The decision to work from home isn’t one to be taken lightly. It can completely change the way you live, whether for the better or the worse. However, there are so many people at the moment who have no other choice. Covid has forced people to work from home. The feedback from most is that they’re happier working at home but it does come with some pretty large lifestyle changes. This is especially the case if you’re homeschooling children at the same time or if other people are working from home with you. How can you ensure you succeed? You want your productivity to remain pretty high, so how can you stop that from dipping too low? What works for some might not work for another, everyone is different. With that said, here are some tips for you to give a go.
Ensure You’re Comfortable
Try to replicate the feeling of your office, or the feeling where you’re at your most productive. This means cracking a window for that little bit of fresh air, or putting the heating up a little bit if you’re cold. Finding the right mix may be hard, especially if your office had premium air con or something similar. If you wanted, Arundel Cooling and Heating could take a look. Ensuring you’re at the right temperature to work at is important and you don’t want to be sat there in a thick jacket. It can be uncomfortable. Especially if things aren’t working in the middle of winter or the zenith of summer.
Know What Tools You Need
It may be that you’re running your own company and have moved from your office to your house, or you could be working for someone else who wants you to work from home. Know the tools that you need to exceed. On the surface it might be obvious. A laptop, internet, etc. But which laptop? Are you working on programs which tax the GPU, so need to buy high end? Or something simpler for launching a product online? Whatever way you look at it, you need to get the right tools. How fast does your internet need to be? Are you going to be having multiple calls each day using video software like Microsoft Teams with multiple business contacts? Then you need a fast internet. Get this right at the outset so that you can hit the ground running. There’s nothing worse than a computer which doesn’t quite do the job or when you’re trying to get things done but your connection keeps dropping out. Try a wifi booster, or even using an ethernet cable to plug in. It always gives you a speedier connection.
Find Your Space
Choose wisely too. It might be a little corner of your living room where there’s space for a desk, or it might be in a spare bedroom. Maybe you’ve got space for a dedicated home office. Think about it, and select it wisely. Once everything is in it’ll be pretty hard to change it all around. You want somewhere away from your relaxation zones. So ideally you wouldn’t want to be working from the sofa in front of the TV, the same place that you relax because it makes switching off and switching on pretty tough. The same applies if you start working from bed. While it might be comfortable and maybe convenient, it’ll also stop you from getting a proper night’s sleep. You associate the bed with sleep, so if you start working from there you might find it tough to stop thinking about it.
Protect Your Work Time
If you’re working in a home where other people are also working, or a home where you’ve got kids, it can be really hard to get that time working you deserve. You need to mark out the time when you’re working so you’re not distrubed. There’s no harm chatting when you’re taking a break or having some lunch, but they can’t bother you when you’re working because it’ll certainly eat into your productivity. You don’t need to get a lock on your door or anything, just be a bit more forceful in how you protect your work space. It’s really tough if you have young children and your colleagues will understand this, but if they’re older, they should keep the volume down and know not to bother you when you’re working.
Stave Off Distraction
Distractions can be pretty annoying. If your home is near a main road, or if there is building work going on next door you might be quickly put off. Try listening to music to counterbalance the noise. For your best bet, make sure it’s acoustic. Noise cancelling headphones can also do the trick. If the noise is really bad, hopefully it won’t last for long but in the worst cases you can work around the noise if possible. Working when your most productive is one of the benefits of working from home. However, if there are things putting you off you’d do to cut work and stop wasting your time. Another option is to move to another part of the house for the moment until the noise subsides.
Create Your Routine
A routine makes everything a little more easier. Humans love a routine. You would have had one when you were working in the office, so you should adapt to one now. Most people who work from home will tend to grab a little bit of exercise. Maybe a walk before you start, or afterwards. When are you grabbing breakfast? Or maybe you like to start the day with a coffee. Getting yourself into a good routine makes work itself far more easier for you. It might take a week or so to fall into things, but finding your routine will be fairly easy because you’ll no longer have to worry about commuting to and from work. The cut of the commute will save you time, and give you the opportunity to add some exercise to your daily routine.
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