Far fewer people are likely to have worked from home for a sustained period of time, as is now the case as the global health crisis of 2020 unfolds. To help you with adapting to this new way of operating, we have put together these seven top tips on remaining motivated when working from home.
1. Create a working environment at home
If your idea of working from home consists of sitting in bed or in front of the television with your laptop, it is unlikely that you will be very productive. If you have a spare room or study to use as an office space, keep anything work related in there. Creating a working environment can get you in the right headspace that you need to work productively.
2. Dress for work
Although it can be tempting to stay in your pyjamas, be sure to get dressed and ready for your working day. This will make you feel more awake and ready to tackle the day, after a few hours of sitting in your bed, you will probably begin to feel groggy and less productive.
3. Organise your day
If you set out clear objectives for the day ahead, you are more likely to stay focused and achieve your self-recommended deadlines. Use a paper list or an application like Trello to create a list of tasks that you need to complete, and tick them off as you’ve completed them throughout the day.
4. Manage your workload
If you have a lot of tasks to complete for a large project, or you have administration tasks piling up that you are yet to begin, it can become stressful. If you are working from home and taking this quiet time to get some admin tasks completed, then try to separate them into manageable chunks to complete throughout the day or week.
5. Check in with your colleagues
It can be easy to feel like you are working alone when you work from home. However, although this might be true physically, don’t forget about your colleagues who are also working at home or in the office. It is important to remind yourself that you are at work, phoning to update your boss or colleagues about your work.
6. Give yourself breaks
Breaks are important to boost productivity. If you don’t allow yourself time to rest and recuperate during the day, you may become burnt out by the afternoon. Be sure to take a full lunch break, and try to stay away from your computer during this time as well. You will feel rejuvenated when you return to your desk to tackle the full working day.
7. Reward yourself
It may motivate you knowing that you need to complete a task and send it to your manager by a certain deadline, but for those who don’t work under anyone, you should try to come up with ways of rewarding yourself at the end of each task or day. This little boost can give you what you need to move onto the next job, and keep up your motivation.