Nearly a year into the COVID-19 pandemic and a majority of us are still working from home. The memories of driving to the office, switching on our computers, and chatting with coworkers near the water cooler are long gone.
Now we are sitting at our kitchen tables, waking up minutes before our first meeting, and trying to piece together a sense of normalcy. If you’re still struggling with the transition of working from home, you’ve come to the right place.
By the end of this article, you’ll be equipped with four tips so you’re more productive while working from home.
Set Up Your Office
It’s important to create a distinction between where you live and where you work. Avoid working in your bed or in your bedroom at all costs! This is a sanctuary for sleep and relaxation. You don’t want to taint it with work emails and to-do lists.
Instead, find a quiet space in your house, maybe the dining or living room, and set up your desk here. When you sit here, your main focus should be work – not household chores like doing the bills or making a grocery list.
Get Dressed for the Day
It’s tempting to keep our cameras off during a Zoom call and sit in our pajamas all day. However, it blatantly kills your productivity. In the morning, get dressed as if you’re going to work.
When you look and feel like you are going to the office, you’ll surely have a more productive day. Rather than sitting around in sweatpants and feeling lazy, you’ll be dressed up and put together with a nice shirt and your hair done ready for your meetings and assignments.
Keep Your Space Clean
A clean space means a focused mind. When your workspace or home is cluttered and messy, it’s easy to become distracted by the tasks you must do when the workday is over. Therefore, you’re unable to focus on the work at hand.
To keep up your productivity during the day, on your breaks, do a quick cleaning in the house. This could be unloading the dishwasher, folding a load of laundry, or simply organizing your desk space. It’s essential that your surroundings are clear and clean to enhance your productivity while working from home.
For the bigger cleaning projects, wait until the weekend, just as you would if you were going to the office every day.
Make Your Home Comfortable
Now that we are spending more time in our homes, we are noticing some changes we can make for it to feel more comfortable. This could include replacing flooring or windows or even knocking down a wall or two.
We are also starting to notice repairs and projects that shouldn’t be put off any longer. With the cold weather, you may finally want to get that chimney repair done or get new windows to keep out a draft.
The more comfortable your home is, the more productive you will be while working from it.
