10 working from home tips
Working from home tips have never been more relevant than they are today. Coronavirus has upended our idea of work and the gig economy has really taken hold. The result is that more and more people are working from home and surveys suggest that many have no desire to return to a traditional office environment.
While there are many advantages to it, working from home can be challenging. In this post, I will offer 10 tips for working from home that can help you to be happier and more productive.
I have been working from home on and off for the past few years and now work at home full-time as an entrepreneur and I really enjoy it. I don’t long for the times I had to make a 40-minute commute. I like the freedom to wear what I please (most of the time). I enjoy working in privacy and quiet as opposed to a busy open-plan office where it is next to impossible to avoid overhearing the conversations of co-workers, not to mention the constant hum of typing and shuffling.
That said, staying focused, being productive, and maintaining sanity while working from home should not be underestimated. With this in mind, let’s jump into 10 tips for working from home that have helped me to be more productive and hopefully, can help you too.
01 Create a dedicated workspace
One of the most significant challenges of working from home is the lack of physical separation between work life and personal life. People that are new to working from home often complain that it is difficult to ‘tune out’. While they have more free time due to a lack of commuting, they become more stressed as it is easy to feel as though one is always working.
There are a few reasons for this but the main culprit is a lack of physical separation. When working at an office, it is easier much easier to go home and forget about your professional life for a few hours. If your workspace is in your home, it’s considerably more challenging.
What is needed is a physical separation between your professional and personal life. You need a space that is used only for work. This will get you in a working mindset which can not only help you to be more productive but also to wind down fully when you are not working.
The optimal solution is to, if possible, have a home office. If you are fortunate to have a spare room in your home and you intend on working from home for the foreseeable future, it may be a good time to consider converting the space to a home office. This physical divide between work and play can help you to relax when you’re not working as well as be more productive when you are.
Of course, not everyone is fortunate enough to have a space for this. If you don’t have a spare room, don’t worry. A similar result can be achieved by creating a dedicated workspace someplace else in your home. It could be an unused corner of your living room or your bedroom. A workspace that can be stowed out of sight when you are relaxing can also work; think a foldable table.
The point is that this space wherever it might be should only be used for working. This means no watching movies at your desk and not eating breakfast at your working desk.
02 Stick to a schedule
Sticking to a schedule is possibly one of the most important things you can do to be productive.
We really are creatures of habit and working to a set schedule day-in, day-out can help to reduce friction, procrastination, and decisions that need to be made.
It is well known that great stoic philosophers were schedule-driven which allowed them to be hyper-productive. You too can take advantage of this too.
Additionally, similar to our first point working to a schedule can help to separate your working time from your personal time; increasing your ability to relax.
03 Get dressed
In a similar way that a dedicated workspace can put you in the right frame of mind for being productive, so too can getting dressed.
When people first began working from home as a result of the coronavirus, Instagram was overloaded with people working in their pajamas or sweatpants. While this may seem like a dream, for most people, it is not the most productive way to work. To work productively, and to create separation, it may be beneficial to dress as you would normally for an in-office job.
In fact, in a study on dressing at work, it was found that certain outfits changed people’s thinking with more formal clothes resulting in what might be considered better manners as well as a more objective and logical approach to solving problems.
There are no very strict guidelines here and I am not suggesting that you have to wear a suit around your home from Monday to Friday. It is certainly career-dependent. That being said, if you are currently working in sweatpants or worse, your underpants, I would encourage you to try dressing as you might if you had to go to an office.
04 Create small wins in the morning
A 15-second commute may seem like a dream; in many ways it is. You can get up later and skip the stress of traffic or a crowded subway. Don’t be fooled though, there are also some downsides to this.
When working at an office, you typically arrive there ready to work. You’ve gotten up, taken a shower, shaved, went outside, and caught a train. Quite simply, you have completed a number of challenges just getting to work. These may seem insignificant, but in many ways, these are wins and can serve as an encouragement to be tackle more difficult tasks when you are at work.
