I’ve been a strong advocate for working from home long before COVID19 – it saves time, money, and loads of other resources (plus, pets in the office? Yes, please). Now that everyone needs a crash course in staying productive while working from home, I’m sharing some helpful hints:
Productivity Tips for Remote Workers
1. Create a Dedicated Work Space & Clear the Clutter - I cannot emphasize this enough. I have an office in my home (I think it’s supposed to be a formal living or dining room but I know myself better than that). When I’m in the office, I’m working. When I’m not working, I’m not in the office. My work space is for work, simple as that. If this working from home business was just sprung on you fast and furiously during the virus crisis, that’s OK, just find a room, a wall, a corner, an area, or even a seat that will be your work seat and nothing else, and designate it as such to everyone. Do your work from this area and when you’re in that spot, don’t do stuff other than work.
2. Dress Comfortably for Work Mode - no one is expecting you to wear office attire, but please get out of your jammies. Getting dressed (even in comfy clothes) makes you feel ready to take on the day. Showers are your friend - please keep up with basic hygiene. Not doing so will sabotage your productivity (not to mention make those you live with begin to dislike you immensely).
3. Manage Expectations - lines can get blurry when work and home is the same place. When you’ve done what’s needed for the day, call it quits. Keep to your defined start and finish work times (and redefine them if something isn’t working for you). Don’t feel like you have to respond to anyone outside of working hours. Make sure everyone on your team knows when to check in. When video-chatting with colleagues, build in time for both productive collaboration and blowing off a little steam together, just like at the office. When it comes to both work and school, I guarantee you’ll begin to notice how much of the day is wasted on non-essential activities that impede your progress. You can likely get a LOT more done in an 8-hour workday from home than you can at the office. Adjust as needed, but keep work and play separate. Maybe a 6-hour workday works better for you, broken up into two 3-hour blocks (7-10 and 12-3? 8-11 and 1-4?).
I love this snippet from a Fast Company article:
Figure out how you want to work
If you play your cards right, you don’t need to work like you’ve been used to working your whole life. It’s okay to keep working that way, but ask yourself: Do I want to stick to a structured block of time—say 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day? Or do I want to condense my work?
Removing your commute, an hour for lunch, and the idle chit-chat that would normally fill your day in the office, you might find that you can actually get your work done in five or six hours thanks to fewer distractions, shorter breaks, and a greater ability to focus. Make yourself available for meetings during regular hours, but then look for ways to work outside the confines of a nine-to-five if it means that you’ll produce better work. It benefits you, and it benefits your company.
If you’d like to stick to a more standard schedule, I’d suggest using the time that would normally eat up your morning commute for professional development instead. Take some online courses or tutorials that help you do your job more efficiently.
And then when it’s time to call it quits for the day, use the evening non-commute to wind down. Annoying as it might be, the conventional commute home actually helps you decompress from the workday and shift into nonwork mode. So read. Play some video games. Listen to a podcast. Tidy up. Stop working, but don’t leave your workspace and jump directly into domestic life right away.
4. Recognize Burnout and Re-set as Needed - there will come a point when you realize you’re not actually doing anything, you don’t feel like doing anything you need to do, or you don’t even know WHAT to do anymore. I grant you permission to walk away. Set a timer for 15 minutes and unplug. Close the laptop, take the dog around the block, refill your water or make a cup of tea, have a dance party, take a quick shower, complete a short household task like loading the dishwasher, sit in the backyard (screen-free), or do some sun salutations. Then change up your playlist to get back in the groove.