The idea of having the ability to work from the comfort of your own home is something that many people dream of. Unfortunately, not everyone has a job that allows for remote working. Manual labor cannot be done through computers and sometimes companies require extensive collaboration between employees to deal with certain projects. But, it seems like a lot of things have changed in these past couple of months because of the coronavirus pandemic. A lot of companies were forced to let their employees have their own remote workspace from home.
However, no matter how fun and interesting doing all the work from home sounds, there are some obstacles or challenges you will need to deal with if you wish to be successful. If you truly want to be a productive home as when you are at the office, there are some things you need to do to build a good remote workspace where you will feel comfortable and inspired to work hard.
Assuming that you do not have any kind of experience for remote working, you can use this guide equipped with all kinds of tips that I made for 2024.
1. Create a workspace
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they start to do their jobs from home is that they forget to build any kind of space that will remind them of their office. Why is this bad? You are probably asking yourself. Well, if the space around you does not remind you of being productive, how will you ever be able to finish any of your tasks given by your boss?
You cannot just put the company laptop right next to your TV and expect that you will be productive at all. You will get distracted all the time by the TV, by your phone or your family. This is why it is essential to create a space that will remind you of productivity and where you will not be disturbed at all. Of course, you do not exactly have to replicate that entire feeling of an office, but there are some changes or additions you could do to make it seem a little bit more professional.
2. Create a workflow
If you can’t seem to build a habit of finishing most of your tasks that have been given to you for the day, my advice would be to just create a schedule. I know, forcing yourself to wake up early in the morning just to work from home, does not sound very appealing, but, by doing this you will have a lot more free time during the day and night.
You wake up in the morning, you follow your schedule, you do all of your obligations and then you’re done. Remember, you won’t have to drive or commute anywhere, you won’t have to drive back which means you can be done with your job in a much shorter time span.
If you’re still unable to create a workflow (read this monday.com post to learn more) or a schedule, you should consider using a real-time workspace app or remote productivity tool. This application on your phone will be able to remind you about all of your future tasks that you need to work on for the day or the week. It has been proven that employees always work more efficiently when they follow a task list as suggested by Taskade.
3. Minimize on distractions
One of the main reasons that companies do not like to provide their employees with remote jobs is because they do not have any kind of surveillance of what they are doing and whether they are being productive. Although, I’m sure that you feel a lot more comfortable when your manager or boss is not behind your back checking up on you. For the first time, you feel free and you do not have to stress about your boss constantly bothering you whether you are being effective at your job.
However, since there is no one checking up on you, you might get distracted by a lot of things which will ultimately lead to lowered productivity.
To minimize the number of distractions you get throughout the day, there are a couple of things you will need to do.
4. Turn off your phone
One of the easiest ways you can get distracted while you’re working on a computer is by your phone. It constantly lights up, it receives notifications and who knows what else. I know, you probably want to respond to your friend as soon as possible, but it is time to do your job and not talk to your friends. So, my recommendation is that you just turn off the phone completely. Although, if you do need to talk with your employees then you should just turn it off from the Internet.
5. Tell your family that you are busy
Another easy way you can get distracted at home is when you’re partnering or your children start bothering you about all kinds of things. I am sure that you will gladly spend some time with your children or your partner, but there is a time for that too, especially since you’re working from home. Once you sit down at your desk (office), your family should know that they should not bother you with anything unless it is something very serious.
6. Do not overwork yourself
Believe it or not, but another frequent mistake many people make while working remotely is that they overdo themselves. But, how does this happen when we are talking about the fact that people are having trouble to stay productive?
Well, it is actually quite simple. Once you start getting into your given task, you can easily forget that you need a couple of breaks throughout the day, a snack, a cup of coffee, and so on. Since you are in the comfort of your own home, you will probably try to finish all of your tasks as quickly as possible. By doing this, you can overexert yourself and end up getting tired and sleepy in the middle of the day.
As you can see, creating a successful remote workspace in your home is not that difficult, you just have to put in the effort and you will manage.
