Work from Home Tips

We’re living through unprecedented times in which many of us are now required to work from home. And while those of us still able to work should be grateful, this can be quite a seismic shift. Mixing your work life with your home life isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone. As a collection of web designers, copywriters and graphic designers we’ve got some experience when it comes to working remotely. So, we decided we’d pass on a few work from home tips. Dress for the day you want to have Although it may seem trivial, some of the best tips for working from home are. When you get up in the morning, make sure to put on something resembling what you would wear to work. It doesn’t need to be full business attire, but it does need to put you in the working mindset. If you get out of bed and open up the laptop while still in your pyjamas, you probably aren’t going to have a very productive day. Pyjamas, sweat pants, joggers, ‘comfies’: these are made for slouching around and watching Netflix, not for productivity. Get out of bed and prepare in the same way you would if you were heading into the office. It’s as much about preparing your mind as it is your wardrobe! Dedicated Work Space The principal challenge of working from home for many is focus: being able to maintain the same levels as one would have in a regular office. This is why you must find somewhere in your home and create a dedicated home office space. You don’t need to fully refurbish your living room or evict your kids from their bedroom, you just need a space that is devoted solely to work. This means setting up your computer, note-pads, phone, whiteboard, stationary, cactus etc somewhere in your home and sticking to that spot. Laying in bed with your laptop isn’t going to cut it. Make a To-Do List This is something you ought to be doing in the evenings before you go to sleep. Think of everything you need to do the next day and write it down. You can do this using a pen and paper or one of the many productivity apps available. Once it’s there on your to-do list it becomes a lot harder to avoid. If you get into the habit of doing this every night, it will also become easier to get up in the morning. Having a clear plan written down gives you added motivation to attack the working day. Take Regular Breaks You aren’t going to become hyper productive overnight, or be able to fully replicate the office environment straight away. Focus your energy on work for a set period of time, whether that’s half an hour, an hour or more. During this time make sure your output is 100%. Put the smartphone to the side, close Twitter, turn off the TV – focus exclusively on work. Once your set time has passed, stand up, walk around the house, go out into the garden, make a cup of tea. Do what you need to do to relax for a few minutes until you’re ready to sit back down and do some more work. The more you repeat this cycle, the easier you’ll find it to focus all of your attention and energy on your work while at home. Get into a Routine During this time, it’s going to be very easy to fall into a bad routine. If you don’t need to travel to work, you might start going to bed a little later or lying in bed a little longer. Over time, these small changes can really throw your routine off. When working from home it’s crucial that you stick to a routine and dedicated working hours. If you normally work 9-5, stick with that. If you normally take an hour lunch break at 1pm, do the same at home. Having a structure in place while working from home will help you maintain consistent energy levels and aid productivity. When you start to slip out of a routine, your work will suffer. No one knows how long this pandemic is going to last, so for those of you working from home, it’s time to start making the most of it. Hopefully these work from home tips help you to retain a sense of normality at your home office. Have we missed any work from home tips that you’ve discovered in the last few weeks? Let us know! For any enquiries about setting up Microsoft Teams or help setting up your business to work from home with the latest software and technology, get in touch.

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