Due to the coronavirus, there are more and more people who do their work at home. However, working at home is not that easy for there are a lot of obstacles in your way. It could be laziness, miscommunication and not being productive enough. Solve these issues by reading our tips below.
Here are our tips to being productive with work while your stay at home:
Better to over-communicate than to be sorry
The first step to remote working is to have a clear the line of communication. On a day-to-day basis, communication can be easily done towards our colleagues and our bosses. However, when you are remote working, there are more obstacles in communicating like rough internet connection miscommunication and much more. Over-communicating is much more preferred especially when there are targets to be achieved.
Try to ask for a 10-minute call to start and end the day, in order to have a clear guideline on how to much you have achieved and what is expected of you throughout the day. Use face-to-face video call apps for instant communication like Skype, Zoom and many more.
Set up the schedule
Yes, working from home meant that you have the luxury of working in your pajamas, but that doesn’t mean that you should. In fact, what you should do is make a schedule for your activities throughout the day. Start by waking up, taking a shower, getting dressed and setting up your workspace. This will create an important signal to your mind that you are getting ready for work. Making a work schedule also meant that you are less likely to experience overworking and difficulty in separating work life from home life.
In order to create these boundaries, it’s better to have a ‘signal’ that you are done with your work. It can be exercising, or a 20-minute coffee morning, signing off on business messaging apps, an evening dog walk, or a 6 p.m. yoga class. You might have a simple routine such as shutting down your computer and turning on a favorite podcast. Whatever you choose, do it consistently to mark the end of working hours.
Give Yourself a Break
If your company has policy on break times, you should take it. Give yourself a break after working for hours on end. Continuing will only hurt your body, so we recommend against that. Instead, we recommend having your lunch hour and two 15-minute breaks to refresh yourself. Don’t put too much burden on yourself to work continuously, even during breaks. There are many ways you can keep the breaks on-time and on schedule. You can try the Pomodoro technique or use a kitchen timer to keep your breaks short and timed.
Try to keep your spirits up
The coronavirus has all of us on-edge, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t keep your spirits up for the day. You can treat this anxiety and stress by communicating with colleagues. Our first recommendation is to have as much face-to-face interactions online as possible through video calls, regular manager check-ins-especially to those employees who live alone and might feel more isolated – and regular meetings with no agenda, like grabbing coffee or a drink. By keeping up this culture, it is more likely that you will not lose spirit and instead become more positive during this pandemic. This lowers the chance of feeling isolated, which can lead to depression.
Set up a Functional Workspace
Another tip to keep your spirits up while working from home is to set up a functional workspace. Having this workspace does wonders for you, since having a workspace separates your work area from your personal spaces and use it just for work, not for other activities.
It can be a small coffee table or an entire room dedicated to working, but that space is dedicated to your office hours. Ideally, you have two computers. One for working and another for your personal use. In that way, it’s more secure for your employers and you can use your other computer safely. But that can’t always be the case as having two computers is too much. Instead, you can have a separate desk or hard drive for you to use.
Minimize distractions
Unlike working during office hours, there usually is much more distractions at home. Whether it is a barking dog or a jack-hammering worker outside your windows, consider investing in noise-cancelling headphones. Distractions not only come from outside, but can also come from within your house such as children and your family members. For children, you can work out a compromise with your partner in taking shifts for who will care for them. If you don’t want to be bothered by your family members, give them a ‘signal’ that will show that you don’t want to be bothered.
Exercise During Your Free Time
Working from home can trigger even the best of us into behaving lazily. But starting your day in an energetic note from exercising can be a good motivation for all. Take the time that you would usually take in commuting to work into exercising and you will feel much more refreshed and energetic. It doesn’t have to be an outside stroll (since it can be dangerous from the corona virus), but you can exercise at home using youtube tutorials or fitness apps.
How have you been working at home? Share with us your experience in the comment section below!
