It can be challenging to be productive when you are working from home. Learn to get organized to be productive with remote work!
Home is where you've got your soft bed, super comfortable couch, entertaining TV, and much more pleasant things. So how are you supposed to get some work done in a soothing environment like this?
If you want to stay productive, you need to organize your home into a fully functional home workplace. Set aside a designated place for your computer, remove the distractions, download the right software, etc. Also, try to keep your hours the same as they'd be in the office. For example, an 8-hour workday with breaks for coffee or a quick snack keeps you focused on tasks and motivated to get them all done.
To make working from home a triumph, check out more tips like these from this article. We'll cover all you need to know, from forming new good habits to getting the proper software, and much more. Here we go.
1. Keep Your Remote Work and Family Spaces Separate
One of the primary remote work challenges comes from the fact that you now need to share your working space with your family. Kids and spouses whom you love very much can suddenly become distractions when you're trying to work. If you want to stay productive, you need to dedicate an area of your home for nothing else but your job.
Pick a floor, a room, a corner, or whatever space is available for you, and use this area for only work-related tasks. Doing it also benefits your work-life balance. In addition, leaving the designated area in the evenings allows you to forget about the work for a while.
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2. Do Your Errands First
With remote work, time regulations are not that strict. Although it improves your efficiency to keep your working hours roughly the same as in an office, you can allow yourself some flexibility here. If you know you've got some small errands to do around the house (washing the clothes, vacuuming, preparing meals for kids), start your day with those. It's virtually impossible to get any work done while constantly thinking about the little pressing chores. Get them out of the way and enjoy focusing solely on work.
3. Let Everyone Know You're Working
When doing remote work, mental health and maintaining a good mood need special attention. One way to avoid needless frustrations over the day is to show your needs to everyone who lives with you. For example, letting them know that you'd appreciate a quiet work environment without distractions enables everyone to respect your work hours and only come to you during the breaks. Establishing these kinds of rules is inevitable when you've got little children staying home from school.
4. Do Not Skip the Breaks
So you've managed to get into the groove of working and feel like you could keep on going until it's dark outside? That's great. But don't jump over your designated breaks. Believe it or not, but a 10-minute pause every hour helps clear your head and increase productivity. To keep your remote work plan organized, try to take the breaks roughly at similar times every day. It'll create a routine that's good for your productivity.
So what's the best way to relax on a short pause? One way to ease your mind in a fun way is to play online games. And look, that doesn't mean you need to stay behind your computer during the break. The good thing about online games is that you can enjoy them everywhere you like via a smartphone. On a sunny balcony, for example.
5. Interact With Your Colleagues
Nothing gets a person disorganized faster than feeling isolated. It drags down the motivation and can seriously hamper your work output. So what's the solution? Virtual get-togethers. Remote work benefits a lot from friendly interactions that you'd usually get in an office setting. And with the help of modern technology (software like Slack or Zoom), you can keep in touch with your work-pals to talk about pretty much anything. That's right: these meetups don't need to be only work-related. The goal is to boost everyone's morale with leisurely chats. Just make sure they don't start to distract you from completing your tasks.
6. Keep Your Desk Tidy
We live in a wonderful age. You can do remote work anywhere in the world where there's a Wi-Fi connection. But wherever you decide to create your station, remember to keep dust and clutter off your desk.
A clean, tidy workspace creates a relaxed atmosphere that helps to keep the focus on tasks at hand. And once the desk looks good, it's time to organize the files on your computer. Use a digital filing system like Google Drive to arrange your documents to easily reachable folders.
Organizing your workspace is everything when it comes to maintaining productivity at home.
So use the tips from this article and stay efficient even at the coziest places. And if you're not already working from home, check out some remote work opportunities in your area to get started. It allows you to skip the daily commute and customize your office the way you like it. What could be better?
Have you felt the remote work burnout? How did you get over it? Share your helpful advice in the comments.
Meet the Author: Jeremy Ambrose
Jeremy Ambrose is an avid traveler. Also, he started his own small project on the Internet a few years ago and was able to successfully organize the cooperation of his employees during remote work. After many failures and difficulties passed, he decided that he wanted to share his experience and knowledge with other people.
