Some of us might need to work from home regularly as part of our jobs. Some of us might be looking to start up our own home business. Some of us might just be temporarily working from home. Whatever your situation is, our 3 tips for working from home should help you to remain positive and productive.
Create a suitable space to work in
Our first tip would be that you need to create a suitable space to work in. This space should have everything that you need readily available to you and it should be a safe and comfortable working environment.
For some of us, this might be a case of grabbing a laptop and writing at a dining room table and then for others, we might need a big area for the best large format printers we can afford and an array of shelves to store our stock. It will vary hugely depending on your work or business, so think about all of those things that are going to be conducive to you carrying out your work as effectively as possible.
It can be tempting, if you need little more than a phone and a laptop, to set yourself up and work from your bed in your pyjamas. We would suggest that it is worth testing this one out and then comparing it to working at a desk, having showered and dressed.
Nine times out of ten, you will feel more switched on and in work mode when you do the latter, but if the pyjamas work for you, then go for it.
Draw up a time table or a task list
Most of us perform better when we can visualise our goals, so it is worth drawing up a time table or a task list for the week, and then for the day.
Work out everything that you need to do over the next few days and jot it down. You can then break this down into order of priority and spread your work out accordingly across the week.
If you skip this step, you are likely to wake up on a Monday with your mind spinning with all that you need to do that week. You are likely to try to cram it all into one day, which of course will not be achievable, and you are going to struggle to step back and see the bigger picture.
Schedule it all in, and at a glance you should be able to see that you have a manageable week ahead of you and you can then work methodically through each task.
Take regular breaks
When you work in an environment with other people, you will naturally take short breaks throughout the day, You might congregate and chat as the kettle boils, you might spend five minutes chatting about the latest on Netflix or last night’s football match, and you are likely to be able to take a lunch break.
When you work at home, it is easy to forget all of this and you can feel as though you need to be working all day long. Remind yourself that there is no need to do that, reassure yourself that it is perfectly normal to take regular breaks and reflect on how much more productive you are when you do take five minutes here and there to step away from your desk.
