7 Tips to Work from Home Successfully

Working from home isn’t easy. You must have realized that by now. There are a hundred distractions that all seem to need to be catered to immediately. So if you haven’t been able to concentrate on your job, you need to pull up your socks.

Remember, you are earning a salary for working from home, so you need to get a little organized.

Here are some tips to help you do exactly that.

Pretend you are on your way to the office every day

First of all, you need to get into a routine where you feel you are getting ready for office. So try to go through the regular moves, freshen up, have your breakfast, wear formals and get your briefcase prepared for office. This will put you in the mood, and you can use your ‘traveling time’ (which you don’t need anymore) to do some household chores.

Isolate yourself during office hours

The next thing you need to do is tell your family that you will be unavailable unless it is an emergency, and not to disturb you unless you are required. That may sound a little harsh, but it should give you enough leeway to do your job peacefully. Lock yourself in your room if you have to.

Get an organized workplace

Keep all the things you need ready at hand or on your desk. A printer, some pens, paper, dairy, etc., should be prepared so that you don’t have to waste time looking for things. List down all the tasks for the day and diligently follow the timetable, ticking off tasks that are completed.

Switch off your Whatsapp or other distractions

Whatsapp messages can be quite a distraction, so try to keep off of all such messaging apps, unless they are strictly business-related. If it’s your friends or relatives calling on your phone, tell them you will call them back once you finish with your work. Let others know you are busy.

Set out a schedule for all chores and divide them equally

Make a list of all the chores and distribute them among family members. Then let them know that all your chores will be done either before office hours or after office hours. Choose chores accordingly.

If your spouse is also working from home, a few compromises might be needed to divide work equally. Use a few breaks during the day to complete urgent chores.

Concentrate on the task at hand

When working from home, you will have to make an effort to concentrate on one task at a time. You might be tempted to answer an email or to reply to a phone call. It’s okay. You can do it later. Multi-tasking can be a productivity killer, so don’t do that.

Respond to colleagues and try to stay in touch

It is essential for your organization to know that you are taking work from home very seriously. So try to keep in touch with your manager and colleagues as much as possible. Instead of sending a routine email, call them up alternatively and pass on the information.

Video calls are even better so that they can see you are working. Ask for feedback from your manager about how you are doing and make corrections in your work processes if necessary.

All these steps will help you stay focused and organized so that your work doesn’t suffer.