11 Effective Tips for Working From Home
We’re in the midst of some crazy times, my friends. With this Coronavirus madness and recommended “social distancing” leading many offices to go remote, more people than ever are working from home.
As someone who has worked from home and worked remotely while traveling for almost three years now, let me begin by welcoming you to the party! I wish it were under better circumstances, certainly, but I’m excited at this opportunity for many to see the freedom that remote work can allow. With the incredible access to technology in today’s world and the use of connectivity softwares like Zoom and Slack, now more than ever it’s pretty easy to work from just about anywhere in many job roles.
In addition to my own personal experience, I have also read a ton of literature on the subject of productivity for remote work and through my recent experience with Remote Year, I have access to a wealth of resources on the subject. So I wanted to hop on and give you a quick breakdown of the best advice I’ve accumulated for working from home so that you can continue to maintain some semblance of normalcy through these uncertain coming weeks and months. And hey, who knows, maybe you’ll be so hooked on the work from home and remote work lifestyle, you’ll never want to look back!
1. Maintain A Routine
Basically, pretend that you are going into the office. It’s so important to operate on a routine, especially for those 9-to-5 workers that are used to heading into and leaving the office on a set schedule. Wake up at the same time you usually would and, if it helps, get ready and dressed the same way as usual, too. Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean you should let yourself get sloppy.
Some general healthy habits to establish into your routine…
Establish or continue to perform a morning routine—Maybe you start the day with a cup of coffee or by reading the headlines or by taking your dog for a walk. Whatever it is, be consistent and you will signal to your brain that it is time to wake up and start the day.
Get dressed as usual—It’s often hard to find motivation when you’re still in your pajamas, and of course it is! Your subconscious mind knows that when you’re in your pajamas, it’s leisure time. Overcome this by getting dressed like normal every morning.
Have your meals at set times—Maintaining a consistent meal schedule is actually something you should be doing anyways as it’s proven to have many health benefits and help you get better sleep.
Begin and end work at set times—You may have to do this anyways if your office is trying to stick to its regular hours, but it’s something to keep in mind in order to maintain a positive work-life balance.
Schedule in breaks—Allow yourself regular breaks to stretch, grab another cup of coffee, take a walk, etc. It doesn’t have to be extensive, just enough to protect against mental burnout. However, try to limit using these breaks for things like social media, as that can lead to longer distraction and make it hard to get back to work.
The science of habit formation has shown time and again the value of routine. By doing the same tasks at the same time every day, no matter how small, you are setting yourself up for success in the long-term.
2. Make Yourself an At-Home Office
Choose a dedicated workspace. Even if it’s just using a specific spot at the dining table or if you have a desk at home, you should not mix your “home” space and your “office” space, even if they are in the same room. Research shows the psychological effects of designating specific spaces for specific tasks and the power this can have in maintaining good habits. I personally try to keep a space for work (my desk); a space for leisure, like watching TV or scrolling through my phone (on the couch); a space for eating (often also the couch or at the dining table), and my space for sleep (my bedroom and especially my bed) separate. Over time, this signals to your brain that when you are in that place, you are performing the task associated with it. You’re literally training yourself like a Pavlovian dog.
Further, you should set your workspace up for success. This means your space is uncluttered and well-organized, not overflowing with scattered papers, empty snack wrappers, and who knows what else. In addition to my laptop, I keep my planner, a notebook, a pencil, and a glass of water in the immediate vicinity, and nothing else. I have additional notebooks, my hard drives with photos on them, and other items I may need nearby, but just out of reach so they aren’t cluttering my peripheral vision while I work. When I was living in New York, I also kept an inspiration wall above my desk with quotes and images I could look at when I needed to. By keeping your space neat, you are giving yourself less possible distractions to get off track.
3. Keep A Schedule/Make A Plan
Because working from home has very little set structure, it’s all too easy to get lackadaisical, operating as though you can work “whenever.” That is actually counterproductive on a few levels. For one, you won’t be as productive during the day because you’ll be easily distracted by every little thing that presents itself (and trust me, you’ll find distractions so easily). Also, it leads you to start working all the time—into the evenings and weekends—as opposed to keeping to a regular workday.
But you can create a schedule for yourself and make a plan of action, whether it’s each day, each week, each quarter, etc. The most comprehensive approach is to use a calendar or planner to block off your time each day into tasks. For example, “from 9am to 10am, I will review and reply to emails, then from 10am to 11:30am I will work on the social media project, and at 11:30am I will take a five minute break for a snack…” I use a planner for hourly scheduling in addition to a general to-do list where all of my tasks are written out and prioritized (I’ll number the tasks each day in order of priority). There’s something so satisfying about checking off things from the list that it keeps me motivated to check off more.
