Before COVID I hadn’t worked from home for extended periods of time before, and I realized a lot of others haven’t as well. Even when the isolation is over, with increasing globalization and digital work, working from home will become even more prevalent. We all could use some more tips and tricks on how to work better from home. Below I assembled my 13 favorite tips and tricks on how to maximize working from home. Feel free to try them all and stick with the ones that work for you
1. Keep Your Morning Routine
Wake up at your normal time, shower, have breakfast, and get your coffee. Whatever your typical morning routine is. Keeping a morning routine will help provide a sense of continuity and structure to what could be an otherwise ambiguous day. It also serves the purpose of setting the professional mindset that is required for work. You can then use this extra time that would have been used for commuting to work to meditate, make a fancy breakfast spread for the kids, or just relax.
2. Put on Some Clothes. Including Shoes
As much fun as it is to lounge around in pajamas, it does make it harder to work, and it causes a disconnect. Pajamas + home = relaxing, not work. I found that by putting on clothes, even just work-out clothes, it helps set that professional mindset. Some people take it a step further and put-on shoes. Wearing shoes prevents the habit of working from bed or some other relaxing spot, which helps keep work and home separate.
3. Create a Designated Spot for Work
Make a workspace that is separate from your personal life if possible. It can be hard to work when you are working from a place you typically relax from, or a place where you usually work on passion projects. Doing full-time work from these spots can cause all the areas in our lives to become melded and makes it hard to switch mindsets. For me, this meant setting up a desk even separate from the one I write the blog. Get a plastic folding table if you need to set up a temporary desk. The mental separation does wonders for your work life, hobbies, and relaxation.
Photo by Nathan Riley on Unsplash
4. Use the Pomodoro Technique
Without the structure of the typical workday, and being at an office surrounded by peers, sometimes it can feel difficult to be productive. Also, since you are home, things like laundry or other chores suddenly seem more interesting than getting that spreadsheet completed. Use proven time management strategies to overcome these occasional feelings.
The Pomodoro technique keeps focus to accomplish your tasks. This technique was designed by Francesco Cirillo and the steps are below.
The Pomodoro Technique
- Decide on the task to be done.
- Set the timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).
- Work on the task.
- End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
- If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.
- After four Pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.
- Repeat until your task is accomplished!
5. Set Expectations
Set expectations with yourself and your manager. Since it is harder to communicate expectations can get jumbled. Work with your manager (or yourself if you are your boss) to determine the highest priorities and tackle those in order. Use this question to help establish those priorities. Having a set list of tasks to complete provides accountability and provides projects to work towards while working from home.
6. Put Distractions Away
Putting distractions away means keeping phones in pockets or locked away. For me, I would never pull my phone out to browse Instagram while at work, but it is tempting to do it at home. Especially since it is right there, and it’s what I do at home. To prevent this distraction, I keep my phone in a designated spot away from my working desk. We all know ourselves, and we know our distractions. Make it arduous to get to them while working from home.
7. Stay Connected with Co-Workers
Part of the fun of working in an office is socializing with co-workers. Talking about family, sports, stocks, jokes, and all the other fun things that interacting with co-workers can bring. These naturally come up during the day at meetings and during breaks. Chatting can be hard to replace. Set up five minutes with some co-workers throughout the day to catch-up and to just take a mental break. It will keep the team morale and your personal feelings higher.
8. Take Your Coffee and Lunch Break
It can be easy to work straight through lunch because we feel like we should be working all the time when working from home. Take the coffee breaks and lunch break, however long they were in the office or just a little shorter if you need to get back to your computer. Breaking up the day provides that structure and also the mental break you need to work effectively.
9. Keep Some Ambient Music On
Workplaces have natural background sounds: people chatting, phones ringing, desk re-arranging, and all the other ambiance an office can have. It is odd sitting in silence at home while working. To help that, listen to some ambient music that doesn’t distract but provides something pleasing to hear. I use Spotify, my favorite soundtracks for work are: Late Night Jazz, Relaxing Piano, and Summer Jazz.
10. Exercise
Before starting work, and during your Pomodoro breaks, do some light stretching. We move around the office more than we realize walking from meeting to meeting or co-workers’ desks. To keep up that activity, stretch during breaks. Then for longer breaks, do some work-out circuits in the house or go for a 20-minute walk outside. These short doses of physical activity can help re-energize and re-focus you on your work.
11. Set Ground Rules with People You Live With
If you are working from home with others, set some ground rules. Let them know you are working, so you need your time to focus on work. Let them know when you are calling into meetings and can’t be disturbed.
But also remember to make time for them. Have lunch together and talk together throughout the day during the breaks. It is a luxury to be home with those in your life, and if balanced well, it can make the work from home days better while also creating new family memories.
12. “Show up” to Meetings and Be Heard
Meetings get moved to phone or Skype-like calls. In these meetings, people tend to talk over each other or talk less because it is much more challenging to have a conversation over Skype than being in a conference room together. Be sure to say something at the meeting, even if it is “hello, this is ‘X’ how is everyone doing?” unless someone checks the call register, no one will know you were on the call unless you speak up. Let people know you are there and contributing to the team effort.
13. Indulge in the Fun Perks
Park of the fun at being home is getting to indulge in some activities we typically can’t do in the office. For me, this is making stovetop espresso. Normally, it would be K-cup coffee in the afternoon to help push through the afternoon slump. However, at home, I can treat myself to using my break to make espresso. It tastes better, and it’s a fun activity for myself that I typically do not get to do. Build little joys into your working from home days.
Main Take-Aways:
- Working from home can be a challenge, but if handled correctly, it can be a productive way to get work done.
- Keep some routine to the day provides a structure similar to how working in an office feels.
- The best way to maximize working from home is to get in the work mindset and complete the work we set out to accomplish, while also enjoying the perks that working from home offers.
Action item
What tips are you going to try on your work from the home day? What are some other tips that you would recommend to help those in the community work from home more effectivley?