It’s common advice in the productivity world to start your day with small wins. That is, complete simple tasks to gain some momentum before moving on to more challenging tasks.
When you work from home, you miss out on some of these unpleasant but necessary small wins. Because of this, you may need to create some.
We’ve already mentioned getting dressed which also falls into this category. Other small wins could include making your bed, going for a run before work, choosing to complete some easy tasks to begin your day, or preparing food for the day in the morning. Whatever the task may be, create some small wins for yourself in the morning.
05 Prepare lunch in advance
It’s surprising how long preparing food can take when working from home. If you are working on a schedule, that lunch hour you look forward to goes by far too quickly when you need to prepare lunch during it.
Unless you eat something very simple to prepare or you genuinely find cooking relaxing, it might be a good idea to prepare lunches in advance.
I often make up a few day’s lunches in an hour in the evening. It really helps to save time and give me a well-needed break during my lunch hour.
06 Keep your workspace tidy
A cluttered workspace leads to a cluttered mind. An untidy workspace is distracting and can limit your productivity.
This generally is less of a problem in an office environment where there are often rules on how tidy you must keep your desk as well as cleaning staff to take out the trash. When working from home, there is no one to tell you what to do but keeping a tidy space, should not be overlooked.
While it isn’t feasible to have a completely clean desk or workspace all the time, you should consider what you need. Any items deemed unnecessary should be removed.
Although this will depend on your job, people typically crowd their desks with too many items. As I write this, on my desk, there is a laptop, an apple mouse, a notebook and pen which I use to take notes and write down ideas, and a small desk lamp. That’s it and that’s all I need. When working for a long time, I also use a laptop stand and an external keyboard. If you are interested you can check out my minimalist work-from-home setup here.
07 Take advantage of natural light
Natural light helps to keep us happier and healthier and a room with some of it will be a much more pleasant place to spend multiple hours a day. If possible, locate your desk near a window or at least have some natural light in the room that you are working in.
Personally, I prefer to face a window but if you are easily distracted, it may be best to sit so that a window is to one side. I would not however recommend putting sitting with your back to a window as it most often results in screen glare.
08 Go outside
When you go to an office, you inevitably get some fresh air. You have to go outside to get to your office, you probably have lunch outside of the office and you have to go outside to go home.
This is not the case with working from home. You could stay inside all day if you chose to do so but you shouldn’t. Fresh air can help to clear one’s mind and is a great change of environment.
Going for a walk, or even better a jog, in the morning and making sure to get some fresh air on your break can really help to keep your energy up and maintain a fresh mind.
09 Make a to-do list of short achievable tasks
While it can be difficult to stay motivated when working from an office, it can be even more difficult to stay motivated when working from home; particularly if you work for yourself.
Setting goals can really help to keep you motivated. Think SMART goals. For those of you who can’t recall what this means, that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
It is a good idea to keep track of these in writing. There is little more satisfying and motivating than ticking off tasks that you have completed. If your goals are SMART, you will find that as you complete one task, you become more motivated to complete the next. There really is a momentum effect.
There are many free and paid software that can help you to organize your goals and work but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Some people prefer to write their goals in a physical notebook while others use services such as notion or google docs.
10 Use suitable equipment
Working with sub-standard equipment can really hinder your productivity when working from home. In an office, this is usually taken care of by the company you work for but when you work from home, you may have to ensure that you have the tools you need.
While you don’t need to buy the best of everything, it is important that you have the necessary tools for the job that you do. I am not suggesting that you go out and buy a 4k 32-inch monitor and a standing desk but there are a few essentials that I would recommend anyone working from home to have.
- A comfortable chair.
- A laptop stand or external monitor.
- A laptop capable of doing what you need it to without being distractingly slow.
- A desk that is the right height and doesn’t shake.
If you are interested, you can learn more about my work-from-home setup here.
That’s it for today guys, I hope you found this article and that it helps you to be happier and more productive when working from home.