Working From Home: Tips & Tricks to Stay Productive
By: Hannah Eaglen | Brand Manager
“I would do it if I had more time.” - The lie that we all tell ourselves and others whenever we consider doing things that are inconvenient or outside of our box. Guess what, you now have “more time.” Working from home can be difficult for a lot of people for various reasons, yet we are in a period where we have no choice. I believe that after this international pandemic ends, professionals will begin working from home more frequently. So how do we work from home, but maintain our normal metric of productivity? Well here are a few tricks that can not only help you become productive but also stay productive in the long run.
Free yourself from distractions.
The first step of being productive at home is to isolate yourself and keep those pesky distractions away. When you have people all around you, large music playing, babies screaming, or any other distractions that may occur in your household, it can be difficult to stay on task. With that being said, it is imperative that you find a place to retreat for at least a few hours of the day to give your undivided attention to your tasks of the day.
Change out of your pajamas and into work clothes.
You may think there is no point in this because no one is going to see you and you don’t plan on leaving the house. However, changing out of your sweats and into your work clothes can be very helpful in shifting your mindset from play to work. Once you get behind that desktop it is no longer lounge time, it is productivity time. Anyone can have difficulty staying focused and motivated when you are in your pajamas working next to your couch/bed. So, let pajamas be dedicated to lounge time and work clothes be dedicated to work time.
Plan your day ahead of time.
When you start your morning, it can be helpful to plan out your day before you get started. Start with making a to-do list, then plan what time you want to finish everything and what time you want to get started the next morning. This helps you to gauge what kind of day you have ahead of you and be mentally prepared for it. However, use this plan as a tool, but it’s not etched into stone. If you feel overwhelmed or hangry or you just need a break, then allow yourself to have one! This lets your mind reset so that you will be more productive when you get back to work. This is one of the many beauties of working from home that you should take advantage of.
Get yourself into a routine.
Once you get a few days under your belt and have figured out how you like your day to transact, start making this a routine. For example, if you normally workout in the morning before heading to the office, continue to do at home. If you can keep consistency in your work routine whether at home or at the office, your muscle memory will take over, and your day will flow with a sense of normalcy, regardless of your geography.
Keep yourself accountable.
Of course it is easy to stay productive and crank projects out quickly when you are sitting ten feet away from your boss, however, when you are at home, that isn’t always the case. We are human, which means, we all are tempted to be less productive when there is no accountability. So, you have to create accountability for yourself. This may look different for everyone, but in some form, we can all do this. Whether it means daily check-ins with your team, weekly progress reports to your boss, or even setting personal deadlines in your calendar, putting a system of accountability in place that can be tracked by yourself and others will keep you from letting your edge slip away.
Make a list of professional ‘goals’ for this social distancing period.
Remember all of those things you “would do if you only had more time” that I mentioned earlier? Here they come again. But seriously, make a list of those things that you keep in the back of your mind that you typically don’t have time for. These can be things like improving your video editing skills or learning how to code a website or improving your company’s SEO. Then, after you make that list, do some research and find free tutorials or online classes or take the time to dig deep into those tasks that have been on the back burner professionally for a long time and make it happen! Once you have a finish line in sight for your day’s work and tasks, it’ll be much easier to keep your work day on track without allowing yourself to get off track.
At Vision Care Connect, our mantra is to be “always moving forward because complacency is the first step backwards.” Once the newness of working from home wears off, it can be easy to become complacent and slip into the trap of becoming unproductive. Practicing these six tips can help you to accomplish the expectations that have been set for you and that you have set for yourself. You can do it!