Skip to main content

How to stay productive while working from home?


"Focus on being productive instead of busy."
- Tim Ferriss

Welcome to the second blog of the WFH series. In the first blog of this series we talk about the positive side of WFH. 

Are you someone who feels that working from the office was better than WFH in terms of productivity? then this blog is perfect for you. We need to make ‘working from home’ work for us so that we remain focused, motivated, and on-target. Here I am going to share a few of my tips to be productive while working from home which might help you to focus on your work and eventually increase your productivity.

1. Make a proper workspace


Many research and studies prove that having a specific workspace is important to help you focus. If you have a specific workspace then this will result in less distraction and deeper focus. Every home is different so everyone will not find an entire room to make it your office. You can use any available space from your home where you can sit on a daily basis with a table and chair. A home office should be your area of peace, quiet, and productivity.

If working in the dark makes you feel sluggish, then lighten up! If working under bright light makes you feel burned out, maybe you need a modest desk lamp or some fairy lights. The best option is to use an area where you can get natural light.

We should avoid working in a bedroom (or at least sitting in our bed). Because our body and mind associate that room with sleep, trying to set up shop there rarely works out. In short, don’t try to sleep and work in the same space.

2. Keep dedicated hours

Do not let transitioning from an office to your home stop you from keeping a strict schedule. Follow the same approaches or workstyle you used to in office like making a day plan at the start of the day, creating TODOs for yourself and track them hourly, keeping meeting schedules and regular calls with your team can help you maintain a regular work schedule.

Do you have a set time for lunch and tea/coffee? Try to maintain these activities at home, because the more familiar and consistent your work schedule, the better.

Also in WFH, there are few bad habits our body can adopt like sleeping, playing video games in the middle of the day. Please try to not adopt these habits as these will completely erode your productivity. Keep the good habits, and don’t let the bad ones start. No one is saying you can’t be flexible with your schedule; the key is finding a routine that works for you and keeps you focused.

You can also start following different time management techniques. One which I follow is the Pomodoro technique.


3. Listen to podcasts or music

Many office environments don’t allow music in the workspace (outside of using headphones), this is another opportunity to create your best working environment. Some loud music might distract you from your work so choose as per your concentration level. Use music to your advantage and for enjoyment while working remotely. 

While working from home I start listening to podcasts. What’s good about podcasts is that they can be very engaging. This is also the downside for podcasts, as I truly cannot listen to them while I’m typing an email or thinking really hard, or writing. That’s where instrumental music without lyrics comes in, which I tend to listen to from an external speaker.

4. Take refreshing breaks


If it’s beautiful out, or sunny, or before it gets too hot, get some fresh air to clear your mind for better productivity later. By regularly exercising — even if it's something as simple as walking — you add an important element to your health. Short breaks every few hours can help increase mental clarity and overall productivity.

5. Create and maintain a morning routine


We are in a home that doesn't mean we should give up on the activities we used to do before. Developing a morning routine can help you have a more productive workday. Creating a plan for your morning that you repeat each day can have positive effects on your work life and your mindset.

When this work from home started, I gave up on things that I used to do before which was affecting my productivity, but after some time I kept my morning routine strict which results in increased productivity and keep me exciting for the rest of the day. One thing I want to mention from my morning routine is - I started doing exercise daily and avoid checking out on social media at least for the initial 3 hours of the day. This really helps me to improve my confidence level and productivity.


That's it for this blog. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog and these tips might help you to keep yourself productive in the WFH. Thank you for reading!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Positive side of "Work From Home"

"Right state of mind is an extremely important trigger to support, sustain and scale up remote work or WFH." In this COVID-19 pandemic situation, companies all over the world allow their employees to work from home. Initially many employers were facing problems while giving employees access to all the tools they’d need to work from home. But after everyone settled in, what quickly became apparent to many office-based teams is that employees could be productive and focused when not in the office—in many cases, even more so. Employers everywhere began to understand that remote work really works. As this WFH is a part of our life now, I thought to start a series of WFH related blogs that might be helpful to other employees as well as the candidate who is going to be a part of corporate life. In this blog, I am going to tell you the positive side of working from home that I observed over the last 1.5 years. 1. Better Work-Life balance A lot of work that can be done remotely nowad...
4 comments
Read more

What is Non-fungible token (NFT)?

Recently, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebranded the social giant as Meta Platforms Inc., underscoring the growing popularity of a promising phenomenon: the metaverse. This Metaverse concept has a connection with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the very token we can use to represent ownership of unique items? Hence in this blog, we are going to understand first what is NFT and then in further blogs I am planning to cover Metaverse. What is an NFT? The acronym NFT means non-fungible token, which means a unique digital asset that cannot be modified or replaced with something else on the blockchain. Unlike Bitcoin, which is a fungible cryptocurrency, which can be traded for a predetermined value, like any other currency or money. An NFT is a unique token with no interchangeability with other tokens – much more like a piece of art. Those unique NFTs do not have a set standardized value. Instead, non-fungible tokens (again much like art) are based on the current market value. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Google I/O 2023 key highlights (Generative AI, New Pixel devices and more)

“AI is having a very busy year,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai, kickstarting Google I/O 2023 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. He said, the ‘AI company is reimagining all core products, including search with Generative AI, alongside announcing groundbreaking developments that will reshape the way users interact with the company’s suite of products and services. Gmail with "Help me write" feature After features like Smart Reply and Smart Compose, Gmail is now getting a new feature called “help me write.” It is a simple feature that can help you save time and effort when composing emails. Say your flight was just canceled and you want to write an email asking for a refund. The new feature can grab flight details from the airline cancelation email and compose a draft email for you. If you think it is too small, there is an option to “Elaborate” to make it more compelling, or you can even click on “Recreate” for a completely new email. The feature will start rolling out as a part o...
Post a Comment
Read more