Coronavirus pandemic has changed a lot of lives. Those who are able to work from home should consider themselves lucky but it doesn’t make it easier.
When being isolated at home, it is not easy to remail motivated and keep yourself going.
Here’s what has worked for me:
Know where to draw the line
The temptation to have a lay-in in the morning is going to hurt, but you have to resist it. Just because you’re going to work from home doesn’t mean you can work as little as you feel like, because that is only going to blow up in your face later down the line when you haven’t hit any of your deadlines.
Don’t be tempted to complete other things in your allotted work time too – yes, housework may be a chore, but it’s something that has to wait until you’re not working or else you’re going to fall behind.
But also, the joy of working at home is that you can take your work breaks in the comfort of your own home! You might find the temptation is to work through lunch and promise yourself to just relax later, but don’t fall for it.
Force yourself to take that hour lunch break, or else you might burn out before the day is done, and then you won’t enjoy that relaxation time at all. Using detailed planners would help.
Remember the perks!
One of the best things about working at home is that you are granted so much more flexibility than when you work away, but sometimes you can become so worried about being unproductive that you don’t actually allow yourself that flexibility when you need it.
So remember, if you’re sick and would usually have a day off if you were working away from home – have a sick day! If you’re too sick to work in an office, you’re too ill to work at home.
Remember to be kind to yourself too, routines are hard to figure out and even harder to stick to. So sometimes if your kids are annoying you or other things take over so work just doesn’t get going that day, don’t beat yourself up – it happens to everyone.
The best way to organize yourself working from home is to find out what works best for you, and that is purely a game of trial and error. But you’ll get there, and you’ll be so relieved when you do.
Stop Multi-Tasking
It isn’t always easy to keep yourself from multitasking. But there is a plethora of evidence to show that it is a productivity killer. If you want to get stuff done, you have to try and cut the habit out of your life.
Possibly the worse culprit for getting us to multitask is the Internet. Thanks to the wide variety of entertainment websites out there, it is so easy to stop what you are doing and jump onto Facebook or a blog for a few minutes.
Even business communication happens online these days, so there’s no way around that.
You might think that there is no harm in this. But through using tools like RescueTime and Nextiva you begin to see what a toll it begins to really take. Those little interruptions add up quick. Not to mention the time it takes to get back on track and find your train of thought.
How do you keep yourself going while working from home? Share your tips!
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