13 Tips for Staying Productive when you Work from Home

While working from your bed or sofa may seem attractive while you work from home, it is actually counter-productive to your work growth. Our brain associates certain places to certain activities, such as the bed is designated for rest & sleep, while the sofa is designated for entertainment & laziness. Doing your office work in such places could probably lead to two outcomes. One – You’ll be lazy and your productivity would go down or you would start associating the places with work and your sleep and relaxing schedule would go for a toss!

So, a home office is a must. Even if you have a place or monetary issues, all your home office contains is a side foldable desk and a chair. That would be ‘your work space’ and it would increase your productivity. 

We suggest that you invest in a good ergonomic chair and desk so that your body doesn’t start complaining about shoulder, neck, and back pain!

Imagine two people working for the same company, have set up their home office. Person A has set up his office in a shabby way, with little to no natural lighting and the desk being a mess of office papers, pens, and the regular house chair. On the other hand, person B has set up her home office in a relatively lighter part of her house, with a clean desk, decorating it with a few houseplants and knick-knacks that she found around the house. 

Naturally, person B would have a higher productivity rate than person A. 

It is a very important tips for staying productive when you work from home. Try and incorporate a piece of art on your desk or a photo of your loved ones. You can also put up trophies or certificates of your previous achievements in order to motivate you to work more sincerely and productively.

Here’s a little tip: listen to a motivating podcast first thing in the morning, while preparing your coffee or tea that you take along to your desk. It would motivate you to work, as well as you’re not sleepy-eyed while tackling that first email because of coffee! 

However, you can’t listen to podcasts while working because it may distract you from your work, and you’ll end up making a mistake. So, while working instrumental music without lyrics is always a good option. 

Invest in good soundproof headphones so that you can also eliminate the home noises that inevitably happen as not everyone has homes big enough to set up their home offices in a completely different room.  

But, everyone has a different way of staying productive. Some of you may even get distracted with instrumental music, so at that time – one can play white noise, which is basically a recreation of background noise. Search a little on youtube, you’ll get an amazing selection of white noises -be it nature, sea, rainy days, or even a library or coffee shop white noise.

We challenge you to conduct an experiment. One day, before you sit down to work, take a shower, get dressed like you’re going out to work, put on some light make-up(if you’re into it), and then eat a hearty breakfast.

You yourself would experience a change in your work productivity. 

Sweatpants and a T-shirt sure are comfortable, but you might feel sleepy and unmotivated in it. And let’s be honest, we’re sure like us you are also bored of being in sweatpants day in and day out. Let’s change the routine a little, and dress up for our own sake too!

One of the best tips for staying productive when you work from home is to get smart about planning your work schedule. Before you even start your day, you must make sure you know what your priorities are for the day, how long you think will take for a particular work to be done, but also, don’t forget to add in some break time so that you aren’t bound by the chair for the whole time. 

There are multiple applications online for your phone as well as a laptop which you can use to distinguish and divide up your day! 

Make sure you do the hardest tasks for the day when you have the most energy throughout the day. Make sure that you take a 15-20 minutes break every 50 minutes as it would make you more productive.

Be efficient when you work from home. This means setting up boundaries for your family, kids, pets, or even roommates. 

Suppose, one day you’re having a slow day in terms of office work – so you get up, and help your mother around the kitchen. This is a good thing, no doubt but also make sure that she or any other family member understands that you’re not free 24/7. Try to encourage them to leave you alone while you are working so that you can stay focused. 

Take a page out of our favorite hotels, and maybe set up a sign on your door which you can flip depending on when you’re working and when you’re free!

One way to be productive at work is to be proactive which can be achieved with regular exercise. Including the habit of exercise in your daily schedule is beneficial for your personal as well as professional life. It increases the blood flow, and in turn, sharpens your mind to keep you alert throughout the day. 

The pandemic has resulted in social isolation which has had an adverse effect on the mental health of the masses. Therefore, exercise, yoga, or meditation is a must for staying fit, boosting your happiness, and interest levels which are necessary for producing good work. 

Try and personalize your work desk, which would also be a good mental exercise that can help you relax.

One of the perks of work from home is 24/7 access to the kitchen. However, it has its downside too. Them is that you would probably binge eating unhealthy snacks while skipping out on actual meals. 

Being on a healthy diet is one of the essential tips for staying productive when you work from home. Therefore, it is imperative to have a healthy diet that helps you function better instead of making you lethargic. 

You should eat energizing meals with ample amounts of iron, protein, and complex carbohydrates. You should replace your chips with fruits, nuts & berries, keeping them handy while working. You should always have a bottle of water along while working.

Social media is one distracting tool. It is difficult to spot people without their phones whether it is in the morning, afternoon, or late at night. We’re all very addicted to mindlessly scrolling. 

One of the tips for staying productive when you work from home is to self restrict your social media usage. Many of the offices have a ‘No Phone’ rule, however in work from home setup, you have to restrict yourself. 

There are multiple applications on the internet that can restrict your social media usage. There are options to just give 30 minutes to 1 hour of Instagram usage, after which the application automatically locks down till the next day.