How To Make The Most From Working From Home

Due to the pandemic, we have been working from home for almost a year now. Experts once predicted that the world will have vaccines by the middle of 2020 and will start mass vaccination at the beginning of November 2020. By mid-2021 at the latest, Covid-19 will no longer be a problem anymore. However, as of right now, there is no solid vaccine that has been proven to work well on the human body along with the new strains of Covid-19 keeps appearing, we are far from having the cure or being vaccinated. This means for the next few months, social distancing and home-based business remain the main types of communications. 

In today’s article, we will provide you with some tips to stay motivated and make the most from working from home. 

Get Dressed

Without anyone around looking at you, it is hard to resist the temptation of wearing pajamas all day to work. Nonetheless, this will lead to an underproductive workday as pajamas give you the vibe of going to bed and relaxing. 

Instead, you should dress properly. A simple act of changing clothes serves as a signal that it is time to wake up and get things done. The power of putting on clothes for public viewing should not be underestimated. It makes us feel more confident and helps draw a line between being at work and being at home. 

Workers don’t need to go as far as you would at work but getting dressed should include some basic tasks such as showering, brushing your hairs, shaving, or even putting on some makeup if that’s what you’d usually do. 

Besides, working from home doesn’t mean no one from work can see you. Even though video conferencing could not transmit your image as directly as normal communications, dressing up nicely can still give your coworkers a positive impression of you. 

Take Care Of Yourself

Staying hydrated is very important to keep your body fresh and energetic. It should be kept on the top of your head when working at home. Being alone with your laptop and tasks to handle, time passes by so fast. You might not realize you need water until you finish your work, which is not healthy.  

Furthermore, you should pay attention to the movement. In a normal setting, you are likely to move a lot – running to the bus stop, walking from the train station to your office, grabbing lunch with your colleagues, etc. These small movement breaks disappear when everything you need is within your room at home. 

Therefore, people should set an alarm every half an hour to stand up from their laptop to take a walk, grab some water or coffee. Dance break is a great idea, which you should utilize while being at home. Dancing clears our head and helps with the blood flow, which is very refreshing. Let’s turn on your favorite song and move your body in whatever way you like without worrying about anyone may see you!

Not everyone is equipped with a cool workspace at home. Some people utilize the kitchen or living room space because of its nice background that is suitable for video conferencing. However, we have been doing business from home for almost a year and many more months to come, it is not good for your health (physically and mentally) to work in temporary spaces like this.

It is highly recommended for workers to do some investment in their workspace in time like this. The furniture doesn’t need to be fancy. A comfortable chair and table can be purchased at Home Depot or IKEA at a very affordable price, along with a nice lamp. Adding on some decorations to make work enjoyable is also a good idea.

Keep Your Regular Work Hour

When doing a home-based business, the most basic but very important thing to do is to create fixed work hours for yourself to follow. You are given total flexibility as to when to start, take breaks, and call it a day. Nonetheless, this is an obstacle to a productive day if you keep your schedule inconsistent. Setting regular hours to keep you responsible for yourself, your coworkers, and your boss. It makes you more likely to get your work done and people can get in touch with you easily. 

Working virtually means no one is supervising you. You can surely start late or finish early. However, you have to be present where necessary. Below are the three important factors to consider when setting a home-based work schedule:

• When do you feel most productive?
• When does your boss need you to be present?
• When to communicate with your colleagues and customers?

This means checking with your boss regularly to see if there are any meetings or conferences you need to come to and put that on your calendar. Choosing times when you are likely to get the most work done and communicate those hours of availability to anyone that might need to get in touch with you, compromise with them to meet you in these hours if possible. 

Following these steps, you are on your way to productive and consistent work days!

Don’t Get Stuck in Social Media – Or Anything Else

Distraction is one of the biggest challenges facing people who do home-based business. It is hard to focus when your bed is a few footsteps away, your fridge is full of snacks and no one is watching you. 

Among all, social media is the worst thing to get into while working from home. It is designed for you to easily open and browse quickly. The last thing we need when working virtually is to take a 5-minute break on social media which later on turns into 5 hours. 

To avoid social media during work hours, remove them from your browser shortcuts and log out of every account. You might even consider working primarily in a private or, ‘Incognito’ window if you are using Chrome. This ensures your sign out of all your accounts and minimizes the temptation to take any social media breaks during the day. 

Communicate On A Regular Basis

Not being able to communicate face-to-face with your boss or coworkers is among the biggest disadvantages when working from home. A little detoxification with your coworkers while getting coffee or grabbing lunch is not possible to look forward to. 

You cannot stop by your boss’ office to ask a question, or briefly discuss with your coworkers some problem you have with your customers. Instead, all the communication is virtual now, which means the process will be slower and harder to observe the reaction of the people you are talking to. 

The solution is to always be available via email and messaging platforms such as Slack or Skype. Considering phone or video chat when it is an urgent problem and you need to receive responses from the other person on the spot. In normal circumstances, talking on the phone or video chatting might not be the best option because it seems to be personal. You could stop by their offices so being on the phone is not necessary.

However, working from home eliminates your ability to do that. Hence, people should start considering using phone or video calls. Or else, it will negatively affect your productivity when something urgent comes up. 

Create Incentives

Apart from these scientific methods to boost your productivity, it is important to keep in mind that you are just a human being, not a machine. Working non-stop might not be a good idea even when you follow all the guidelines for an effective home–based business. Therefore, office workers should create incentives for themselves. 

It doesn’t need to be something big or throwing a party on Zoom. After finishing your tasks of the day, indulging yourself in a nice, romantic movie in the middle of the week while cuddling in bed to refresh your energy is a great idea. Or, ordering delicious food for dinner that is normally quite expensive for you to eat is highly recommended. 

Even though this is not a wise thing to do on a normal basis, you should allow yourself to shop online for some cute little things or nice clothes if you feel overwhelmed with work. Brands offer many promotions during the pandemic that we should utilize. Receiving the packages of something you like, delivered right to your door is definitely a good incentive for the day.

Incentives and self-reward give workers the sense of having something to look forward to, which is a good thing now that the pandemic has eliminated all of the fun at work. This is as important as keeping a regular work schedule or hydrating. At the end of the day, work should not be all about hustling, it should include some incentives where you are allowed to have fun and relax!

Final Words                 

Being trapped in the house without face-to-face interaction with other people at work is discouraging. Working from home takes away all the joyfulness someone can find while working, such as chatting with your coworkers during breaks, grabbing lunch together, or simply just having someone sit next to you while working. 

However, during this pandemic, we have no other option. Therefore, through this article, we hope to help you find the motivation to be productive while working from home. In 2021, let’s all hope for a better year ahead of us. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions!