Tips For Staying Productive (& Healthy) While Working From Home

Everyday more and more people are starting to work from home, to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Working from home can be great but has it's challenges… mainly staying productive. Many people will have experience working from home in the past, but if you're new to remote working you mightn't know how to go about getting your work done from your kitchen. Well we've got some productivity tips that will keep you on track:

Create A Productive Workspace

Believe it or not, your workspace layout can have a big impact on your productivity levels. There are a few things that you can do to make sure that you have created a well structured and productive workspace, and in doing so allowing yourself to do your best work. To start, make sure that your workspace is separate from your living space. A dedicated workspace helps to minimise distractions from household tasks, pets, housemates, and other things that catch your attention at home. Additionally, it creates a mental boundary, to ensure your personal and professional worlds don't blend together. Separating your workspace from your living space will give you some structure, and allow you to focus and get down to work.

One important tip is to make sure that you don't end up with a dirty desk. Physical clutter can lead to mental clutter, so when it comes to organising your space, try to tidy away anything around you and ensure you have a distraction-free zone. One big temptation when working from home is to eat at your desk, but this can lead to an untidy workspace, so try to get up and eat elsewhere before returning to your workspace. Remember, well-organised workspace = productivity!

Plan Out Your Day

If you're not used to working from home, it may take some time to adjust to a new schedule. Your body is used to getting up at 07:00, commuting to work, picking up your morning coffee and so on… so you're going to have to introduce it to a new routine. Try to stay as close as you can to your normal schedule, to make the transition easier on your body and mind. Start your day at the same time and simply swap an hour on the train with an hour in the gym or reading before starting your workday.

One way of ensuring you get through your day and stay focused on your work is to plan out your day with time blocks... essentially you need to live by your calendar. Start with categorising your tasks… emails, calls, different tasks and build out your calendar from there. Personally, I start and end my day with 30 minutes on emails, use the mornings for internal tasks and afternoons for calls. Each of these slots is blocked off in my calendar, which creates structure in my day, ensures I get through all of my different tasks and makes sure I don't spend too much time on one thing. Each person works differently, so find what works best for you and start to build your schedule from there.

Stay In Contact With Your Team

Remote working can be very lonely, especially if you're doing it for a long time. Try to keep in contact with your team or other people throughout the day, social interaction is key to keeping up good mental health and staying positive. Try to schedule regular calls to check-in with your team members or clients, and make sure everyone is communicating from their various locations.

Use Technology To Keep On Track

Time works differently when you're working from home, you can spend hours on one task having not spoken to another person and not even realise it. Technology can make working from home a lot simpler, keep you focused and make sure you’re on track. Use collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, WhatsApp, or Slack to keep the conversations going with your team whilst working remotely. Track your tasks and projects with management tools like Trello and Asana. Find the right tools that support your work style and you'll see a big difference.

Limit Distractions

It's very easy to get distracted when you're working from home. If you've created a separate workspace for yourself, then you're already on the right path but distractions can come in many forms. For most people, any interruption will totally disrupt your rhythm or flow. Depending on your personal distraction challenges, there are a few different tactics you can try out. Easily distracted by social media? Leave your phone on the other side of the room. Constantly pulled away by emails? Close down your email app while you're working on another task. Whatever it is, try to discipline yourself and limit distractions… even if that means turning off the Wifi (drastic I know, but sometimes necessary).

Stay Healthy: Eat Regularly & Take Breaks

Most importantly, you need to keep yourself healthy while you're working from home. Some people may get locked into work and forget to take breaks or eat, whilst others may continuously snack on junk food because they're sitting beside their fridge. Stick to the same schedule you would while you're in the office and try to make healthy choices. A few things to keep in mind: get the right level of light throughout the day, set-up an ergonomically friendly workspace, don't forget to eat (and when you do make sure it's healthy), drink water throughout the day and take breaks regularly. If you do all of that, you should be fine 😉

Everyone works differently, so find out what works best for you, but remember to make healthy and positive decisions along the way. If you've any tips or stories of your own that you would like to share and think may be helpful to others who are working remotely at the moment, please email us at info@palmercreative.ie so we can share them.