The number of people working remotely has risen significantly in 2020. The current health crisis across the world due to Covid-19 has urged employers to offer remote working options. Some people are familiar with the concept of working from home while others have to adapt quickly.
You need to change your everyday routine and make it work for you. When you work at home, you need to focus on two things:
- How to ensure you’ll stay productive?
- How to maintain your mental health and encourage wellness?
How to ensure you’ll stay productive?
Follow your regular morning routine
The first mistake people make when they begin their work-from-home adventure is to change the routine. They sleep late, snooze the alarm and start working late in the day.
This can be a huge impact on your productivity since the line between work and life we’ll start to blur.
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So, maintain your regular morning routine. Wake up at the usual time, go through your regular morning routines and start your day right. Resist the urge to remain dressed in your pajamas and change to something decent.
If you want, you can dress up and maintain the same routine even when you stay at home.
Create an official work corner
You need to set up your home office with productivity in mind. If you have a spare room, you can easily transform it into a quiet office.
If you don’t have an extra room you can turn into an office, take your work to the living room or set up your space in a quiet corner.
Just remember to set up a proper desk, pick the most comfortable chair and mind your posture.
You can position your desk to face the window and turn your back on everything else that goes on in your living space.
Remember to do your work while you sit comfortably at a table and avoid working out of your bed while you still have your Pjs on.
Take regular breaks from work
Even when you switch your office ours from your office to your home office, you still have the right to take your breaks.
Don’t work long hours without any breaks if you want to maintain your productivity and efficiency levels. Take your regular lunch breaks and those small 5-minute mental pauses.
When you feel like you could use a break, step away from the desk and move away from the computer screen.
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Refill your water bottle, wash your coffee cup or take a few squats. Whatever you decide to do, remember to spend your break on something that isn’t work-related.
This way you’ll ease the work pressure and refresh your focus.
Limit distractions
Distractions are everywhere. Maybe your neighbor’s dog keeps barking, or your family members are too loud.
You should learn how to handle distractions instead of losing your mind over them.
Just like you would listen to music when people get loud at the office, use the same strategy at home. Put on your headphones and play the music that motivates you.
If you need something to pump you up so that you’ll finish a task quickly, choose the music that hypes you up.
If you need to achieve deep work, pick something soothing like jazz or Bossanova.
Either way, use music to limit outside noise and stay productive. Also, adopt a no phone policy during your office hours.
You can check your phone two to three times a day when you decide to take a break.
When people hear that you work from home, they’ll probably start calling or texting you more than usual.
Maintain regular interactions
Once you start working from home, you’ll have to take your regular communication online. You no longer have the option to pop in your coworker’s office and ask a quick question.
Now, you have to maintain regular communication over Slack, Skype, Zoom or other apps. Ask clear questions, define your work goals on a weekly or monthly basis.
This is especially important if you want to keep the same levels of productivity and focus even when you work from your living room.
Maintain the line between work and personal life
Even though you’ll be staying at home all the time, you still need to “Leave” work. Leave work once your official work hours end. Don’t start another task just because it will take just thirty minutes to finish.
If the task will prolong your work hours, then it’s working overtime. Once your shift ends, switch off, power off your computer and leave the work for the day.
You still need to maintain a clear boundary between work and private life in order to stay sane during these hard times.
How to maintain your mental health and encourage wellness?
Use commute time differently
If you used to spend half an hour on your commute in the morning and half an hour right after work, now you will have an extra hour on your hands. Sleeping longer in the morning can disrupt your sleeping routine.
At some point, you’ll return to working from an office and this will make it harder to adjust. You can prolong your sleep for just 15 minutes if you must.
Instead, maintain your regular wake up routine and use the saved time on something that relaxes you.
For example, you can use the time spent on your morning commute to do morning yoga, stretch those limbs and improve blood flow and start the day on a happy note.
Once you “leave” work, you can use that extra thirty minutes to ease into your after-work routine.
Use this time to relax, take a power nap, read, meditate to create a boundary between work and leisure time at home.
Keep your spirits high
Different safety measures have been imposed on people during the coronavirus outbreak.
Know more: What is Coronavirus, Causes, Symptoms and Treatments?
Many people are advised to stay at home, self-isolate and take care of themselves. That is why many people, like yourself, work from home. It is up to us to keep our spirits high and stay positive.
If we’re happy, we’ll be more efficient and productive at work. Watch some funny animal clips, stand up comedy, paint, draw, sew, and find a way to make this time spent in solitude less unbearable.
Sneak in physical activity whenever you can
Being advised to stay home is not a reason to neglect physical health and fitness. We just have to adjust our exercise regime to the one we can do at home.
At-home workouts can be just as efficient as any other class you visited before.
You can reduce stress, boost your immune system and ease your anxiety by doing some burpees, squats, pushups, lunges, planks and other bodyweight exercises you can find online.
If you have to go to the grocery store and stock up on the essentials, use this chore to sneak in a physical exercise. Ride a bike to the store, and get your workout in.
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Since you do have to get outside once in a while, use your e-bike instead of a car. If you don’t have an e-bike yet, consider getting one as it will assist you while you pedal and take you from point A to point B quicker than a regular bike.
Just find gaps throughout your day and do some basic exercises to feel better and move your body more.
Maintain online contact with people outside of work
The fact that we’re advised to stay home and remain self-isolated doesn’t mean that you can’t hang out with friends.
You’re not advised to do it in person, that’s all. Take your regular meetups online. Invite your friends to join you over a conference video call and have fun chatting.
You can do the same with your parents if they live in another town. Remember to maintain regular online contact with your family, friends and dear people.
Focus on physical health
You need to focus on your physical, emotional and mental health. Proper diet, regular hydration, exercise will maintain your physical health.
When we pay attention to our thoughts, regular communication with friends and family, proper sleep and when we invest time into self-care, we take our emotional and mental health up a notch.
Pay attention ton all three in order to keep your sanity and your health.
Prep your brain food
Make sure to include some healthy snacks throughout your working hours and your free time.
Eat a lot of protein, nuts, dried fruit, fish, eggs, veggies, and seasonal fruit. You’ll give your body the nutrients it needs to stay healthy and provide your brain with the right food.
Try to plan your meals in advance, time them right and take care of yourself.
It might take you a week before you adjust properly to your new work environment.
Just don’t push yourself and take one day at a time. After some trial and error, you’ll learn how to optimize your day for success at work while you spend your days at home.
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