Working from home for the first time? We’ve been at that a while now so we can offer some support if you’re feeling the cabin fever already or just want to know how to be a little more productive! Today on the blog we’re answering questions like:
How do I stay productive working from home?
How do I organize my home office?
1 Designated Space for Working From Home
If you’re unaccustomed to working from home, it can be tempting to wake up in bed and, well, stay there! It’s maybe even billed as one of the perks of working from home. For some people it is and they can be plenty productive, with a laptop propped on their chest as they sink back into their Tempurpedic. That’s an advanced remote-workers move, though. For the rest of us, many of whom are easing into the laptop lifestyle now, it is important to have a designated space in the home for work. That is not necessarily the most ‘comfortable’ space, but one that inspires productivity! It doesn’t have to be a home office either – a kitchen table or living room corner does the trick just fine! If you do have a home office that doesn’t get used regularly, this next tip applies to you…
2 Office Organization Tips to Maximize Productivity When Working From Home
Maybe you do have a home office to work from home in, but it’s rarely utilized (like these spaces were in our Bel Air Road project that we transformed into offices). We see this often – the beautifully designed home office becomes more of a storage closet overtime and rarely entered. We’ll now it’s time to dust everything off and get organized! Here are a few organization tips to get your office in shape and get to working from home:
- Go paper free – organize old filing cabinets, throw away any excess paper and go digital. (More on the digital stuff in a minute!)
- Your desk chair matters most. If the idea is that this is a spot you’re going to be spending a good deal of time in, be sure the seating reflects that. This will be a seat you get up and down from frequently, and change positions in throughout the day.
- Similarly, your lighting scheme is incredibly important. Be sure you have ample natural light to rely on mostly and then layer in general, task, and ambient lighting to take you from day to night. Here are some lighting trends to copy if you’re feeling design-y!
- When it comes to the actual design of the space, if you have some time and budget to update, check out these office design tips to get inspired.
3 Exercise Breaks
Only on day 3 of official quarantine and already getting a little stir crazy? At home work-out’s are where it’s at. Clear a space in the living room for some midday yoga flow. A desk cycle or Peloton can also be a good midday energy booster. Check out these home office exercise tips or follow our team’s arm routine using our desks as resistance in the video below:
4 Standing Desks When You Need A Midday Boost
Another helpful productivity tip that your body will thank you for is to consider a standing desk, at least for part of the day to improve posture. We wrote about the benefits of standing at work here.
5 Nutritious Snacks on Hand!
Many people who have the fear of food shortages and starving or perhaps even out of sheer boredom, are reacting by eating all the junk food in the pantry at once! Keeping healthy snacks on hand is essential to maintaining your stamina throughout the day, especially when working from home. Not to mention, meal prepping isn’t just about adhering to a strict diet, it also cuts back on using food as a distraction. A great way to nail both of these elements is to adopt a plant-based diet. We wrote about the benefits here.
6 Limit Digital Distractions
Ooo now this is the tough one, right? Limiting digital distractions can be incredibly difficult not just working from home, working remotely. It’s difficult everywhere because our work-life lines are blurred by the convenience of having everything in one place. Our phones are our productive sanctuary – they can also be our demise! So here are the tips we’d recommend:
- Turning down your screens’ brightness
- Getting blue-light blocking glasses, and if you can
- Switch the screen to black and white mode
- Turn off as many notifications as you can
7 Resist the Urge to Go on a Cleaning Spree
We’ve definitely felt the urge to deep-clean again and again as a way of both passing the time and maintaining a semblance of control in these weird times, we wrote all about it last week here. But once you’ve done it, you’re done — so often when working from home, cleaning is used as a procrastination tool. When you’re honest with yourself you’ll know when something really needs cleaning versus when you’re putting off working from home.
8 Customize Your Work from Home Schedule
While you want to make yourself available during regular/designated working hours, a standard schedule may not be necessary — or even productive. Consider you’re removing a commute, transit time for lunch, etc. You may find work takes you longer to get done initially with the lack of office resources paired with increased distraction. The opposite may be true – you may be a machine when working from home! The point is to pay attention to yourself and how you work and remain flexible.
9 Update Your Tech
Perhaps this should be the first tip because technology is what enables us to work remotely in the first place, so staying up to date is going to be a necessary investment in the long term and it’s looking like we’re going to be at this work-from-home thing for a while! Security we’d also lump in with this – both digital for your passwords and for your new home office! If you have gear, you’ll also want to be sure it’s insured. Your internet bandwidth also has to be strong enough – especially if you have kids at home too. A full house with everyone on the internet will take up some bandwidth!
10 Morning Routines and Dressing Up!
Get ready for work – if you are distractible, prepare like you’re going into an office, dress up at home! This is a great productivity hack if you know you’ll want to sink back into the bed if you’re bumming around in sweatpants. It might feel silly, but if it;s what you’re used to: put on that work suit, grab your briefcase, and make your way to… the sofa! LOL
Have more productivity tips? Does one of these really work for you? We want to hear it! Sound off in the comments below or on social media @LoriDennisInc.
