How To Work From Home Effectively

We have all found ourselves in this weird and bizarre world, and adapting our lives has been essential. Working from home is one of the biggest changes that many of us have had to face over recent weeks. Whether you are on your own in the house or trying to work around home schooling, staying focused and also remembering to switch off at the end of the day are big struggles for a lot of people. That is why we have put together some top tips to keep you working to an optimum level.

Face a window

Okay, so this one may not be possible for everyone, but if you can face a window, you may just find that you get a lot more work done. Not everyone has a home office or study available, and a large number of us are working in our living rooms and kitchens. No one, well maybe a select few, but not many people enjoy home tasks, such as cleaning. However, when faced with working in your kitchen, some may become distracted and notice that actually, it has been a good few months since you last cleaned those cupboards down, and suddenly this seems like a much more fun task which should only take 5 minutes. Before you know it, you’ve scrubbed your cupboards to within an inch of their lives and you're 2 hours down, wiggling your mouse every so often to stop your computer going to sleep. Facing a window eliminates the number of distractions you can see around you and also has a relaxing effect if you are able to see birds, trees or flowers. 

Get dressed

So this one may sound absurd. But how can you continue to produce high quality work whilst you're laying in bed in your pyjamas? Setting an alarm, waking up, getting out of bed, washed, dressed and ready for a day in your new home office will help keep you motivated and engaged in your work. This has positive effects on both your mental well being as well as psychologically getting you into the mindset of the work day ahead of you.

It’s Tea o’clock

Everyone knows that the working world is kept running solely by copious amounts of tea and coffee. Having regular short breaks throughout your day will enable you to keep focused and help with new ideas and creativity. Now, we are more than aware of how easy it is for a short break to become a pretty long break… especially at home. The easiest way to keep your break short is to keep your activity to things such as, making a drink, making a snack or maybe even having a lap or 2 around your garden. On the subject of breaks, you should also make sure that you continue to take your allotted time for a lunch break. Being at home is more reason than ever to keep your boundaries and taking your lunch break is essential. 

Ask for help

Being in the office, surrounded by colleagues, supervisors, managers and directors means that you can easily ask for help and advise with a task. Working from home should not eliminate this. Make sure you have contact numbers and email addresses for your direct work colleagues and managers that you may require during the period that you are working from home. That way you can easily contact them for help and advise with an issue you’re having which will give you peace of mind and keep your work free of errors. 

Turn off at the end of the day

Designating a specific space in your home for work is key to turning off at the end of the day. No one likes to go home after a day's work, worrying about something that happened or a problem that needs solving. But if you are working at home, it is so much harder to disengage which can then have a negative impact on your mental health. It is so easy to think you can check for an important email after hours or on the weekends. But that quick check turns into reading and replying to the email, which can then so easily turn into reading and replying to other emails, and before you know it, you’re working late into the evenings and over your weekends. If you designate a space, for example a spare room in your house, you can shut the door at the end of the day and keep your work separate from your homelife. If you are not able to keep your workspace to a specific room that you can shut off, packing up your things and putting them away at the end of the day, is another way to keep your home and work life separate.