How to Be Productive at Home: 7 Work-from-Home Tips

So, your manager suggested you work from home lately as it is unsafe to leave your residence, and now you are looking for ways on how to be productive at home? You are in the right place. The essential tips covered in the following sections will help you efficiently utilize your time by monetizing your work hours and still maintaining good habits while staying at home.

Have you ever thought what keeps you sane and in senses? It is your business. The fact is, when you keep yourself busy, you will be able to enjoy quality time and will become more productive, not only economically but also mentally. To elaborate, being productive:

1. Economically Means

When you work as sincerely from your home as you do while being in office, your work efficiency doesn’t deteriorate, and therefore you will never face any financial crises. After all, every employer wants a perfect output. Right?

2. Mentally Means

With economic security, you will be at peace, and mentally relaxed, which helps you come up with new ideas on upgrading your skills that would come in handy in the long run, i.e., in your promotions or salary upgrades.

3. Health Wise Means

With sound finances and mental peace, it is highly unlikely that you will experience any sleeping disorders. Therefore, you will stay fit, healthy and will add a few extra years to your life. To summarize, it is vital to remain productive even if you are working from home in order to make sure you enjoy your time and life to the maximum.

Once you understand the significance of being productive while staying at your residence and working, it is equally important to know how to be productive at home. Below are a couple of tips to keep you in good health, wealth, and shape:

Tip 1: Spare a Work Space

The first thing you should do to start is to reserve a place in your house for work, and put all your office-related stuff like a pen stand, PC, files, etc. there, which helps in keeping things well-managed, and any chance of losing your essential items is eliminated. Using a certain area of your home as an office also gives you a professional ambiance, thus enabling you to concentrate on your work.

Tip 2: Set Working Hours

It is the routine that keeps you well-organized. Therefore, it is imperative to set working hours for yourself. Depending on the nature of your job and schedule, your hours of engagement may vary from your colleagues. However, getting to your workspace daily and at the same time virtually takes you to your office where you are expected to work as a full-time employee.

Tip 3: Set an Off Time

It is also essential to call it ‘a day’ at a specific time each day. Maintaining this habit keeps you in a proper schedule, and you get enough space for yourself, your family, and to correctly manage other routines like evening walks, dining, sleeping, etc. Make sure to inform your employers or reporting managers about your working and off-hours so that they can assign you daily tasks and corresponding turnaround time accordingly.

Tip 4: Keep Office Accessories Separate

If possible, have a separate laptop/desktop computer, cell phone (smartphone is recommended), tablet, etc. for office work. Using the same devices and accessories for both personal and professional tasks may result in complete messed up data, and you may lose important files, or expose your sensitive details to official authorities, or both. Keeping your equipment separate from those used for office can eliminate any such cluttering.

Tip 5: Set Deadlines for Yourself

As soon as you have been assigned a project, regardless of the turnaround time you have been given by your employer, set a deadline for yourself as well, and make sure to stick to it whatsoever. Your deadline should be of shorter duration to that given by the seniors. This would help you complete your assignments on time, thus eliminating any chance of hustling and messing things up during those last moments.

Tip 6: Create a To-Do List

It is vital to create a To-Do list for yourself. This list must contain all the tasks that you have been assigned and how are you going to complete them before the given time. Depending on your profile, the assignments, your responsibilities, and the tenure you have been asked to work from home, you can create a To-Do list on a monthly, fortnightly, weekly, or daily basis. The crux is, before rolling up your sleeves and getting to work, knowing what you are supposed to do and when to it helps you stay scheduled. To make things easier, you can try using an efficient mind mapping program like EdrawMind that is free and enables you to create mind maps quite quickly.

Source: EdrawMind

Tip 7: Exercise Daily

Regardless of your schedule and the working hours you set for yourself, make sure to EXERCISE DAILY. This practice will not only keep you in good health and shape, but it will also help you remain mentally fresh and enthusiastic throughout your day. Since you are no longer traveling and/or walking to your office during your work-from-home phase, you are not as physically active as you should generally be. In this situation, even 30-minute jogging and stretching may do wonders for your body and thought processes.

After understanding the importance of knowing how to be productive at home, there is absolutely no reason for not following the tips suggested above. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain a proper schedule and routine in order to stay in good physical and mental health while remaining economically secured.