Many people around the world who used to work in an office have now been working from home since February 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19. Working from home is great for some people as they do not need to wake up early, get on the packed train to get to the office, get stuck in the stampede of people walking around the city and coming home late from the office from a busy productive day.
In the UK it’s been over 6 months now that people who can continue to work from home are still at home due to UK governments announcement in November with a second UK wide lockdown. So, I continue to have meetings virtually via Zoom or Microsoft teams. Working from home has its own benefits, like able to use the extra time in the morning to do exercise or study, listen to the radio when working or be able to just use the extra free time where we spent on our morning and evening comminute on some reading, spending time with the kids or on our hobby.
However, working from home also brings some challenges that can lead you down the wrong path and distract you from being productive. People get too comfortable and fall out of routine and get distracted, such as watching Netflix, kids needing your attention because they are bored or you set your office up on your sofa with your laptop on your knees watching TV whilst trying to work at the same time, this can severely limit your productivity.
It is possible to be productive whilst working from home even when faced some of the above challenges, including the feeling of being lonely as you don’t get to meet face to face with your colleagues.
Here are some few suggestions in how you can avoid distractions when working from home and be productive get some work done during the lockdown.
Have A Morning Routine
When working from home you can easily fall into bad habits and make you be less productive, one of these bad habits that can have a severe impact to your day is by waking up later than usual, like 10 mins before you need to log in and continue to wear your pyjamas throughout the day. Some days you may wear just put on a nice sweater over your pyjamas for a planned zoom meeting.
I would recommend that you continue to wake up at the same time you would have done typically for work before the lockdown. I was guilty of this bad habit as in the early days of lockdown I thought I had extra time in bed to just sleep as the kids were also off school and they were also having extra time in bed.
This then spiralled out of control as we were having to wake up and quickly sort the kids out and breakfast before we jump on a zoom calls that was schedule in the morning. Basically, not giving us any time to gradually get into the routine as it felt it was a mad rush house in the morning.
If you dont feel motivated in the morning, then have a look at our motvioatonl video to get you feeling motivated – Its Possible – Start Making A Change.
Change Out of Your Pyjamas
Now that I wake up as I would have done to go to work and I also change out of my pyjamas and wear my outside formal clothes, such as a sweater or a shirt along with khaki trousers. By changing your clothes, it makes you feel confident and psychologically it changes your mindset and puts you in the right frame of mind that you are ready for work.
I have been guilty of logging into the laptop in the evening after work till late into the night and I found by changing out of day clothes it made me change my behaviour and focus on other things. Therefore. I would recommend that when you have finished with work then change out of your clothes into your home clothes, this way it psychologically changes your mindset that work is over and you are switched off from work mode and ready to just relax.
Get a Temporary Office Space
Where you work in your house matters and you need a dedicated office area when working from home. Find an area in your place to create a small office space environment, even if it is a desk in a corner of your living room or in the kitchen. Get yourself setup with a small desk and try and get an office chair, as sitting on the dining table chair is not comfortable if you are sitting on it for a long period of time.
Having your own area where you work is important as your mindset shifts to be more focused at what you need to do and achieve.
Remove Distractions
You will thank me for this one.
Working at home has many advantages, you can multi task and work on your side project, go on social media sites such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook to catch up with friends or see what your favourite celebrity is up to.
We all know once you start scrolling on social media sites then you end up spending way more time on it than you thought you will, so what I would recommend here is that limit your time on those social media platforms. You should hold yourself accountable and say to yourself that you will only go on social media after when you have finished work. The best way to avoid going on social media sites is to put your personal phone away in the next room or in a closet.
If you think that you will open Instagram or Twitter to check what your friends are up to for 5 mins, don’t… as you can end up spending hours on it and get distracted. Here is an article from Forbes with a list of 9 habits identified from productive people that you can adopt.
Create An Action List
When you log in to your laptop in the morning and you have checked your emails; I would recommend you write an action list / or list if things you want to achieve and actually set a time on when you want to achieve them by. Setting a time against a task makes you more focused and increases your concentration in getting it done and being productive.
So, as an example I would write down a few tasks that I want to achieve and I would write down when I want to achieve it by, for example 10:45am before I have a coffee break, before 13:00 or before I log off work, so you get the idea…. this way you keep yourself productive and hold yourself accountable to get things done and being productive.
Work Hard And Play Hard
Just cause you’re at home doesn’t mean that you cannot take your lunch break or 5 mins to step away from your desk to have a coffee break. In your break make sure you step away from your office space at home and even go outside for a walk to get some fresh air. Why not when you have the kettle on listen to a podcast or call a friend.
If you are like me who used to just watch Netflix during the lunch hour, then try and do some exercise for 20 mins, there are plenty of home exercises on YouTube you can do at home and I feel a lot better having done it.
