Over the past few days, you may have heard and read the phrase “stay home” a lot, right? Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, staying at home is one of the best alternatives to avoid contamination, in addition to washing your hands and avoiding physical approaches. Because of this, many companies have adopted the home office also.
Although remote work is growing all over the world, yet many people had not yet experienced this practice. And, now, in the face of the crisis, they are trying to adapt. However, in this process, some challenges arise: what to do to keep the company productive? What tools to use? How to integrate the teams and overcome the barriers of lack of communication? How to align tasks?
Seeking to help professionals and entrepreneurs, here we have included five tips to be productive during the home office. Check out:
The place in your house where you work should be only for work, and you should not use the rest, such as the bed or the sofa in front of the television, to work. Keep the spaces separate so that the boundaries between work and home life are clearly defined. Use a clean and tidy work table where work is a pleasure. Do not skimp resources at your comfort. You will spend many hours there, so buy a comfortable chair with which you can adopt and maintain a good posture for a long time.
Keep the room well acclimatized, excessive heat or cold will ruin your workday. The lighting is also essential. Find an area with good natural lighting, avoid reflections on the computer screen, and use a good cold white light (does not generate heat) if you work at night.
Working from home may seem like an individual experience, but it also involves interacting with others, whether it's meeting with your team, getting assignments, making decisions, or giving and receiving feedback.
It is essential to set up collaborative methods while working remotely, to stay productive and for your sanity. Talking face to face can boost creativity and collaborative processes, but it also helps connect and maintain mental health.
If you need to ask a quick question or send a quick update to your team, chat apps are a good alternative to email. But, for brainstorming or detailed discussions, take advantage of video calls. This can help you stay on top of what others are doing, and also help everyone maintain a relationship that would otherwise neglect not to share a workplace.
A simple to-do list can do wonders to keep you organized, motivated, and productive while working from home. As you build your list, think about big, long-term goals, like completing a project, as well as small goals, like completing tasks that lead to that big goal.
Marking those smaller goals lets you know you are making progress, giving you positive reinforcement throughout the day. And the job feels a lot more doable when it's not a giant chore. Write or write your list instead of just having it in your head. You won't have to spend headspace to constantly remind yourself of what to do, and the pleasure of crossing tasks off your list can help keep you motivated.
Continuing to have routines is a key step both to be productive while working at home and to deal with the quarantine period. So, set a fixed work schedule. This need not be mandatory from 9 am to 6 pm. One of the great advantages of remote work is being able to adapt the schedule to the moments when you are most productive. If you consider yourself a morning person, for example, you can and should take the opportunity to wake up earlier and work during this period. You will see that in this way you can increase your productivity.
Although quarantine requires us to stay at home, this cannot be a reason for not taking care of physical and mental health. There are several exercises and activities can be done within your home. Also, pay attention to your diet, maintain a balanced diet, avoiding as much as possible the temptation to eat very sweet and fatty foods.
Finally, take the time to read those books you always wanted, but never got the time. Besides, take courses related to your professional area and personal development.
Working at home has many advantages, but also it comes with its own set of challenges. It takes willpower, discipline, and a very clear goal to be productive. The distractions are there, the ease of doing anything other than working is there, but you have to achieve a balance that allows you to work and live at the same time and in the same space. With these tips for working from home, you should be able to get very close to that much-desired productivity.
