Top Tips On How To Successfully Work From Home.
Top Tips On How To Successfully Work From Home.
Being a freelance travel blogger and a digital nomad I’ve been working from home (or from various hotels around the world) for the past 6 years. But in light of the recent Corona Virus outbreak all of my travel plans have been cancelled or postponed.
As more and more of us are now being advised to work from home we’re all going to have to be as flexible as possible and learn to adapt to new working situations.
I realise that all of these new changes might be unnerving to those who aren’t used to it, but I’ve personally found working from home to be a liberating and really efficient way to work. So here’s some advice and my top tips on how to successfully work from home…
• Have a morning routine, make sure you set your alarm, get out of bed, make breakfast, shower and get ready as you would if you were normally heading into the office.
• Have a designated work space (this does not include the sofa despite the image above :) When you’re at your space / desk / dining table let family members / flat mates / partners know that you’re working and don’t want to be disturbed, you are officially in ‘work mode’.
• Make sure your work space is clutter free and a nice environment that you’ll be happy to stay in for an extended amount of time.
• Factor in breaks just as you would at work and/ or give yourself a tea break or cookie reward once you’ve completed a particular task or part of your work flow.
• Don’t have the TV on or social media tabs and notifications on, we all know how easy it is to get distracted. If you’re social addicts (like most of us are), then use insta browsing as a reward for completed tasks and face time your friends at the end of the day.
• I always go to the gym at the start of the day or at lunch time, but as this isn’t exactly recommended right now perhaps go to a park (with plenty of open air and minimal human contact) or do an exercise routine on you tube or use an exercise app at home.
• Play music to match your tasks, fast paced if you want to power through, classical or instrumental music if you need to concentrate or focus. I love listening to Debussy’s Claire de Lune or Erik Satie when I’m writing. There’s also plenty of scientific evidence to suggest that classical music helps to enhance brain activity, which helps people to perform tasks more efficiently and increases mental health well being.
• Make your lunches the day before so you don’t get pulled in to creating elaborate meals in the middle of the day in an attempt to shirk the work.
• Have a designated stop time, as though the office has closed and stick to it.
Hope you guys found that useful. If you did then please let me know in the comments below.
Hope you’re all well and stay safe.
Bonnie xx
Having a routine is the number one thing that resonated with me. I travel 75% of the time for work and found I could never keep up with my tea in the morning and workout at lunch routine. At least with this COVID-19, I’ve been working from home and focusing more on myself.
Lovely to hear from you, glad you’re well.x
Can I just say I LOVE your couch! Perfect for snuggling down in! I’ve worked from home for the last couple of years too and I couldn’t agree more with your advice more. One thing we’ve found really helpful (as my husband also works from home!) is having healthy snacks and treats in the house, we bulk order sparkling water and always make sure we’ve got good coffee just like we would if we were in an office! x
Hi Bethan, all excellent suggestions thank you x
When I work at home I always to clean my table and clutter stuffs to look spacey and organize love this post!
My husband and I share an office space at home. I do love to decorate my part of the room. I have vision boards and little angel figurines (I love them!) What I need to work on though is a morning routine. Sometimes I just go ahead and work right after waking up, forgetting to have breakfast first! A good, healthy breakfast is essential to power up my day and get more things done!
Firstly you have a beautiful home! I am a home from worker/mum and it is a bit of a nightmare, but I have to just get through it the best I can. I have kids in self-isolation so these tips are going to be more useful now!
A great set of tips, routine is so important when working for oneself. I not only work from home, but also homeschool my 4 kids, but I can’t think of a better way to live!
Oh wow sounds lovely. xx
Lol I have a desk but my WFH location is sofa with blanket on my knees and multiple snack bowls. I’ve been WFH once a week pre-corona so this is nothing to me though I know what many are struggling.
Its a wow for me. I have never found myself wprking from home until we got hit by COVID19 pandemic and the whole wwotking world had chrash landing in my lounge that everything just changing from the time I woke and until I finish my wprking shift inaide my 54sq apartment with my wife and a 3 year old son amd it didn’t work out for the first few days. But thanks for your tips it made think of things that would help me better my self in the next few days. God bless you.
Oh i am so so pleased it was helpful, I hope you guys are ok. stay safe B x
there are many individuals that can easily work at home and I say if you can then great however I am a nurse and can not do that but then we all choose what we do and we all love what we do
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Excellent tips! Especially at the moment when the majority of the people who are now being forced to work at home.
I try to get in some exercise throughout the day as I don’t always manage it at the start & have started setting a finishing time so that I don’t overwork!
good idea x
This post was so helpful. And specially now due to the coronavirus. I will follow all these steps and I hope I be more productive in the following days.
glad you liked it
For me staying off social media is the important one. So easy to get sucked into scrolling your feed.
haha me too and I work in it xx
Working from home is a new concept for so many people out there. I am sure that these tips will help so many to be productive and get on track. Thanks for sharing
great tips for those who have the opportunity to work at home. Thanks so much for sharing
With COVID 19, everyone is really forced to stay indoors. Usually, my mom is alone at home, with the maid, but now we’re all here. And we’re all working. It’s become a new norm to see my sisters working–and locking their doors because they’re on an important conference call.
I am not WFH really. I am a dentist so I really have no work. But I am also a freelance writer, so labor in that terms. I have not conference calls. I just need a space to write. And usually I do that in front of the television.
Wow thank you for the tips. Have been trying to fit myself in my home space . Will definitely try it out
Thanks for stopping by
I have been working from home for the past seven years and follow most of your suggestions. I think it’s important to get up at your regular time and get dressed as if you were going to work so that your mind knows you are in work mode.
With the lockdown going on, I have had to do a little work from home and it’s fine. I think getting dressed and ready helps get one in professional mode and gets the day going.