According to the data released by the US Census, there were about 8 million Americans who were working from home in 2017. However, despite the benefits of working from home, it can be hard to separate work and your personal life since both are happening in the same place. Here are some tips for people starting to work from home.
1. Establish your own workspace
If you are planning to start working from home, then the first step that you should do is to create your own workspace based on what your business or work needs—creating a work environment that will make you more productive and create a balance between work and personal life.
Your workspace can range from a spare corner in your house or a separate room—you can choose whatever is available and what works for you. The primary purpose of a workspace is so that you have a personal space where you can focus on work and commit to working every day.
2. Set your working hours and availability
An advantage of working from home is that you can work in a flexible setting. However, you may lose track of your working hours if you do not plan your daily schedule. You can either lose track of your time because you are too consumed with work, or lose track of your time because you procrastinate more.
Since more work-from-home jobs offer flexible schedules, you can take advantage of it by creating your own schedule and work when you are most productive. Once you have created a schedule, you just need to structure your day like what you would do in an office. By doing this, you won’t get burnt out, and you will have a good work-life balance because you know when to distance yourself from work.
3. Find your most productive hours
We all have a golden hour when we feel more energized and productive. A technique that you could do to be productive is to track your energy, focus, and motivation and observe how, when, and where you are most productive. You need to pay attention to what your body is telling you and to work with it and not against it. When you find your most productive hours, you will have a clear picture of what needs to be accomplished. As a result, you will be more effective and focused on the important tasks. Also, it enables you to find tranquility and work-life balance.
4. Exercise and stretch regularly
Working from home, especially to those who are new to this work setting, can find this as a psychological and physical burden. When you start working from home, your body starts to lack exercise since your daily walk going and leaving the office has been eliminated, as well as other of your usual physical activities.
That is why it is crucial that you organize a schedule and manage to squeeze some time to exercise so that you will stay healthy as much as possible. You can start by taking a few short breaks to do some stretching. Stretch your neck, shoulders, arms, hands, as well as your legs. These exercises are good for your posture and also a natural endorphin booster that helps you to continue functioning and fight stress.
5. Eat healthy
Working from home means you have full access to whatever is in the kitchen. However, most of those who work from home take for granted a healthy meal, and worse, skip meals. Their usual excuses on why they don’t have time to prepare a healthy meal are either they are too busy, or they don’t have much time to cook. They are usually drawn to the usual snacks, such as chips, cookies, or microwave-ready meals.
Eating nutritious meals makes you more focused and increases your energy level. If you don’t know how to create healthy and delicious home-cooked meals, Meals Maker offers easy-to-follow recipes and a wide range of meal plans, such as ketogenic, paleo, vegetarian, and more. There are also online courses such as Nutrition For Happy And Healthy Living that will teach you how to optimize nutrition and create healthy meals.
6. Practice time management
Working from home can give you an opportunity to become highly productive. However, you can also be easily distracted, and that can become detrimental to the quality and quantity of your work. To help you stay focused and productive, you must know how to manage your time well.
Time management starts by setting a schedule and making a to-do list to prioritize your tasks. It is a great way to keep yourself on track throughout your day or the rest of the week. Also, it is important that you block out distractions while you are working, so that you are more focused and get your work done faster.
7. Use productivity apps
If you are struggling to manage your time and tasks while working from home, then you might just need to use productivity apps to help you make your job easier and get more work done in less time. The main purpose of productivity apps are usually for communication and project management. These apps can be downloaded on your mobile phone, tablet, and computer. Also, most of these are free. Here are some of the top most used productivity apps that you can try.
8. Schedule breaks
The best part of working from home is flexibility. Set schedule breaks so that you’ll avoid slacking off or working too much. You can set alarms if you are having trouble sticking with your break schedule. A standard break time for US employees is a one-hour lunch break and two 15-minute short breaks.
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