Working From Home
Working from home right now can be tough. You’re probably missing your office chair and your sit to stand desk, not to mention the friendly faces around the office. Whether it’s aches and pains that you’re dealing with or you’re having trouble separating home life from work life, there’s plenty of strategies you can employ to make working from home easier for you!
Give yourself a real workspace
Give yourself a dedicated workstation. This could be a spare bedroom or a study, or if you’re pressed for space then set yourself up with a desk for your computer and office supplies that’s quiet and free from distractions.
Regardless of where you set up your workspace, consistently make this your home office where you can dedicate yourself to during work hours only.
Set yourself designated work hours
When your office is also your home, it’s important to separate your home stuff from your work stuff. The easiest way to clear this hurdle is to designate a start time for your day, factor in regular breaks and give yourself a knock off time. This can easily be done thanks to smartphones, set yourself recurring alarms for your workdays.
The beauty of working from home is that you can often schedule your work hours to suit your day. If you need to drop the kids off to school in the morning then maybe you work from 9.30am - 5pm. Give yourself a hard finish time so that you don’t work into all hours of the night. Once work is done you leave the workspace alone.
Get out of your PJs!!!
One of the main reasons you like working from home is probably because you can work in your PJs, but it’s really killing your productivity. Getting dressed for work mentally prepares you for the day and helps separate home life from work life and makes you feel as though you’re working the same as you usually would.
Invest in helpful office equipment
Setting up a decent workspace at home is an investment in your health. It’ll save you aches and pains and a heap of stress which will save you a visit to the osteopath! You’ll remember from our previous blog post how to set up your desk correctly, this doesn’t have to be expensive to be effective. Decent wireless keyboards and adjustable laptop stands can set you back less than $50 each brand new. A good desk and office chair are great investments and the anticipation is that you’ll be using them every day. Even these are relatively affordable from stores like Ikea but it’s worth keeping an eye out on sales.
Set yourself up to-do lists and a reward system
We all respond well to reward systems, and there’s nothing like crossing something off of your to-do list. Maybe you like to physically cross something off of a list, or perhaps you like to have something set out in front of you on your computer. Either way give yourself a treat like a 5 minute walk around the block or a nutritious snack when you complete a major task.
Get yourself a virtual personal assistant
Programs such as "Momentum" and “Todoist” can help you manage tasks and time efficiently. These are simple add-ons for your computer and smartphone which can keep to-do lists for you and set your daily focusses to help you achieve your goals, much like a traditional planner.
Switch off social media
Social media can be a huge time suck for a lot of us. Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even Tiktok, the mindless scrolling of social media platforms kills productivity time, therefore, while you work it’s often most productive to keep social media time separate to work time.
Step outside
When you’re getting up for your regular breaks be sure to step outside from time to time to take in some sunlight and fresh air to help boost your creativity and productivity.