How to successfully work from home
Do you find it hard to work from home? I’ve been working by myself, from home for almost 2 years now and I absolutely love to work from home. As many might be working from home for the first time now due to the corona crisis, I thought that I would share my best advice. How to stay sane, productive and motivated. And how to actually get stuff done when there’s so much around to distract you.
I’ll share my top 10 tips on how to successfully work from home here below. Some has to do with mindset and some are more practical. I hope that you find these tips useful when you’re building a work from home practice.
1. Take a walk
I have a dog, so for me there’s no excuse. I need to walk my dog in the mornings. And I’m so used to taking an at least 30 minutes walk after breakfast, that if I don’t one day my whole day can feel off and sleepy. So if you can, go for walks during your workdays and I would recommend to start everyday with a walk.
2. Create a real workspace
Having a workspace is so important for staying focused on your work. Even if you’re just going to work from home for a few weeks/months now, create a real workspace. It makes such a huge difference. What’s important for me with my workspace is that my laptop and other materials that I use are always on this place, that I have a comfortable chair and good lightning.
3. Make a plan for your day
If you’re having trouble to focus, make a plan for your day in advance. Have set working hours, so that you know when you’ll start the day, when you’ll have lunch and breaks and when your workday is finished.
4. Plan your tasks
Plan your to-do-list in advance, preferably the day before and then make a plan where you decide when on the day you’ll be working on certain tasks. For example admin in the mornings, client projects after lunch and personal creative time in the afternoon. If you know how long time you’ve got to work with certain things it’s easier to stay focused and get things done.
5. Create a morning routine
It’s good to have some routine when you work from home. It can help to separate your work from your spare time and make you feel more organised. So create a morning routine that you follow each day. The routine can include everything from eating breakfast to workout and a 30 min startup time by your computer where you check the news for the day.
6. Don’t procrastinate
Procrastination seems to be one of the biggest problems people have when working from home. I’m not a procrastinator when it comes to my work. I find procrastination to be really stressful as I can’t get the task out of my head if I continue to postpone starting with it. Usually we build up an obstacle in our heads when it comes to doing a task, which then grows and makes it feel so much bigger then it really is. Then we procrastinate, because it feels like such a pain to start with that huge task. But what happens if you just do it instead? If you don’t leave room to think about why you don’t want to do that task right now? Break the task down into pieces and take one thing at the time, if it feels hard to start.
7. Make room for being flexible
Planning is a huge part of successfully being able to work from home, but for me being flexible is equally important. If it’s a sunny, beautiful day, I can easily rearrange my plan for the day and take a long walk in the forest in the afternoon. As far as I see it flexibility is one of the major perks when it comes to working from home. And if you’re too hard on yourself, you won’t have enjoyable workdays. So plan your days, but leave room for flexibility.
8. Make it fun
I have a special ability to trick myself that I’m having fun when I’m clearly not. I see it as one of my superpowers when it comes to working from home. It makes me able to do all of those not so fun tasks feel more fun, which makes me more motivated to do them. One way that I trick myself is by mindset. I set my mind on that - this will be fun, before I start the task. Another way that I trick myself is by taking a boring task and making it more fun by adding new techniques to it, that I enjoy.
9. Reward yourself
When a task/project is finished, reward yourself. It can be with a cup of coffee, a cake or a break where you take a walk. If you reward yourself your days will feel more fulfilled and you’ll be more happy with what you’ve accomplish.
10. Socialise
To socialise somehow during your workdays is good for your mood. I’m lucky that my husband work from home as well, so we give each other feedback and new ideas for work, we eat together during the days and we interrupt each other when we have something to chat about. But socialising can also be to give a family member or a friend a phone call. Preferably someone who either has a flexible job or are working from home as well. You could even have lunch together on FaceTime. Socialising is good to get out of your head, especially if you’re stressed or unfocused.
