For me, it’s not exactly a challenge to stay productive while working from home. I thrive in peace and quiet and get super focused in that sort of environment. Bret, my husband, knows me all too well and will head to our office (out of the house) because he knows how I work best — in silence, people!
On those days I do head out to our headquarters, my brain gets scattered! And honestly, it’s not exactly fair to our staff because I tend to disrupt other people’s productivity. Let’s face it… I like to talk and entertain — as any girl with her own podcast should.
However, I’m well aware that I’m in the minority here and that for the majority it’s a huge challenge to stay productive when your home is your office, too.
(But don’t get me wrong, I have many habits and systems in place to ensure I’m crazy efficient and successful when working from the house, too.)
Tip #1: Adopt a working schedule.
A schedule gives you freedom; it gives you structure. If that weren’t the case, children wouldn’t hear an alarm blaring between each subject change during the school day. Our brains have a difficult time staying focused on one subject, one idea, for long periods of time.
When you work from home, your greatest enemy is you. This is because the thing you have working against you is freedom — even if freedom, ironically, is the reason why you work from home.
Hence, without a written / working schedule, the structure which gives you freedom is lost.
Tip #2) Don’t eat and work at the same time.
The phone goes on airplane mode when it’s lunch time. No checking Asana, Slack, or texts from staff. Your brain and body need a break. Science proves that planned incremental hiatuses, if you will, result in maximum productivity.
Plus, when you’re eating and working, you basically halt your digestion. This is why people end up with leaky gut, Crohn’s disease, constipation, irregularities, stomach aches, gas, bloating, etc. Your body really does need to focus on using those muscles and staying relaxed while eating.
Tip #3) The energy around the space.
How does your environment make you feel? If you don’t feel creative, energized, and excited about what you need to do when you walk into your workspace, you need to change it.
Tip #4) Declutter.
You’ll never stay productive when your work environment is cluttered. And I’m not just referring to straightening away your workspace once in awhile. Rather, you need to create a system which allows you to keep your home office in tip top looking shape at all times!
There’s 1 system I use every day… PUSH Journals! Which happens to be exactly why I created these beauties. They 100% help keep me on point with my daily plan!
For much more detail on the tips above, plus:
- The right amount of time that you should stay focused on one task
- Why you must use alarms to stick to your work schedule from home
- How the idea for PUSH Journals started and why they are an integral part of my success working from home
- The power of using a physical journal — and not your phone — to get tasks accomplished
- Things to consider to maximize your home environment for work
Then, check out the Build Your Tribe episode below:
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One response to “How To Stay Productive Working From Home”
[…] to clean specific rooms or areas in your home. Plus, there’s a reason why decluttering is the fourth tip on our ‘How to Stay Productive Working from Home’ article. Clutter is definitely a great source of distraction. It’s hard to focus when there’s a pile of […]