10 Productivity hacks when working from home
Staying productive when working from home is the latest most common struggle we all face lately.
It’s so easy to stay productive when you’re in an office with another dozen of people who do the same things as you – working. You all encourage each other, discuss ideas, and help each other simply get things done.
Yet, one day you end up working from your kitchen table with a laptop in front of you, your boss is on a conference call, and the chicken is baking in the oven behind you.
Yep, that’s the reality for many people lately.
And the questions start popping up:
How can I stay productive while working from home?
How to track my productivity?
How do I stay organized while working from home?
I’ve been working from home for the last three and a half years, and I’ve got tons of ideas to help you be more organized and productive when working from home.
Today, I will share my top ten productivity tips with you.
1. Have a serious talk with your family
If you’re lucky enough to be alone while working from home, just skip this section.
However, many people aren’t blessed with an empty house for eight hours every working day, and they need to share their living space with other family members.
My fiance and I are together all the time, and we also have a dog that requires care and attention.
The house isn’t as noisy as it would be if there were more people, but it is a challenge to stay focused when someone’s watching Tv or a cute puppy barking outside the door.
So having a serious talk with your family members is the first thing you need to do.
Let them know you need some quiet time for a few hours every day. Give them your working schedule and tell them if it’s ok to do something noisier in the afternoons or the mornings.
Ask them to help you stay productive and return the favor if they work from home too. Create a mutual schedule that works for all of you.
Most importantly, ask and offer respect and clear communication.
2. Eliminate distractions
Distraction is everything that takes your focus away from the important stuff.
To me, distraction is the Tv, loud music, and unnecessary phone calls early in the morning. I’ve switched off all of my notifications on the phone, but I don’t get distracted by seeing it next to me.
By eliminating distractions, you don’t leave your brain other choice but focus on the work that needs to be done.
When working from home, you might try to be even more productive by doing some other chores as well.
I suggest you don’t.
Imagine you aren’t at home. Forget you need to do the laundry; ignore the pile of dirt on the floor. Reject any idea to do something else but work. Do all that once you’ve finished work and have “arrived” back home.
3. Dedicate the space
Ok, maybe you do have only the kitchen table as an option.
In this case, remove all unnecessary stuff, place your laptop, a cup of coffee, and everything else you might need to work. Leave everything else behind you, so you don’t see it.
The idea is to create the illusion of dedicated space for work only.
If you’ve got more space, set a room (or corner of a room) for office space. This will be the working zone, and you aren’t going to do your nails, eat cakes, or nap there. It’s your home office, so treat it as such.
Home office Essentials
A modern looking computer stand that will also store your keyboard and your mouse at the end of the day.
It's time to finally have the office desk organizing items you've always wanted. 5 pieces of the cutest desk storage items are waiting for you to arrange them in your home office.
4. Find the right system that works for you
Different people use different tools to stay productive while working from home.
For example, I use a combination of online productivity programs and a bullet journal to keep track of everything I do on my blogs.
It’s your task to find the right system for you.
Here are two free productivity tools you might want to have a look at:
- Trello – for creating schedulers, tracking projects, and so on
- ClickUp – for tracking projects, working in a team with other people, dedicated tasks.
5. Focus on working
I’ve read many posts on how to be more productive while building my business from home. Many of them were suggesting I dress as I’m going to work.
I’ve heard it works for most people; it didn’t work for me.
Last year (2019), I was waking up at 2:30 a.m. most of the days so that I could work on my main blog. Until 9 a.m. I was ready with the most important tasks, and I was still in my pajama.
Your productivity doesn’t depend on the way you’re dressed. In fact, the reason you might feel more productive when dressed for work is that it works on your mindset.
Therefore, the problem isn’t if you’re dressed or not, but instead, it’s if you’re with the right mindset.
Work with your mindset and dress for work only if it truly makes a difference. Don’t use it as an excuse for being less productive.
6. Eat the frog early in the morning
If you’ve heard d about Brian Tracy’s book “Eat that frog,” you know what I’m talking about.
If you haven’t, here’s the idea: every morning, start your working day with the single most important and hard to perform a task for that day. Don’t stop working until you’ve finished it.
This simple trick helps you get things done way faster than any other productivity system.
Get the hard stuff out of the way early in the morning. That’s the time when your mind is clear, and you have the mental power to handle difficulties.
7. Build habits
Our lives depend on our habits.
Habits are what make us successful, productive, rich, or the complete opposite of all that.
That is why there are hundreds of books on how to build the right habits and stick to them.
The best (and the worst) part about habits is that once we’ve developed them, they are easy to perform and take almost no mental effort.
By building the right habits when working from home, you will do exactly that – reduce the effort and the struggle to stay focused.
The right habits could be anything from taking breaks every hour to regular walks after work or not touching any housework before your work time is finished.
8. Build the right routines
Routines are your best friend when working from home.
Stack your tasks together and create a routine out of them. Routines help you focus and do batch work, which means you will increase your productivity.
Very often, working from home is actually better than going to an office as it allows you to structure your days in a way that fits your productivity system.
Here’s why having routines that fit you (not the ones you built in the office) will boost your productivity and will help you smash your goals.
9. Don’t interrupt the flow
The best part about working from home is that nobody interrupts you. Yes, you still have a lunch break, conferences, and emails to answer, but you also have better control over the things you do.
If you catch yourself in a work-flow (that’s when you just can’t stop ticking off things on your to-do list), just keep going.
If you feel like there’s a better way to organize your day – go for it. Create that flow, and don’t interrupt it until it’s gone.
10. Be happy about it
Probably this will sound like a weird productivity tip for working from home, but here’s the thing.
The way you feel about your work will determine how productive you are.
Most people are thrilled and inspired to work from home, but once it happens, they end up confused about how to organize their days and working process.
With time they might get upset and frustrated because working from home isn’t as joyful and easy as they imagined.
But changing your self-perception, giving yourself time to adjust, and looking at the positive side of all that is the only way to getting back to your productivity flow.
Be happy you have the option to keep your work.
Be happy you get to spend more time with family and still make money.
Be happy you have the opportunity to work on your self-organization and self-development.
Who knows… maybe all that will lead you to a new, better position in the future or will give you new business ideas.
5 Ways To Keep Your Home Office Organized
No matter if you'd like to organize your work or your personal life. You need this cute chalkboard to help you stay focused.
A weekly planner, a to-do list, a daily planner - you've got it all at once place.
Time to organize all the cables under the desk? Make it look nice and clean with a stylish wooden box.
Want to stay motivated and inspired? Nothing says it better than an inspirational wall art like this one.
Imagine sitting in front of the camera and having coffee with a mug like this one in your hands. Yep, you finally said it, in an indirect way, but they know it - less meetings, less nonsense.
⇓Liked this post? Please, Share⇓
10 Ways To Stay Productive While Working From Home
Blogger, dreamer, procrastinator, and lover of everything soul-touching. My mission is to make you laugh, provoke your thoughts, light up your day and inspire you to fall in love with life and yourself.
