How To Be Productive When Working From Home

In this day and age, more of us have the luxury (if you see it that way) of being able to work from home. But for a large portion of the population, they still have to go into an office, and recent events may have forced them to work from home. As such, I decided to provide some of my Tips on How To Be Productive When Working From Home. 

First of, this is not the whole list, I assure you that you can come up with many more, ones that fit into your routine and your own home life. But for me, I feel they should be at least the baseline someone should aim for. 

Some of these may also seem hugely obvious, but you will be surprised the number of people who don't do half of these. 

Right, onto the list!

Get Dressed..Seriously.

I told you some of these where going to be painfully obvious. 

The number of meetings, client calls and now student calls I have had whereby the person I am on the call with is sitting in their pyjamas or worse, their underwear is shocking. 

You wouldn't go to work in it, so how can you expect to work when you are in clothes that remind your brain that you are in sleep mode. 

Now I am not talking about getting up and throwing on a suit, but I do mean putting on some jeans and a t-shirt, or a top or whatever you feel is appropriate to start your day with. 

It kicks your brain into gear and makes you feel like you are ready to hit the day, not hit the hay!

Have A Shower!

Time for obvious point number two!

You may feel that because you are home alone or with your family you don't need to have that morning shower, or the evening before, or whatever you crazy peoples ritual is...but you do. 

Just because Fred from the office can't see you and judge you, your other half, pets or neighbour still can and will. 

This goes hand in hand with point one, as it really puts you in a morning routine, it's sticking to the routine you have done everyday for the last 30 years going into the office. 

Working from home does not mean you have to break the cycle of hygiene. 

Create Your Own Office Or Work Space

Being able to separate yourself from home life is massively important. 

You may not be able to completely shut yourself off from the rest of the house, but if you can grab a cheap desk (that one is only £30) and set it up somewhere away from distractions, then you are going to be able to concentrate that little bit more. 

It also means you are away from TV's, games consoles or a variety of other things that will stop you from focusing on the task at hand. 

If you do have the ability to set up an office, then I highly encourage it. Again it means you can keep home life and work life completely separate and puts you in the right frame of mind. 

You can find a whole host of desks, chairs and even extra monitors on Amazon and the delivery times are usually quite quick. Just take a look at this search for  'office furniture'.

Lock The Kids....Never mind, I Mean, Take It In Turns!

A lot of those who are now working from home, are going to have kids around, especially if you are reading this when the zombie apocalypse happened. 

I am not expert on this, but I have got it on good authority that you can take it in turns each day to spend time with the kids. One partner taking the morning to keep the little horrors sweethearts busy, while the other does some work, in their new swanky office. 

Or, if you are super rich, you get the granny or nanny or whatever they are called to look after little Henry while you get on with the investment banking, illegal arms dealing or whatever you pretend you do! 

Everyone's a winner. 

Except the one who has the look after the crazies. 

Take Regular Breaks!

You do it at work, though you pretend you don't. 

You get up for about 50 coffees a day, you walk around aimlessly to the water cooler pretending you are in deep thought.

Well, why not spend a bit of time every couple of hours to just take some time away from your PC. 

I like to play Uno with the cats, and lose. Constantly. 

You thought I was kidding, I have never won a game against this guy.

But seriously, stretching your legs, going for a little walk around the house, smell some flowers in the garden, whatever it is, it helps re-focus your thoughts and allows you to get back into the game. 

Exercise

I never used to do this when I worked from home. 

I would get up, go into my office, and then not leave it until I was done. 

I wouldn't venture outside, I wouldn't go to the gym, I would just lock myself away. 

Don't do this, it's quite bad for your health, or so people tell me. 

These days I try and get in 30 - 60 min walk around lunch time, allow myself to reset for the afternoon and let my eyes go back to their normal round shape. 

I will also get up earlier on certain days of the week and go to the gym, and then get back home, have my shower and bam I am ready to start work! 

Due to the current climate, I just make sure I spend at least 40 mins on a turbo trainer, or I get out and about on my bike to get some fresh air. 

Bonus Round

One thing that people who work from home a lot forget, is that Humans are by nature, social creatures. 

We love (usually) to talk to others, engage in conversation and you know, catch up. 

If you work from home, you don't really get that option, so if you can, chat to people. Either a friend or a work colleague, ring them, spend 10 mins or so having a chat or see if you can walk to a local shop and just say hello to the good old shop keeper. 

Whatever it is, just make sure you actually talk to someone during your day, else you become isolated and will eventually lose the power of speech, and will never be able to open a jar of pickle again. 

Ok, I made the last bit up, but seriously...go talk to someone. 

And that's it, those are some of my Tips on How To Be Productive When Working From Home!

Got any of your own tips, drop them below. 

Of course, I can say I am lucky, I have managed to build an online business while enjoying the freedom of home working. A lot of the ideas above have come from 5+ years of managing, and working from home.