4. Communicate Effectively
One of the biggest difficulties faced when working remotely is that of communication. It seems to be the main concern of many companies that balk against the very concept of remote work. But it doesn’t have to be! We have so many tools nowadays, from email to direct messaging to video chat and even good old fashioned phone calls. Some rule of thumb for being an effective communicator when working from home…
Be responsive—Expect and deliver responses to internal emails within 24 hours, internal DMs within 12 hours. And if it’s more urgent, call.
Maximize frictionless communication—Call people when you need to talk, don’t text. If you were in an office, you’d likely be talking to them, right? It shouldn’t be any different from afar.
Write great emails—Be precise, to-the-point, and descriptive, and include the right people. Write very clearly in order to avoid confusion and limit back-and-forth discussions of obvious questions. In short, don’t waste people’s time.
Over-communicate (within reason)—Related to the previous point, try to predict possible questions that may arise and answer them before they can be asked. Stay on top of check-ins so that your team knows what you are working on at any given time. You don’t need to send constant updates, but by looping in your boss and teammates on a regular basis and them doing the same, you can stay on track with what needs to get done and who is doing what.
Be present and available—When you are on the clock, you should behave the same way that you would if you were sitting at your office desk. This means being available to your coworkers during the hours you say you are working, not wandering back and forth to the desk as you feel like it.
Organize regular check-ins—Whether it’s a Zoom call, daily emails, or via a Slack channel, be sure to stick to a plan so every team member is supported and accountable.
5. Limit Distractions
Pretend you’re not at home and pretend the television doesn’t exist. Unless you use your phone for work, and even if you do, keep it on airplane mode or utilize the Time Limit tools in your Settings. If it’s too quiet, put on some chill background music, but don’t give into the temptation to watch Netflix and think that you’ll be just as productive. This is an important habit to begin developing right now.
6. Move Around
Be sure to still get outside and go for a walk at some point (if it’s safe to do so where you’re at). It’s important for your mental and physical health to get some amount of fresh air and movement each day. If you can’t leave the house, there are plenty of videos online that include everything from quick 15-minute yoga routines to intense 60-minute cardio classes.
Further, stretching throughout the day is key. This will help to alleviate any mental fog or physical stiffness that results from the decrease of movement when you stop commuting. Personally, I have bad back problems, so I am constantly taking moments to stretch and readjust.
7. Stay Organized
This ties into many of the other points I’ve made, but it’s so helpful to your productivity to remain organized in a number of ways. Organize your physical surroundings in a way that makes them less distracting, organize the schedule of your day, organize your to-do list and all of your various projects, organize your computer desktop and layout… Marie Kondo the hell out of your whole life. The more you minimize distractions caused by clutter, the more you can focus on the important stuff.
8. Make Sure Your Home is Well-Connected
I’d hope it goes without saying, but make sure you have a strong and reliable internet connection! Depending on where you are or the nature of your job, you may need a stronger or faster signal than what’s included in the basic cable package you’ve been using until now.
9. Eat Healthy
Because your kitchen is just a few steps away (and likely stocked up with all sorts of “provisions” you got when you made your mad COVID-19 grocery store run) you may be tempted to stray over there for a snack or two or three… But eating healthy is the basis for a happy and healthy—and thus productive—body and mind.
10. Find an Accountability Buddy
A proven way to set goals and stick to them is to not go it alone! We are social creatures and many of our natural social tendencies can be hacked to make us more productive. This is where an accountability buddy comes in. There are many ways it can work, but the basic idea would be that at the start of the hour or the start of the day, you each tell the other what you’re going to accomplish over that period of time. Then, when you check in, if you didn’t complete your tasks, you must explain to your partner why not. Humans don’t like the feelings of shame or embarrassment that come with failure, no matter how small, so you will be more driven to get your tasks done. Or make a game out of it: whoever completes more of their top five tasks by the end of the day wins. You could even take it a step further and up the stakes—make a $10 bet that you will finish your report within the hour. If you don’t, you owe them $10. No matter how you go about it, it’s funny how much better we’ll focus when there is more at stake.
11. Leave Work ‘At Work’
One of the especially hard things about working from home, especially as a freelancer, is that work seemingly never ends. But it’s important not only for your health and sanity, but also for your productivity, that you set clear boundaries. If you don’t set and enforce boundaries with yourself and with your workplace, you are never fully present in either your work or your personal life. There is no reason that you need to be responding to emails at 11pm or getting pings from Slack at midnight. If something is truly an emergency, pick up the phone and deal with it, but stop feeling the pressure to jump at every notification. Further, by doing so, you are sending the message to your workplace that this is acceptable, and quite frankly, it almost never is. At the end of the day, and now more than ever, our health takes precedence over all else, especially work.
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Honestly, many of these practices are aplicable advice whether working in an office or on a laptop anywhere in the world. Whether you’re new to this work from home lifestyle or have been working remotely for years, there’s no doubt that implementing some of these simple habits will help increase your productivity!
Now let’s get back to work!
BONUS: Five Books To Read Now That Will Help You Be Way More Productive
Do you have any other tips or tricks to help your productivity when working from home or working remotely? Let me know in the comments below!