Working from home has become a lot of our new normal. With the start of COVID-19, many companies instantly transitioned to a work-from-home space where employees were able to utilize the comfort of their home to complete their work tasks. As exciting as working from home may sound, it can be a bit difficult to stay disciplined and focused on your actual work—especially when you’ve never worked from home before now.
Many of you may be having a hard time maintain productivity and actually have to focus on getting work done from the comfort of your home. With all of the various distractions and time you have on your hands, productivity may be the last thing on your mind. So how do you remain productive and focused on the task at hand while working from your comfort zone?
We’re sharing five ways you can stay productive while working from home. Maintaining the ultimate productivity is key when working from home, let us know some of your W-F-H tips to optimize your productivity!
5 W-F-H Tips to Optimize Your Productivity
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Establish a permanent workspace
When you aren’t used to working from home, your first thought maybe “I can finally sit in bed all day with my pajamas on while logged into my computer.” However, this mindset will cause you to fail at working from home. You want to make sure you’ve establish some place in your house to get your work done.
Whether that’s at your kitchen table or a desk in your office space—make sure your workspace is clutter free, distraction free and bed free. This designated workspace will allow you to keep separate home from work, even though you are home, which in turn will optimize your productivity.
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Set realistic work hours
Sometimes working from home may seem like you’re working outside of your normal work hours. To prevent this feeling from occurring, simply set your regular work hours that you normally would work in office, but from home instead. If you normally work a 9-5, then make sure you are setting those work hour boundaries- anything before or after those hours will simply have to wait until the next work day.
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Discover your most productive periods of the day
Because productivity is key, you want to make sure you maximize it. If you realize that you are most productive at a certain time of the day (early morning or midday) then use that time to get the most work done. This not only goes for WFH, but everyday life. Utilizing your most productive periods of the day will help you maintain focus while getting your work done.
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Incorporate breaks into your WFH schedule
Removing distractions goes hand-in-hand with incorporating breaks. WFH is different than physically being in office, but it doesn’t have to be. You can still treat your time the same way you would if you were in office. It can be a bit overwhelming being idle for a long period of time in one place, so take breaks—bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, mental breaks, whatever break you may feel is needed, take one!
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Log off!
One of the most important tasks of a productive WFH routine is creating boundaries. Once your work is done, log off for the day—physically and mentally. This means, not only should you log off from your computer, but you should also take the time to mentally log out of your workspace and mindset.
Allow your brain to recharge and prepare for the new day with a clear and motivated headspace. Just because you have access to work 24/7 does not mean you have to work 24/7. Allow yourself to have a healthy work-life balance.
Here at Boss Women Media, we know all about working from home and making our home our headquarters to get things done! Let us know in the comments below if these 5 W-F-H tips to optimize your productivity were helpful and how you plan on incorporating them into your daily routine!
