11 Tips to stay productive while working from home

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In line with the recent countermeasures governments are taking due to the outbreak of COVID-19, all private and government companies implement a remote work system for 80% of their employees to apply "social distancing" and contain the spread of Coronavirus. As a result, all industries adopt remote working- healthcare, sales, banking, telecommunications, education, etc. All professions have to make the shift to telecommunications.

In light of this shift, many office goers have many questions that pop up in their minds. Yet, the popular question is, " How working from home will affect my performance, productivity, and creativity?".

11 Tips to stay productive while working from home

If you're asking the same question, then this article is written to give you a full answer to your question.

Design your Workspace and Get dressed

Select an area of your home that you can temporarily convert into a "home office" place. Attempt to choose a place where you can concentrate on your work with no distractions.

This place can be a coffee table, kitchen table, or any organized desk in a quiet room with a comfortable chair. 

Try to separate the work area from personal spaces; avoid working from bed. IT'S A TRAP! All-day, you will keep struggling to be motivated, and all night, you'll keep striving to sleep because your mind will link bed with work since it will be turned into a "bed-desk."

Try to replicate your office desk view, if you work with headphones, putting a flower on your desk, or making any other special arrangements, do the same thing at your home desk.

Don't forget to take off your Pijamas. Get dressed and ready will switch your mind " work mode" on easily.

Choose a place that will keep you stay focus and free from undesirable distractions that may affect your concentration.

Turn off Distractions

Whether it is a Tv, kids, pets, or that internal struggle to stay all the time focused, TURN IT OFF!

Scheduling in breaks or working evening hours will be good option for you to stay productive if you can't avoid reasons for distraction and stay focused for long hours. Even distraction reasons, you can handle them effectively.

Set a morning routine

Avoid waking up, heading from bed to your work desk directly, give your mind a chance to wake up and get steady for work. As a replacement to getting prepared for work or daily commuting, you have to make your breakfast, go out to exercise, drink a cup of coffee, or read a newspaper to set yourself productive during the day.

You are preparing your mind for tasks, calls, video conferences ahead.

Plan your daily schedule

With not being in the office, you may become less productive, or you may burn out by working 24 hours instead of 9 hours.

You have to plan your day. Schedule in when you will start, when you are most productive, when will be your break, and when will you end the day. Planning will keep you attenable and on track with what you are doing and what you will do during the day.

Don't overwork yourself

The most "repeated" complaint of people who work from home is that they are working day and night. Keep in mind that you have personal priorities also, so don't stay in an "Always on" working mode. Pack your things away, move from your working area, change the atmosphere of the room after ending your workday. Don't allow the line between work and home to be blurred. 

Don't be a desk potato

Imagine sitting for 9 straight hours with no breaks! How will your body be?

Sitting at a desk has many negative effects: leg muscles shut down, blood pressure increases, and stress level rises. You have to move up from your chair regularly. Have a short walk, make a cup of tea, move around while having a phone call, or spend your lunch break doing workouts or yoga. Moving away from desk regularly, raise productivity dramatically.

To stay healthy, you have to move. Stay Recharge and Refresh.

Go out of your home

Getting out into inductive places like a coffee shop or a park can boost productivity. This will be an excellent way to avoid sitting in usual locations and avoid ideas blocking that comes from sitting at the same desk and dealing with the same people every day.

Home-office balance

To stay more productive, avoid isolation, boredom; you can make the best use of that option many companies offer, which is "the company welcomes anyone who wants to work from here." This will help you to stay engaged, productive, happy, and connected to your workmates.

Make an effort to stay connected

While some introvert people love that kind of working in solitude, extroverts suffer from this isolating experience, being lone, staring at the same tasks all the time. No doubt, this will have a negative effect on health and job performance.

Set in your mind that working from home does not mean working alone. You can talk instead of typing as much as you can to communicate with other workmates. Daily, make most of your communications through social networks and video conferencing tools.

Stay in touch and keep coworkers on track by using applications such as Skype, Slack, etc. More conversations you start, more ideas, and the motivation you get.

Moreover, you can plan after-work-activities such as dinner time or an exercise class to stay connected more time with your workmates.

On the other hand, you can make new work friends out of the office by not sticking at home every day. Go work from a coffee shop, a library, a park, or any other place where you can find other people working remotely. After a period, you will find you have many new friends.

Get the right apps, tools, and platforms

The top-notch technologies facilitate working from home, even before the Novel Corona Virus epidemic, employees have started using the new technological tools in their daily tasks like Email services and What's App. Then, now they moved to more advanced and specialized platforms like Zoom, Google Hangout, Trello, Webex, Microsoft teams, etc. So, make sure you set up the most appropriate tools for your career and position.

Keep track of the latest technologies

There is a vast range of tools that facilitate working from home. Both employees and employers who want to stay effective shall be familiar with the latest apps and platforms that will help in accomplishing the tasks.

Depending on the industry and job, you have to know which technology tools you need for video conferencing, task reporting, group chats, project management, and sales aggregation systems.

Ensure you have the right equipment, such as laptops, passcodes, and network access. You also have to ensure that you are familiar with dealing with apps like Zoom, Trello, Microsoft Teams, or Slack, and you are aware of the ground rules, instructions, and requirements.

To Sum Up, in all cases, it's a win-win situation for both employees and employers. The employee will save the commuting time and costs, maintain work-life balance, enjoy schedule flexibility and working from a comfortable place, and will be on track of the latest technologies that he will need if working for himself.

For employers, it is a typical implementation of new strategies and tools through a massive shift that will help the company to save more operating costs, have more productive employees, hire talented individuals from a more diverse pool without geographic restrictions, and make use of the technological innovations.

I hope these 11 tips help you stay productive while working from home!

What do you think of this article? Do you have other tips that will be useful? Write them down in the comments box below!

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