How to be productive while working from home
We’re all spending more time in our homes.
Some of us, myself included, had to bring the office to our house and learn to share
it with family members and even pets.
Adapting to working from home without any previous prep can be hard, especially when
you lack the space and still haven’t grown used to your new habits.
I’m now readapting to the old routine I followed when I worked from home last year
and that previous experience is helping me get back on track easily.
So I decided to write down what I believe to be 10 essential things to take into account
if you want to be productive and organised when working from home.
Even more than in a regular office, I find that a strict routine is essential when you’re
working from home.
You don’t have colleagues to keep you accountable for your hours, habits and posture during
the day, and you don’t have to rely on public transportation schedules or the traffic to
know when you should leave the house in the morning.
The lack of physical boundaries also makes it especially hard to be able to switch between
home and office mode and this is even worse if you don’t have an actual home office
separated from your bedroom or living room.
There are 10 things you can take into account that will be applicable to people in most
situations and will help shape your overall mindset and habits during this time.
Tweak your morning routine to accommodate this new way of working.
Your lack of commute means more time to do things.
Try to understand what will be beneficial to keep in the morning but consider shifting
some of your old habits to turn into afternoon or evening habits.
You can now use this extra time to cook your lunch in advance, clean your house, exercise
or sleep an extra hour.
Your pick.
Your living area is now your working space as well, so if you’re behind your cleaning
routine, now’s the time to make it perfect.
An untidy, unorganised environment generates high levels of stress, reduces productivity
and overall shifts your focus to the mess instead of the work in front of you.
Make this a top priority during your first few days working at home.
Make sure to start, pause and finish working at the same time, every day, and, if possible,
using the same routine you would in regular office hours.
As much as it is comfy to work in your PJ’s, please don’t.
After you finish your morning routine, change into something extra comfy but make sure you
picked an outfit that you wouldn’t fall asleep wearing.
Make a ritual out of setting up your workstation in the morning and put everything away at
the end of the day.
This creates that illusion that there’s a limit between your working hours and your
free time.
Prepping your lunch the night before or in the morning also helps you stay in track during
the day and avoid cooking meals from scratch during your lunch break.
All of the cooking and cleanup in the middle of your day can be more stressful than relaxing
so it’s important that you try to overcome the tendency of fixing your meals during your
break.
If you have to take your dog outside during the day, make sure to set a couple of alarms
on your phone so you go at the same time every single day.
This way you won’t have to constantly worry whether they need to go outside.
I also recommend you to free more time in the morning, before you start working, to
play and do a bigger workout with your dog.
Unless your dog it over-the-top high energy, this will probably guarantee that he will
feel calmer and sleepier during the first part of your work day.
If there’s someone else in your household working from home and you’re sharing the
same space, establish simple boundaries regarding your working hours, working space and breaks.
Are you going to take calls during the day, listen to music out loud or bring hot drinks
and food to the desk?
Figure out beforehand what will make the other person feel comfortable during these days,
as it can be hard to adapt to work from home while lacking the proper space and conditions.
Make sure you take regular, hourly breaks during the day.
If you live in a small space, remember to stretch frequently, open up the windows and
let the fresh air in or even engage in super quick five minute cleaning sessions just to
move a little.
Finally, don’t forget to drink plenty of water during the day.
Just keep a water bottle nearby and challenge yourself to drink it until lunch break and
then refill it at that time.
And between working from home, managing a business and trying to conciliate family life
with some well-deserved self-care, it's much easier to rely on platforms that allow us
to watch interesting content during other busier tasks and for that you have a great
combo which is today’s sponsor CuriosityStream and Nebula.
CuriosityStream has thousands of documentaries that you can watch on-the-go.
Their portfolio covers dozens of different topics that can help you improve your knowledge
in things you wouldn't able to learn in such a short amount of time.
When you sign up for CuriosityStream you also get access to Nebula - a platform made by
video creators, myself included, where we are able to share our content without YouTube's
restrictive policies.
Signing up for Nebula allows you to, first of all, access a curated library of ad-free
educational videos, secondly, watch awesome great that you can't find anywhere else (as
well as watching my videos before anyone else on YouTube) and, thirdly, help support independent
creators on making content that is useful and interesting instead of having to cater
to YouTube's algorithm.
Sign up using the promo code "study corner" or click the link in the description box to
have your free 30-day membership and start learning watching today.
I hope you enjoyed today’s video.
Stay safe and I will see you next week.
Bye guys!