Five great tips to be productive working from home

Many of us are now working from home, here are a few tips to keep you productive and on task

Start your day like you usually would.

Set your alarm to allow time to shower/make coffee/check social media/watch the news etc. before you “go to work” at 8 am.

Create a separate workspace if available

Use a desk in a spare bedroom, basement, office, or in a place of your home where you typically don’t spend time – this will help you start and end your day easier by creating a physical separation from your everyday life

 If you don’t have a separate workspace, and you need to use your kitchen or living room, try packing up your things at the end of the day, and unpacking in the morning to help create the physical separation.  

A routine like this will help you get in the mindset of “I’m at work” and “I’m at home”

Plan your lunches

Nothing is worse than noon rolling around and realizing you have nothing prepared for a quick lunch and the office kitchen isn’t a few steps away.

Prepare your lunch like you normally would the night before so when you’re ready to eat, it’s not a distracting ordeal.

Stay connected to your teammates and clients

If you would normally drop by someone’s desk to ask a question or catch up on something, shoot them an instant message and ask if you can call them.

Use your video camera for one on ones (if you prefer) – seeing the person you are meeting with makes it easier to avoid inadvertently talking over each other and see facial expressions to help guide the discussion.

Check-in on your team via Microsoft Teams – it’s nice to hear from coworkers!

Give yourself a break occasionally

You’ll be surprised at how much you get done without interruptions and time spent walking between meetings. You may find a few hours go by before you realize you haven’t gotten up from your chair or talked to anyone. Make an effort to get up and move around, or go get the mail to get fresh air, throughout the day to give your eyes a break from the screen and your brain a brief mental break. If you don’t, you may find yourself burning out before the day is over.