If you typically work in an office setting, working remotely can be a bit of a transition. Instead of being surrounded by coworkers all day, you are surrounded by family, roommates or even nobody. Working from home may also make certain tasks a little more difficult to handle than if you were in the office. We have a few tips for you to make working from home as smooth of a transition as possible.
Pick an Area
The first step to being productive while working from home is picking an area where you plan on getting your work done. Working from home can have several distractions, so we recommend you pick somewhere that will cause as little distraction as possible. If you have a guest bedroom, you can retrofit it to work as a home office. One thing you should avoid doing is working while in bed. If your bedroom is the only place you can work without being distracted by family members, set up a desk or table in your room to work from.
Set Boundaries
Your home office won’t be filled with coworkers but rather the people that you live with. When you are at home you are much more accessible to the people in your life you share a home with. This is why it’s important to set some boundaries with these people. You need to make sure your family or roommates understand that you are home to work and you need the time during the day to accomplish that. Set a rule that if the door to your home office is shut, then people aren’t allowed to come in unless it’s for an emergency. Setting these boundaries will help you remain as focused as possible.
Make a Morning Routine
Routines are certainly helpful to get in the right headspace to tackle your workday. It’s easiest to establish morning routines that will carry on throughout the day. Wake up, shower, brush your teeth and doing what you normally do before work is a great way to start your routine and make you ready to tackle your work. If your routine is to start the day drinking some coffee and reading or doing some meditation, those work too! Everybody will have a slightly different routine and that’s totally normal. Just do what works best for you!
Take Breaks
Speaking of routines, it is important to routinely take breaks throughout the day. Sitting in the same spot for the entirety of the workday isn’t good for you for many reasons. For one, you need to get up and stretch your legs and move around. Secondly, it’s hard to stay focused on the entire workday while staring at the computer screen. You can set goals each hour to force yourself to get up and move, like doing a little at-home exercise or taking a short walk. For example, when the hour turns over, get up from your desk and do 10 pushups, 10 squats, and 20 sit-ups. Not only will this give you a break from work, but it will also help you get a bit of exercise! If you don’t want to do that, you can still take a few laps around your home to get your legs moving.
Don’t Socially Isolate Yourself Completely
Working from home can get lonely at times. You aren’t able to head over to a coworker’s desk to chat about work-related topics or just to catch up on what they have going on in their lives. That kind of social interaction is important in the workplace and even more so if you are working remotely. Call or video chat with your coworkers once in a while to have that human interaction that is harder to come by when you aren’t in the office. This will help keep you in a good mental space while you work from home.
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