I’ve worked from home for many years, but I still remember how disorienting it was at the beginning, so I’m gathering a few top tips for keeping yourself productive and connected:-
Tip #1: Set up a structure that suits you. The great thing about working from home is that you have more freedom to work when and how you wish. You can put the laundry on while you deal with e-mail, and you can write reports after everyone else has gone to bed.
But that freedom is a double edged-sword. After a few days or weeks of every day and every hour being equal, strange things happen.
Sometimes procrastination sets in…there’s always something else to get done.
Sometimes guilt or obsession sets in. If it’s possible to work every hour, why don’t you? When the separation between work and home gets blurred, some people don’t know when to switch off and work takes over.
The solution is to set a schedule. If you are connecting with your team then working regular office hours is best – so you know you can contact each other as usual. But if you have more flexibility then you might be able to off-set your hours to start and finish at times that best suit your body clock of family life.
Be clear which hours you will work and when you will be doing other things to regenerate and connect with other people. Pin your schedule up so that everyone at home can see it.
Set regular meeting calls with colleagues, customers and other key people. Knowing that you have a set day and time for team meetings, or one-one discussions, helps you focus and organise your day. Its less frustrating too! When you’re all in the office it’s easy to bump into people and have ad-hoc discussions. When its virtual it helps to schedule regular calls. Keep them short and focused – try 30 minute meetings. (More about how to run virtual meetings in another post)
Set your timer. Remember when you were a studying for exams? It’s the same for any concentrated working. People can only focus for a maximum of 90 minutes. Figure out what your focus time is – maybe 30, 60 or 90 minutes – and set your phone alarm. Make yourself work until the alarm goes off then take a short break. Get up, have a glass of water, go outside, open the window, do a downward dog…anything to wake your body up and get oxygen to your brain. Then set the alarm, and do another focused work session. This has been proven to be the most effective way to get real work done.