Working From Home: 5 Ways To Boost Your Productivity
In light of recent events, working from home being made mandatory is ubiquitous in most offices. For some employees, this experience might be new. Despite the freedom and flexibility that comes with working remotely, some employees find themselves being more susceptible to procrastination and distractions.
So if you’re going to be working from home, here are five ways to boost your productivity.
Have a designated work set-up
To work from home efficiently, having a designated working space is critical- your bed or couch isn’t one of them!
If it is your first time working from home, then you might have to go through some trial and error to find the perfect workspace that supports your needs. An essential tip would be to find a space that imitates your desk in the office!
Make sure your work set-up is far away from all distractions. It’s better to face a window or a wall. You want to make sure you can do your work consistently instead of having to keep stopping because you spot something that you might want to tidy up.
Reward yourself
If you’re busy chasing deadlines after deadlines, what better way to motivate yourself than through snacks? Rewards not only motivate you to work harder but encourage you to stay on task throughout the day!
Prepare frequent incentives for completing even the smallest of tasks. Instead of having wrappers lying around, store some snacks into a PET container. If you’re thinking of potato chips or any forms of junk foods, then perhaps you might want to consider snacking on food that benefits you!
Here are some brain foods you may consider:
- Dark chocolate: an alternative to caffeine and uplifts your mood.
- Pumpkin seeds: contain antioxidants that protect the brain and body.
- Walnuts: improves heart health and promotes a healthy mind.
Hopefully, having snacks along the way enhances your work from home experience.
Have a to-do list
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by your tremendous amount of workload, but sometimes we can’t help but struggle at figuring out how exactly to approach the task.
Perhaps, breaking down the given task into even smaller tasks could help you approach the task at hand. By doing so, you’re actually disciplining yourself through planning. Simply listing the tasks down makes you more productive and overall, promotes a more conducive work environment at home.
There’s no denying that intrinsic sense of satisfaction when ticking your accomplished tasks off your to-do list. Without you knowing, this could motivate you to continue completing other required tasks!
Have proper meals
As tempting as it is to finish everything as soon as possible, it is essential to set some time aside to eat. Working on an empty stomach may not result in a productive working session. Aside from having some snacks in between, nothing beats having a proper and balanced meal.
Did you know? Healthy eating boosts productivity! Aside from decreasing the risk of long-term diseases, eating well enhances your energy, alertness, immune system and more!
Working from home is the perfect time to prepare yourself a homecooked meal! Even if you don’t manage to finish your meal on that particular day, use a paper box for food to store your leftovers! You can finish it up the following day, and it’s a way of lending a helping hand to Mother Nature.
Or if you’ve run out of ideas on what meals to cook, don’t hesitate to get some food delivered in take out lunch boxes.
Declutter your physical and digital space
As the cliché goes, “A cluttered space, a cluttered mind.”
Having unnecessary objects lying around everywhere adds on to the stress of chasing deadlines. While tools such as a paper clip are essential in tidying up your workspace, it can mess up your desk when in excess. To overcome this, get some storage boxes for you to organise your office tools in them neatly.
Another thing, don’t neglect your digital workspace as well! Working from home means staring at your screen for a prolonged amount of time. If you want to ease your experience, make sure your files are organised in a distinct manner. A neat and organised desk and desktop promote an efficient working session.