How to work from home effectively? You need to set clear boundaries, prepare a schedule and stick to it, take regular breaks, design a quiet, free-of-distraction workspace, and ensure that you have opportunities to connect with your colleagues. Otherwise, the effectiveness of your remote work might drop and you will find it difficult to keep the deadlines.
How to Be Effective Working Remotely
So, let’s take a look at our tips in more detail. How can you be an effective remote worker?
Set Clear Boundaries
Working remotely, you are constantly tempted to mix work with your personal life. Whether it’s the dishes waiting in the sink to be done or your family insisting that you spend time with them, you need to make sure that you’re fully focused on work. That’s why you should set clear boundaries.
Tell your family or roommates that when you’re working remotely, you are not to be distracted unless it's an emergency. Hang some notes above the main distractors that will remind you to focus on work. Simply do whatever you need to spend your time productively and avoid mixing your personal and professional lives.
Prepare a Schedule
How to improve focus at work when you’re working from home? Set a clear schedule. Be regular, stick to the “office” hours that you plan, and monitor how fast you do your tasks. In simple words, treat working at home like working in the office.
Maintaining a schedule will help you manage your tasks and avoid distractions, as you will know what and when needs to be done. It will also set a rhythm for your remote workday. You don’t need to schedule just your work – you can include the time before or after it, like getting up, having breakfast, or taking a shower.
Take Regular Breaks
Don’t stare at the monitor for 8 hours straight. The effectiveness of your remote work depends on your mental state, so you shouldn’t forget about regular, short breaks that will help you recharge and catch some air.
Surely, it’s not easy – intrusive thoughts, like “what if someone needs something and I won’t be there, so they’ll assume I’m slacking off,” can try to get in your way, so push them away. Short breaks are a must, so don’t worry, just take them.
Also, consider short breaks outside. If you have a balcony, just go out and breathe in some fresh air; if you have a garden, why don’t you walk around it for a minute or two?
Design a Quiet, Distraction-Free Workspace
How to be an effective remote worker if the racket outside keeps distracting you? It’s impossible, isn’t it? This is why you need to find or make a quiet workspace.
There are a plethora of options for how you can do that. Let’s take a look at them:
- install a home pod or a garden office pod – it’ll provide you with a quiet space when the noise inside or outside your home is too much,
- find the most quiet room – maybe a room that’s far away from the street or the kitchen, depending on where the noises come from,
- fill your office with furniture and books – these will help you reduce the amount of noise coming in and out,
- place wall panels for home office – absorption panels will help you block off the sounds even more effectively than furniture,
- get a white noise machine – it will help you eliminate irregular noises that might distract you.
Additionally, you should get rid of any distractors in your home office – things that could grab your attention instead of work. Whether these are some current magazines, a book, or your personal phone, it’s best to keep those away from your desk.
Connect with Your Colleagues
The major downside of remote work is that it lacks human interaction. This is why, for the sake of your mental health and productivity, you should make sure that you connect with people.
This can take different forms. You can, for example, set up a channel on Slack for fellow book lovers or gamers, or you might simply show up at the office from time to time (if your company embraces the hybrid model). Additionally, it’s good to organize regular team integrations – if your company does not do it, take matters into your own hands.
The Takeaway
How to work from home effectively? Set clear boundaries, maintain a schedule, take regular breaks, prepare your home office, and be sure to build relationships with your colleagues. This way, you won’t only be more productive but also take care of your well-being by having a healthier lifestyle and a clearer work-life balance. So, try out our tips in practice and see how your remote work effectiveness rises!
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