It’s no secret that being able to work from home can be incredibly convenient, especially if you have kids or you simply prefer to spend time with your family in the morning before starting your workday. However, it can also be harder to stay productive when you’re not in an office environment, so don’t let yourself get distracted! These five tips will help boost your productivity and help you get more done without any interruptions from the outside world.
The right setup
Working from home gives us more flexibility and helps reduce our commute time, but it can also lead to less productivity. Even if you have a quiet, dedicated workspace in your house or apartment—or you spend a lot of time working from coffee shops—it's important to set yourself up for success. Make sure that you have everything you need available at your desk (we recommend having both laptop and smartphone chargers handy) and make working at home a part of your routine, just like going into an office every day. It'll be much easier to work when there's no commute involved! Plus, don't forget about breaks: Plan to get up and move around once an hour or so. It'll help keep you alert and focused throughout your workday.
Get out of bed on time
If you have to get up early for work, try getting out of bed an hour before you need to leave. According to some sleep experts, what's most important is not how much time you spend in bed but how many hours you spend asleep. If your alarm clock interrupts your sleep, try setting it earlier in 15-minute increments each day so that by the week's end, you'll be waking up a full hour before you need to. Sure, it sounds like torture now—but thinks about how productive and motivated you'll feel when you start working from home!
Remove distractions
Working from home is an incredible perk, but it can also be a curse if you’re not careful. If you work in an office, your phone and email are likely your biggest distractions, but when you’re at home, other distractions are right around every corner. So, how do you maintain your productivity at home? Start by removing as many potential distractions as possible. Turn off your TV and close your browser—or better yet, unplug completely! It may seem impossible to get anything done with no internet access but trust us: You’ll get more done than you ever thought possible. Try to set aside specific times during which you will check email or return calls so that they don’t interrupt your flow while working on a project. When you do need to take a break, try getting up and going for a walk outside. Fresh air always helps boost productivity!
Track your progress
One of the biggest reasons we don’t stick to new habits is that we lose track of our progress. It’s easy to start something and not finish it. Instead, get in a habit of tracking your habits, whether it’s by writing them down in a journal or using a tool like an app to log what you eat or how many pushups you do each day. The reason for doing so is simple: It makes all-too-easy goals concrete and measurable (thereby increasing your chances of success), plus keeping track also helps keep you motivated and on track when times get tough! Make sure that whatever method you choose, works with your lifestyle—and helps you stay accountable.
Take breaks
I’m not talking about setting a timer to alert you when you’ve earned a break. That’s silly and easy to ignore. Instead, just make sure that every few hours (even if it means working an hour and then taking 15 minutes off), you get up from your computer and give yourself some time away from work. Stretch, walk around a bit, and have a snack—you don’t need to spend an hour of dedicated downtime for breaks to be effective. Even better: use those breaks as times for other tasks, like checking email or talking with co-workers on your lunch break. It doesn't count as procrastination—it counts as multitasking! (This is why we feel productive even though we haven't done much.) You'll return to your work refreshed and ready to focus.
An alternative method would be Timed Distractions in which you set a timer for X amount of time (i.e., 20 minutes) and force yourself to stop what you're doing so that at least one break gets taken each day no matter what. This is good because it encourages regular breaks but isn't as flexible in giving oneself more/less than 20 minutes depending on how one feels; after all, sometimes we do need more than 20 minutes away from our desk to re-focus properly.