6 Tips on How to Be Effective and Reach Your Goals While Working From Home
I’ve been wondering… How working from home has been working for you so far?
As you know, COVID-19 not only impacted our social interactions, it has also hugely influenced how we conduct our daily work.
With many people working from home these days often with their partners, kids, pets and dirty dishes around 🤯…It’s not surprising that many people experience difficulty staying focused during work hours and mentally unplugging from work in the evenings and on the weekends.
I totally get you. During 5 years of working from home both as an employee and as entrepreneur, I experienced the same challenges with competing personal and professional responsibilities.😓
What I discovered after many days and weeks of ups and downs are these 6 Tips on How to Be Effective and Reach Your Goals While Working From Home that I hope will help you too:
Tip #1 Dedicate separate physical spaces around your flat or house to your personal and professional life. 🛋 By establishing individual places where you sit and work from where you eat and hang out with your loved ones will prevent you from mixing different emotional states that get anchored to where you spend your time. It doesn’t have to be a separate room (if it’s not possible), it can be as simple as having a separate corner or even a different chair than the one you use to sit on when eating around your kitchen or dining table. Make your working space look and feel comfortable to you. Creating boundaries will help you stay focused and productive.
Tip #2 Dress as if you’d be going out to an office or meeting others in person. 👔👗 It might be tempting to work in pajamas or in sweatpants all day long (I know I did it too 😂). However, it’s easy to associate to this overrelaxed state and lose motivation and your productivity, right? Besides, dressing nicely and putting your hair in order makes you feel more like a human and it may improve your confidence too.
Tip #3 Limit distractions by scheduling personal duties in your calendar. 📆 Doing laundry, walking a dog, playing with your child etc., these are just a few activities that may start innocently and then take up hours of our time and work space impacting your productivity at work. Schedule all of your activities in your calendar, this way you’d be able to better manage your time and various commitments.
Tip #4 Do something fun with your team and friends online. 🦸♂️ 🦸♀️ Set a day and hour for a weekly online celebration to share and connect with your colleagues or friends outside work. It will help you to feel less lonely. Let people in your life know that you’re thinking about them by sending a little “thank you” or “I appreciate you” card.
Tip #5 Establish an unplugging ritual that works for you.🛁After you finish your work: go for a walk around a block, light a candle, take a bath, workout or make a few jumps, etc. Change your physical and mental state when transitioning from your professional to personal context. Make sure to leave your work related worries outside your home door.
Tip #6 Relax properly 😴 Never bring your work-life to your bedroom. Leave your laptop and mobile outside of your resting and sleeping oasis. This way you can ensure that these 7-8h of sleep each day are helping you to recharge.
As many of the firms will fully adopt remote working beyond COVID-19, it’s worth learning how to best individually adapt and organize our lives in a smooth working manner that supports our growth, creativity and happiness long term.
This new context requires from us a shift in mentality, flexibility in approach and lots of compassion in the process.
Now, it’s time for you.
Which one of those 6 Tips will make the greatest impact in your current situation?
Which one are you going to implement first? Let me know in the comments.
I’m on this journey with you.
With love and appreciation,
Lena