How Can You Be More Productive When Working From Home?

Home Office

Working from home is the dream in many ways. No long commute in the cold and rain, no annoying colleagues or a boss breathing down your neck. You can have your own comforts around you and can generally enjoy a flexible working schedule and be happier (according to science!) However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, work is still work at the end of the day and whether you’re in your house or in an office, you have tasks that need to be done. While working from home is great, many people can find that maintaining productivity is an issue. Whether you’re a remote worker, a freelancer, blogger, run your own home business or work for yourself in any capacity, here are some of the ways you can maintain productivity.

Create a work area
It can be tempting to want to work from your bed or sofa when you work from home, and sometimes that's totally ok to. Maybe it’s a cold day and you’re feeling chilly and want to be nice and cosy while you work, or perhaps you’re a little under the weather and staying in bed while you type away is much easier for you. However, for the most part it’s well worth having a work area in your home that you use. It could be a spare bedroom turned into an office, or it could be a desk in the corner of your bedroom. Either way, you’ll want an area that’s dedicated just for work so that when you sit down at you know that it’s time to get stuff done.

Write a to-do list
The flexibility when you have when working from home can is one of the best benefits. If you want to pop out to the shop during the day to run errands, walk the dog at lunchtime or even have a bath in the afternoon, you can do that without any issues as long you just make up the time later on. However, this lack of structure can also pose a problem when it comes to productivity. It can be really helpful the night before to write out a to-do list, the tasks that you need to complete that day. That way it’s much easier to stay on track, and you can also organize your day based on your own personal energy levels. If you’re more productive in the morning you could get your most difficult tasks done then. If you don’t fully wake up until a little later on, you can ease yourself in with something less strenuous. Either way, know what exactly it is that you need to tackle for each day.

Work smarter, not harder
Being well organized will enable you to work smarter. Have everything you need set out and in its place, so you’re not wasting time looking for the things you need. Turn off social media and distractions while you’re doing important tasks, and set your mind to one project at a time instead of attempting to multitask. Take shortcuts where possible, even keyboard shortcuts like the snipping tool, copy and paste and opening task manager can save you precious minutes each day that really do add up.

Working from home can be wonderful and rewarding, a way to maintain a work-life balance where you can fit your job around your life (instead of the other way around). But you do need to make sure the work gets done and hopefully these tips will help you to stay on top of your game.

This is a contributed post.
Photo: Kaboom Pics

7 comments

Rebeca Muñoz López said...

Hello Rowena, I have worked in the office and from home in both cases being a responsible will be essential to get results, the bad thing about working from home is that sometimes I tend to procast and entertain myself with social networks, but I am working on overcoming that doldrums, thanks for the tips!

Beauty Unearthly said...

Excellent post (as always)!xx

Ivana Split said...

Great tips. It is important to write and stick to our to do list even when working from home.

Pilar said...

These are great tips for working at home! Thanks for sharing Rowena!

Jackie Harrison said...

Awesome tips to work from home. I do not work from home but I use the to do list for my office and home it helps me focus and get almost everything done.

Lyosha Varezhkina said...

I can totally relate to that. I am always looking into productivity tips to work on me, I always think there is some room for improvement

ALLIE NYC said...

Such great tips here. Design school really taught me discipline and time management. But yes having a pretty space makes it easer for sure!

Allie of
www.allienyc.com