5 Tips to Work from Home More Effectively

How do we keep our work life separate from our home life Here’s how to work from home effectively.

Maintain a regular schedule

Start the day as you would if you worked in an office: Get up early, get dressed, and try to avoid online distractions once you sit down to work. If you have just started working from home  or you’ve been doing it for some time now, work on your slots to determine the best rhythm and pattern  for your day

Set clear boundaries

When you work at home, it’s easy to let your work life blur into your home life. One way to prevent  that is to set aside a separate space in your home for work.You also want to make sure your loved ones understand that even though you are at home, you are off limits during your scheduled work hours.

Take regular breaks

It may be tempting to work flat out, especially if you’re trying to prove that you’re productive at home. But it’s vital to  take regular ‘brain breaks”.It can be as simple as staring out the window or reading the newspaper or anything to give your brain an opportunity to briefly recuperate.

Stay connected

Prolonged isolation can lead to weakened productivity and motivation. So if you don’t have a job that requires face-time with others on a daily basis, you need to put in the extra effort to stay connected. Use online networking sites like LinkedIn to maintain connections with far-flung contacts.It’s critically important not just for your career, but for your psychological well-being as well.

Celebrate your wins

When you’re working on your own at home, staying motivated can be difficult, especially when distractions — Facebook, that pile of laundry, the closet that needs organizing — abound. Take some time at the end of the day to attend to the things that you got done instead of the things you didn’t get done. You might also keep a daily “personal tracker”  in which you reflect on that day’s events and note what you were able to check off your to-do list. The daily reminder of what you were able to finish will help create a virtuous cycle going forward.

Principles to Remember:

Do:

  • Make a schedule and stick to it
  • Focus on what you’ve accomplished at the end of each day to keep yourself motivated
  • Create a dedicated work space and let your family know that you are unavailable during work hours

Don’t:

  • Try to work all day without regular breaks — your productivity and motivation will suffer
  • Isolate yourself — go the extra mile to meet up with colleagues and peers to talk shop
  • Neglect to check in regularly with colleagues and bosses — it’s important to make yourself ‘visible’ even if you aren’t in the office.