace in your house. Once you’re in that workspace, you’re in your work zone. It took me over a year to finally create a work-life balance, and it pretty much was me learning how to set boundaries. Especially now that you’re working from home, it’s important to set a cutoff time. Otherwise, you’ll probably be working all the livelong day, and we don’t want that. Once that clock hits 5:00 (or whenever you get off), whatever’s going on is going to be a tomorrow problem. Run for the hills and don’t look back until the next morning!

• Still get ready as if you’re going to work. Something about getting up and getting ready makes a person feel more productive. Also, moving around will wake you up a bit, so you aren’t as tired. Which reminds me: don’t immediately start working as soon as you wake up. That’s absurd. Do your usual morning routine before you get started. I used to dive right into work as soon as I woke up, and I never realized how much it slows me down until I finally stopped doing that. Not to mention I wake up at 7 am, it’s not that bright outside yet, and the light from the computer blinds me. That was never fun.

These are just some of the few things that I’ve been trying to do to stay productive while working fully remote. It’s been helpful for me, and since trying these things, I don’t feel as miserable. I’m actually starting to feel a little happier now that I’m getting used to the full-time work-from-home life! Let me know what you do to stay productive while working from home. Take care and stay safe. ❤️️

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