More people than ever are working from home at the moment, in these unprecedented times, people are having to learn how to work from home on the fly, because ‘work from home culture’ is new, most people will have no idea how to adjust to the life of working from home, so we’ve got 4 great tips for helping you get adjusted to working at home.
- Set Up A Space Just For Work
When working from home for the first time, if you set up in your living room or bedroom you’re sure to have distractions all around you, so you need to set up a zone just for work, to keep you focused on the task at hand. Afterall sometimes it’s hard to focus on work and not play on your phone in the office, that temptation will just increase with no co workers around.
If you have a spare room, conservatory or a room with minimal distractions in, we recommend making this room your office due to the fact you won’t have to deal with the allure of the TV or that book you’ve been reading. If you don’t have a room for this and need to set up in your living room for example, make sure you have a space just for working in and try to make sure it’s not facing any potential distractions. Also avoid working on your sofa, your sofa is usually a space for relaxation and being on your sofa will pull you out of your working mentality.
- Have A Routine
Working from home can be disruptive to your routine, as you now have no commute you’ll be waking up later, you’re not in the office so there’s the temptation to just work in your pyjamas, so it’s easy to lose structure in your day.
But when you’re working, structure and routine are both important, waking up 10 minutes before you have to log in on your PC will make you less productive, as will wearing your PJs all day, so work in some new structure, make sure to try wake up an hour or so before work begins, have a shower, get dressed (Not as smart as usual, but not PJs/sweatpants) and have a nice coffee to kick the day off, this will help you focus more and put you in the mind space for working.
- Get Some Light
Only having unnatural light from your computer screen and lights is bad for both your physical and mental health, you mix that in with isolation and that’s a bad combo that can lead to unproductiveness and feeling a bit depressed. When you start work, make sure to open your blinds and let in some natural light and take a break every hour or so away from the screen and look out of your window.
Having natural light will boost your mood and give your body a better feeling of what time it is, this will also help your sleeping, as when it starts to get dark your body begins to prepare for sleep, so having just your lights on all day can disrupt your body’s rhythm.
- Take Breaks
In your usual work day, you likely have a lunch break and maybe a couple of tea breaks scattered throughout your work day, when working from home these are even more important, we’ve already talked about how distractions negatively impact your performance, so it’s imperative you satiate your need for entertainment to keep you from getting distracted.
It’s important you leave your working area for breaks, so that you associate the space purely with working. So on lunch take a trip to your front room and watch TV for a bit or head to the garden and play with your phone. This gives you a chance to recharge and when you get back to your desk your mind will solely be on work and let you stay focused for the rest of the day.
- Call Your Co-Workers
In most offices, throughout the day there is a fair bit of banter and conversations between workers, when you’re working from home you lose that. This can leave you craving some human interaction during the day, which can cause some loneliness.
So make sure to have a chat with your team/office pals throughout the day, check in on them, make sure they’re doing well. Then break out the usual banter/work chat with them, this will fulfil your desire for interaction and help your colleagues out. Just make sure to keep who you call work related whilst you’re working, to keep you in the work zone, there’s plenty of time to have a natter with your Mum whilst you’re on lunch.
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