8 Tips To Successfully Work From Home

Having worked from home in all of my roles at both large & small companies for more than 15 years I’ve had time to learn ways to approach this type of work structure that keeps me the most focused and productive. While the majority of the work force is transitioning to a work from a home model here are my top 8 tips to share.

1. Get up as if you have to leave your home in time to drive to an office by your regular start time. Approach your morning routine as if you have to leave by a certain time to keep you on track and start your day with a purpose.
2. Shower and get dressed as if you would be in an office or going out in public. Even if you just put on jeans and a t-shirt this is better than staying in the clothes you slept in or wearing sweat pants all day for days at a time. How you look will affect your mindset and if you feel comfortable to the point of wanting to be lazy your productivity & drive can suffer.
3. Set up an actual office space to work from, anywhere that is not your couch or bed. Your couch and bed are places of relaxation, your mindset in them is not to be productive and this will affect your ability to jump into your to do list and get the most out of your day.
4. Step away from your computer for lunch. Even if you make lunch at home do not sit in front of your computer working while you eat it, take this time for a quick break and mental recharge. It’s a great idea to take a short walk around your neighborhood (practicing social distancing from others) to get some sun and fresh air to break up your day during a lunch break. If you are in a place that it is OK to order from a local eatery and do a pick-up this is a nice thing to do a couple times during the week to support a local business and get a quick break from your home work environment.
5. Avoid distracting background noise. It is never a good idea to have the TV on or stream visual entertainment content during your work time, aside from playing soft music you may normally play in an office setting, you do not want to have any reason to turn your attention away from work. You will be more successful working a 6 hour focused day at home than an 8 hour unfocused day with many distractions, and you can use those extra 2 hours to watch TV or do whatever else you would like.
6. Have video conference meetings over a platform like Zoom in place of phone conference calls. Being in a video meeting gives you the opportunity to better connect with your co-workers and feel less alone while working at home alone much more than joining a call. This also helps your and the other attendees productivity as you are inclined to focus on the conversation more with less side projects and multi-tasking. We all know that when someone says ‘can you repeat that, my phone cut out’ on a group conference call that often really means ‘I wasn’t paying attention and just heard my name being mentioned’.
7. Limit your social media time that is not related to your work. Social media can be very distracting and take you down a rabbit hole of a time suck, just because you get a notification about a social update does not mean you should check it right away during business hours. Every time you break your concentration by looking at a social media site you have to add more time to refocus and get back to your work mindset. One suggestion to limit this it set up a couple social breaks in your calendar, keep these short at 5-10 minutes and you can use them for a quick stretch as well. The more limited you can be with these type of distractions the faster you can attend to your work duties and have more personal time after your working period.
8. Give yourself a hard stop end time each day. Especially right now where you may not be leaving your place in the evenings you will want to draw a line where your work time ends and your personal time can begin. This will help keep some balance to work life and avoid you falling into the black hole of always working because it’s so easy to send ‘just one more e-mail’. Even if you decide to go back to work later in the evening you can still set parameters, such as a hard stop at 5pm to enjoy some personal time and dinner, then go back to work from 8-9pm to wrap up a few items. Both time frames should have the hard stop you designate.

Working from home is a very enjoyable way to work and will offer you the chance to be very focused & productive. Modern technology will keep you connected to co-workers & business partners and this can be an easy way to attend to a majority of work needs during this challenging time. Stay positive and stay healthy.