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Working from home:
What you need to be doing to stay productive at home
Many of us have found ourselves working from home the past few weeks. At this point, it is still unsure when life will resume as normal.
So in today’s post, I have decided to share my top tips for working from home if you are still struggling to find a routine that works for you.
I’ve been working from home for 2 months now, and although the transition wasn’t very smooth, I am now happy with the routine I have created for myself.
Living and working in the same place can tend to be difficult, because it’s not always easy to separate work from play.
If you’re finding yourself way less productive at home than you were at your workplace, I’ve got some tips for you on how you can combat that.
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Wake up early
The early bird catches the worm, right?
The morning time is the perfect time to knock some of the tasks off of your to-do list.
It’s usually quiet in the mornings, and you can totally pretend you are at work by keeping your normal schedule.
But there is one more reason why I specifically love mornings and waking up early.
In the book, Eat That Frog!, Brian Tracy talks about the importance of mornings. Specifically, eating a frog in the morning to get it over with.
What he actually means is not for you to eat an actual frog, but to look at the frog as any hard task which you have to take care of.
Once you get that one boring task out of the way, or “eat that frog”, you will be left with much easier tasks which you can do later in the day.
Related reads:
The Morning Routine That Changed My Life
How To Wake Up Early And Enjoy It
Get dressed
Getting out of your pajamas and into some fresh clothes is important when working from home for productivity.
First, your body will take getting out of pajamas as a sign that time for sleep and lounging around is over. This is a great way to separate work from sleep.
I don’t know about you, but even changing out of my pajamas into some nice loungewear makes me ready for my work day.
Second, putting on some fresh clothes, brushing our teeth, combing our hair and adding some makeup or nice moisturizer is going to make you feel much better.
Look good, feel good, right?
This doesn’t need to take forever. If you would like some tips on how to get ready fast in the morning, head on to my post about how I get ready in just 10 minutes.
Here are some cute loungewear sets you can look cute in while working from home:
Follow a schedule
Following a schedule, even a loose one, while working from home is going to help keep you productive and minimize distractions.
A good strategy for scheduling your day is time-blocking, a technique where block out time in your day to do certain tasks.
If that doesn’t appeal to you, you can follow a simple to-do list, with your highest priorities at the top of the list.
Whatever system you decide to choose, following some sort of schedule throughout your day is going to keep you organized, on top of your tasks, and you will probably get done with work faster if you were to free-style it!
While you’re here, grab your free daily planner!
Take breaks
Taking breaks when working from home is so important.
I know that it can be hard to do that, as it’s hard for me sometimes. When working from home, I have to schedule my breaks in my daily schedule because otherwise, I can go hours without looking away from my laptop and papers.
Lately, I’ve been using the Pomodoro technique. This time-management technique breaks your work into 25-minute chunks with a 5-minute break in between, with a longer break somewhere in the middle of the day.
I just use a timer on my phone and set it to 25 minutes, and when it goes off, I take a 5-minute break and look through my phone, go on Twitter, make a coffee, or do whatever it is I’m in the mood for.
Because of the frequent breaks, I’m nowhere nearly as tired as I used to be while working, so I highly recommend trying this out!
Have a designated time for emails
How many of you have the habit of checking your emails as soon as they’re sent to you?
I used to do that, and that wasted SO MUCH of my time. To the point that I disabled my email notifications one day.
These days, I have two designated timings to check and respond to my emails. One in the morning, and one in the evening.
This way, I’m not tempted by every notification, and I get them all done and handled at the same time.
Eat well
A big part of being productive while working from home is fueling our bodies with foods that will give us energy for the endless Zoom meetings and other tasks we have to get done.
As much as I’d love to chow down on pizza and chocolate all day long, I know that those foods make me sluggish. That’s no bueno when I’m trying to get work done.
Having balanced meals throughout the day as well as nutritious snacks keeps me focused, and helps me get through my work without wanting to take ten naps during the day.
Related read:
How To Stay Healthy When Working From Home
Shut off at a certain time
I struggle with this one sometimes, I’m not going to lie.
There’s always something to do, always something the blog might need, and always a new idea in my head.
However, I noticed that when I purposefully shut off at the end of the day and relax, I sleep so much better and I’m not as tired the next day.
I know it can be hard to let go of work for some people, but the sooner you make it a habit to switch off past a certain hour, the better you will feel.
Trust me.
Get enough sleep
Staying home might have messed with your sleep pattern. Hard.
But it’s never too late to fix it!
Besides sleep being totally amazing for the body, it also helps us focus more when we are well-rested rather than when we only slept a few hours at night.
Having a relaxing nighttime routine can help with falling asleep quicker, because your body gets signals that it is time to wind down for the night.
Besides, now that you’ve gotten through all your work, you deserve some shut-eye to prepare you for the next day of productivity.
Related read:
7 Ways To Relax Before Bed
Take days off
Nobody is wired to work 7 days a week. Set aside a day or two in the week where you don’t do anything work-related.
Use these days off to practice self-care, catch up on sleep, read books, spend time with your family and recharge your batteries.
