If you struggle to be productive when working from home this might just help.
My current job role means I spend some of the week working remotely or from home. I love travelling to the different venues within the company and find it a lot like working in an office but with the added bonus of ever changing delicious menus and not having to get up to make my own tea and coffee, but when I first started working from home I struggled to work efficiently. However I’m well into the swing of it now and have come up with a few hints and tips that might help anyone else be it starting out freelance or starting a job which lets you work from home.
Don’t work in your pyjamas. It’s ever so tempting when the alarm goes off to just roll out of bed and start working but I find it stops me getting into work mode and makes me want to go straight back to bed. Now I’m not saying I’m putting on a full styled outfit but even if it’s just some athleisure it gives you the sense of not being in bed.
I don’t really work well in silence but having the TV on or music is really distracting because I always
want to sing along or get very absorbed in a rubbish drama so if you also don’t do well with silence then I would highly recommend listening to podcasts. My favourites are No Such Things As A Fish – random facts from the Qi Elves with a little bit of waffling and a lot of weirdness and Off Menu – Ed Gamble and James Acaster pretend restaurant where guests pick their favourite meals they’ve ever eaten (warning don’t listen to this whilst hungry because you will devour your whole fridge)
If you have a work phone and a personal phone then put your personal phone in another room whilst you’re working, stops you wanting to scroll through Instagram when you should be writing a difficult email! If you don’t have separate ones then I believe you can put a blackout on apps and/or internet which I think would help productivity a lot.
This is quite an obvious one but to-do lists are your friend, there aren’t many things more satisfying than ticking off that final thing. Find where you work best, I actually work really well on the sofa – I think because I blog from the sofa, but I know for others that a desk or a table is better for them. So figure it out, get comfortable and get to work.
Any other tips people might have I would love to hear them!
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