7 Top Tips For Working From Home

I’ve been working from home since mid-March 2020 and I love it, but sometimes it has been hard to stick to a routine and focus. There are SO many distractions at home…You have fur babies and/or kids, or spouse, or housemates and sometimes its just hard to be productive.

Sadly, working from home isn’t all Real Housewives, NCIS and Million Dollar Listing LA while chilling on the couch…Although, if we’re being real, I do regularly work on the couch (or my bed) with my laptop and Lily laying beside me purring away at full volume. No judgement guys, I have a 1 bed apartment and limited work-space options. Anyone else have the same struggles?

Working at home comes with tons of perks, and for me there are definitely more pros than cons but its something I’m learning to master every single day. There are days where I get so wrapped up in work that I forget to shower or dress, and suddenly its midday. Other days I’m on top form and think I have this thing nailed.

Over the last few months, I’ve found a few tricks that have been helping me to be more productive and effective while I’m working from home. If you’ve found working from home a challenge at times, read on for my top tips.

Tip 1: Have A Morning Routine

Working from home means you no longer have that commute to the office (YES!!) but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a morning routine. I’ve realized over the last few months that I need a morning routine to start my day in a vaguely structured way. My routine isn’t perfect by any means, and usually consists of coffee and toast with Hudson & Rex on TV and my notebook to figure out my day. It could definitely be healthier, and sometimes I will go for a run, but the main thing is just having a routine to set me up for success. If you have any top tips on this, I’d love to hear them!

Tip 2: Get Dressed

As tempting as it is to stay in your PJ’s or sweatpants all day, it’s so much easier to get into work mode if you dress for work than if you are in your favorite hoodie. I’ve also just found that by having a shower and getting dressed BEFORE I get cracking on any work prevents any still in PJ’s at midday scenarios.

Tip 3: Create A To-Do List With A BIG 3

Either the night before, or in the morning as you start your day, create a list of your top 3 tasks for the day. Your top 3 is basically your most important tasks that you have to get done. These should be the 3 biggest, most essential tasks that are on your plate currently. Begin your day by tackling these big, meaty tasks first. Yep first guys! You need to eat the frog and start with these time-consuming tasks when you have the most energy and creativity as it will allow you to do them more efficiently. Then get to the rest of your task list after you’ve tackled this big 3..

Tip 4: Schedule Regular Breaks

Do you find yourself sitting at the laptop for hours, and forgetting to have a break? I do it ALL the time. So, I try to schedule my breaks in, by mapping out roughly how long tasks will take and scheduling breaks around them. I aim for a couple of short breaks in the morning, an hour at lunch, and a couple of short breaks in the afternoon. Working from home means you can create a schedule that works for you so that you get some movement and mental breaks which will help you massively when you are struggling to focus.

Tip 5: Put Your Phone Literally Anywhere But With You

OK time for a truth bomb. Your phone is a major distraction, and probably the biggest time suck of productivity. Let’s be real now, we all pick up our phones and find ourselves scrolling on Instagram, replying to a Whatsapp or Messenger message, or playing on Facebook when what we should be doing is writing that report on our laptop screen. We’d love to say we have more self-control, but the reality is that its just too tempting to pick up our phones.

So, when you are doing dedicated periods of work, hide your phone away. Trust me, you will get so much more work done. Hiding my phone when I really need to focus on work has been a total game changer.

Tip 6: Get Outside

When you’re working from home, its so easy to stay inside all day. I’ve had far too many days where it’s got super late in the evening and I realize that I’ve barely moved from the couch all day let alone get outside. So, I’m trying to structure a walk or a run into every single day in the afternoon, and I always feel so much better for it. It doesn’t matter when you go outside or get some exercise, just don’t stay cooped up indoors all day.

Tip 7: Give Yourself A Break

Yep, give yourself a break and don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t manage to be as productive as you plan sometimes. Working from home is different to all other work environments, and it’s an adjustment. There’s no one looking over your shoulder, and there’s no mandatory structure or rules that you have to follow. We are all just figuring this thing out, and there will be times when you mess up or you have an ‘off’ afternoon or slow week. It’s Ok. Tomorrow is another day my friend. Your productivity on any given day is not a reflection of how awesome you are so don’t beat yourself up when things don’t go as you wanted them to.

Just keep working at it and figure out systems and schedules that work for you. Only you know what will work for you, but hopefully these tips help you in some way.