And another thing: don’t let anybody make you feel bad about disconnecting every few days. You are not a robot, and those emails will still be there in your inbox when you get to them the following day.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed today’s post! Working from home definitely has its advantages and disadvantages, but with a little tweaking to your day you can make it as less stressful as can be.
Have you been working from home lately? Are there any tips you would like to share with the rest of the readers? Leave them down in the comments!
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being productive at home how to be productive at home productivity productivity tips work from home routine working from home
I love this and I signed up to get the free daily planner! Very well written and organized 🥰 great job girl ❤️❤️❤️
Thanks girl! Enjoy your planner!
I’ve been working from home for a number of years now and whilst I’ve found a routine that works for me – it’s certainly not optimal. In fact, although being in lockdown hasn’t changed my working situation, it’s actually made my routine harder because there’s 3 other people constantly in the house now and I don’t have the quiet, space and freedom I had before x
That must be tough! I’m also working in a house full of people right now so it’s definitely something to get used to.
Really good tips! I’m now able to fall in love with mornings again since I stopped my medication and I’m loving it – has really helped with my productivity. Completely forgot about Eat That Frog!. I also really struggle with shutting down so that’s a big focus right now – keeping my to do list succinct and giving myself a whole day where I’m not at work or doing any blogging when possible.
That’s so nice that you’re giving yourself a whole day off from working and blogging! I need to start doing this, but every time I try to, I end up doing something anyway.
Fantastic tips! I absolutely love time blocking the day, it really helps me to make sure I get everything done instead of spending all my time on the fun things! But my sleep routine is all over the place at the moment, definitely something I need to work on. I’ve also turned off all my notifications for all the main social media and my emails, and it’s making such a big difference to my productivity!
Oh that must feel so nice! I only have Twitter notifications turned off, but I might just go ahead and turn them all off!
Love this post! I have been eating a lot of junk during this lockdown lol! I think it’s time I started following a fixed routine to stay healthy. Thank you for sharing this post!
You’re not alone haha! I’ve been indulging a little here and there as well!
Great tips! These are all things that have helped me to stay productive too 🙂 working from home took some getting used to but simple changes have helped me stick to this new structure! Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome! It was hard for me to get used to the changes too!
Love this post! Waking up and getting out of bed are definitely the first steps to making any productive. Sunshine always helps me, but making my bed keeps me from getting back in. 🙂
Nothing like a good break to get me to come back to what I am doing with fresh eyes! 🙂
Love your blog and this article is so helpful. Shutting down at a certain time is sometimes really difficult while working from home. Great things to keep in mind. Thanks for sharing. 💞
I’m so happy you liked the post! Thank you for stopping by!
I totally agree with your tips but I do struggle to take breaks during the day and then tire myself out. Thank you for sharing these tips
Yess! I really like how you didn’t focus on the need to be overly productive but on making small changes which can make all the difference. Definitely agree with the getting up and simply getting changed. It makes you feel so much more out together and prepared.
Absolutely! I have to change out of my PJs, otherwise I’d spend half my day in bed haha!
I’m actually so awful at getting up early to get work done haha! Thanks for the tips – these will come in super handy x
I’ve been sleeping in too lately and I hate it! 🙃
This is so inspiring! I’m looking forward to leading a productive life even though it’s quarantine! Thanks so much for the info 💖
It’s the perfect time to start! 😊
I’m working pretty much as normal just from home. All of these tips are so helpful. Getting dresses is a must in my book!
Rosie
Same here! It’s such a small thing but it makes the world of a difference!
I lucked out with the current situation. We already worked 1 day/week from home before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, so when we went to full telework status, I and my team had already developed our own workflows, routines, & reporting mechanisms. But the long-term change of not seeing our co-workers in the office has been difficult – we’re all friends and for a lot of us, the office is our social time for the day. On the other hand, everyone loves the commute now 😉
That’s good to hear! I definitely can relate with it being hard not seeing co-workers. I haven’t seen mine (except on Zoom) since late February!
Thank you for the advice. I am back in the office 3 days a week now so I feel that my lovely little routine has gone out the window now.
I am going to use some of this advice to put a new routine in place for my at home days, Feels like I am having to re-learn all over again x
That’s great that you’re back in the office, even if only for a few days a week! I can’t wait until I’m back at work!
Thank you mariam, I totally feel in love with waking up early and getting dressed, thanks for taking your time to put this together.
Happy you liked this!
I’ve been reeeeeally struggling since Lockdown and to be honest my health isn’t good at all (which, it seems, has a major impact on productivity!) I really hope to settle into a routine soon and get myself sorted! Thanks so much for these tips.
I hope you can figure out a way to feel better! Best of luck!
My whole morning routine is based on the fact that I get up at a certain time, and if I don’t everything goes out the window! Its great to have a structure to follow to stay on track!
I’m the same way, it’s so good to wake up around the same time every day!
What a great blog. I need to remember these idea because I can seriously slump!
Thank you!
Loved reading this, I think I really need to start setting times to eat otherwise I go the whole day without anything and snacking loads aha!
Haha I can relate! It’s definitely a lot easier to schedule meal times.
Thank you for the tips! I love it. 2 things I need to work on is looking cute when working from home and take days off! Will work on these. One love