When working from home, have you found it challenging to create a productive routine? If so, you’re not the only one.
Working from home takes a lot more work than most people realize. While it’s enjoyable not to worry about long commutes or annoying coworkers, remote work takes discipline and focus, which aren’t always easy to harness.
A routine takes away the stress of completing tasks on your own by keeping you on top of your to-do list and bringing you closer to reaching your goals. When you find one that works for you, it’s a total game-changer.
Let’s dive into five tips that will help you create a routine for working from home.
Establish Working Hours
It’s well-known that people have different times of the day where their productivity peaks. This is when you need to take advantage of your active mindset and use it to accomplish your tasks and meet deadlines.
Find out when you’re most productive and set your working hours around this time. If you’re not sure, you may have to experiment with different timings when you first begin working remotely. A majority of people choose to work the normal expected business hours of nine-to-five, but this may not be the best choice for you.
Regardless of the time you choose, what’s important is that you’re able to complete your assignments and do a job well done.
Stick to a Schedule
When you work from home, it’s easy to get lost in the hours of the day and lose sight of your tasks. No one’s around to check your progress or inquire about your productivity. In a sense, you become your own boss responsible for completing your work on time. But this is difficult to do if you don’t have a schedule to follow.
So, once you determine what hours work best for you, you need to create a schedule and stick to it as best you can. If you’re someone who isn’t used to living by a routine, this will be challenging at first. With a little practice, however, it’ll soon become the norm of your daily life.
The biggest part of creating a solid routine is consistency. Avoid making excuses to stay in bed a little longer or wake up a little later. Little changes like these turn into bigger problems when they suck up your time and reduce your productivity.
Create a Designated Work Area
For many people with remote jobs, they don’t have a lot of space to create an office with. But that doesn’t mean you can’t create a designated workspace in your home.
You don’t need an empty room to have an office space. Use an isolated corner in your home to place a desk and ergonomic chair that’s comfy to sit in for long periods. Sit at the dining room table or a desk in your bedroom. Wherever you have free space, work with it.
And don’t let the lack of a formal office deter you from reaching your daily goals. Boost your creativity with your workspace by adding color, photos, inspirational quotes, and more that will boost your productivity and encourage you to complete your tasks.
Dress for the Job
If you find yourself working in pajamas and slippers every day, then it’s easy to see why you may not get as much done. A huge part of working from home is adopting the proper mindset about what it takes to be successful in doing so. If you fail to dress the part, you’re telling your brain you’re in lazy mode.
Make sure to treat your remote job with the same seriousness you would an office job. Dress like you’re going into the office and you’ll feel the difference in how much you aim to accomplish that day. Even putting on a pair of shoes in the house might be enough to put you in the right mindset.
Eliminate Distractions
You must learn to harness self-discipline as a remote worker. No one’s going to be on the sidelines cheering you on to get your work done. You’re on your own and you need to prove that you can handle the work-from-home lifestyle.
You can get a lot more accomplished when you actively eliminate the distractions you have around you. Sometimes there are things you can’t escape from, like children and pets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t work distraction-free.
If you’re prone to checking your phone or watching Netflix while you work, you’ll quickly notice how little you get done during the day. Before you know it, hours have gone by and you’re still on the first task you have yet to complete.
Use browser extensions and other remote work tools to block social media and other websites that waste your precious working time. Leave your phone in a separate room or area so you have no choice but to ignore it. Turn off the television and opt for instrumental background music instead.
Back to You
At first, creating a routine when you work from home is difficult. You need to practice sticking to it so you can eventually see the positive results that come from self-disciple and hard work. As long as you remain consistent, you’re sure to accomplish your goals and complete your tasks in a timely manner. How will you create a work-from-home routine that works for you?