This is a guest post by Berry, singer, wife, mom of four, living the blended family life. Berry is passionate about social media marketing, copywriting and content creation. She loves baking and creating recipes for her blog, when she’s not being distracted by shiny objects. Check out Berry’s Instagram
Working from home can be beneficial in many ways, but many people feel they would lack the focus and self-discipline required to be productive and complete their tasks.
If you are working from home, whether you’re a blogger or a digital business owner, you will know that it is not always easy to be productive or to maintain your productivity. You can easily get distracted and sucked into that pesky rabbit hole that leads to procrastination and ultimately, not completing your work.
Currently reading: 5 Productivity Tips For Working From Home Click To Tweet If you’re currently wanting to work from home, you could be wondering how on earth do you balance your work and your home life? The lines between the two can blur easily, leading to loss of productivity in both work life and home life.
Thankfully, there are many people out there who have experience in this environment and have “cracked the code”. I’m going to share my top five tips to help you strive in your work from home environment and be as productive as possible when working from home. Let’s do this!
01. Have your own “office” space
This is very important. You will associate this space with working and therefore be more productive.
Let’s face it, if you sit yourself down on the couch you’re going to want to turn on the television. If you’re like me, you’ll want to get up every 5 minutes for a snack. Avoid the temptation of catching up on your favorite show and make sure that you are situated somewhere away from distractions.
Take the time to set up a functional office space, make sure that this space is designated for your work only. This way your family will know not to disturb you when you’re “at work”. You can even put a sign on the door to inform them that you’re in a meeting or busy blogging, this way they will know whether or not they are going to be stared at awkwardly by strangers on your screen when they walk in. You definitely need a comfortable chair, if you are uncomfortable and have a bad posture, you will not be productive and this could lead to unwanted aches and pains over some time.
02.Have a schedule
Nothing kills your productive vibe more than interruptions. This is why you need to have a daily schedule set up to complete your tasks. You need to set your goals or a target on what you need to accomplish each day. This will vary depending on your at-home situation. For example, if you have young kids at home, you will need to take frequent breaks to ensure they are not digging through the kitchen drawers containing sharp objects and that they are fed. Whatever your situation, be realistic as to what you want to get through in a day, enforce it and stick to it.
Don’t try to squeeze too much into your day. This will cause you to stress and you’ll end up accomplishing the opposite of what you were trying to achieve.
03. Start early
Get into a routine and habit of waking up in the morning and getting ready to “go to work”.
Yes, it’s easier to wake up, stay in your pajamas, grab your coffee, laptop, and head for the couch – I think many of us start out like this and it’s actually the worst thing you can do. It leads to distraction and procrastination because your brain has not switched out of “home” mode. You won’t get your work done which causes anxiety, stress, and ultimately less productivity.
Once you start following a set routine you will become more productive, completing your tasks before their deadlines. When you get up, freshen up and “suit up”, you’re telling your brain that you’re ready to do some business.
04. Take breaks
Your schedule will be full of deadlines, tasks, calls, and meetings but you need to set time aside to freshen up and stretch your legs. Make sure that you get some lunch and use that time to relax, don’t make a sandwich and munch on it in front of your screen while completing your work. You need to get away from your desk and take 5.
If you think pushing through 8 straight hours of work will make you more productive – think again. Frequent breaks will clear your mind, help you regroup, and focus. This will help you complete the work that you have set out for the day – if not more!
05. Minimize distractions
Ah, distractions. The main cause of non-productivity among those who work from home. “Oh, look! I have a notification on my phone, I better check to make sure it’s not an emergency.” You realize about two hours later that you got sucked into checking all your social media accounts, buying something online that you really didn’t need, and watching funny YouTube videos that you first had to share with all your friends.
Social media is designed for easy access and when you have work to complete, this can do a lot of damage to your schedule.
How do you avoid the distraction of social media? Easy! Turn off your notifications while working, or better yet, leave your phone in another room until you’ve completed your tasks for the day. I like to check in during my breaks that I have set aside during the day, and then I get back to work.
You will also want to go ahead and remove all the social media shortcuts from your browser and log out of your accounts. It makes it harder for you to “quickly” take a peek and lose track of time.
Final thoughts
Working from home takes discipline and if you’re just starting out, it may take you a little time to find your groove. There are many other ways you can improve your productivity when working from home but if you follow the tips above, you’ll find that you are able to do a lot more with your time. If you continue learning new ways to improve your productivity, the more you will achieve.
Working from home should never make you feel like you’re at a disadvantage because you can never “get away from work”. It actually gives you a significant advantage because you are able to be more flexible than anyone else, allowing you to do what you need to do when you need to do it.
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