How to Productively Work Remotely at Home: How to Get Work Done at Home

With the current COVID-19 virus going around, many people are working remotely at home. Everyday, more and more companies are telling their employees to stay at home and work from there instead.

At first, working from home may seem amazing compared to the office. The thought of working in your PJs, sitting on your comfy couch and getting things done around the house during the day, definitely sounds more ideal than sitting at a cubical all day.

However, you’ll soon find that it can be difficult to stay on task and productive while working at home. With freelancing and blogging, I work from home quite a bit and therefore discovered tips and tricks for when it comes to being productive and getting work done at home.

Stick to Your Usual Work Routine

The first tip to being productive when working at home is stick to your usual routine. If you get up at 6:30 AM to get ready to go to the office, you should be getting up at 6:30 in the morning, even if you’re working from home. Just because you’re home and you don’t have to commute to work or spend time doing your hair, doesn’t mean you should be throwing your routine off completely. Sticking to your normal routine, getting dressed and eating breakfast, should still be done regardless if you’re going into the office or not.

Sticking to your routine will give you some normalcy when it comes to working and get your brain prepared to go to work.

Right now with everything happening, stores shutting, grocery stores being out of stock and all the travel bans, some normalcy is what we could all use so sticking to your normal morning routine will help relieve some of that stress that we’re all facing at the moment.

Instead, take that extra time that you would be commuting to work to spend some time reading a book, enjoying your morning coffee, doing some house chores, or getting your kids ready for the day.

A lot of kids are out of school at the moment and can cause a lot of distractions during the day which makes it hard to get work done. Planning some activities for them to do and a schedule, will help you plan out your working day better and give you a clear structure to the day allowing you to truly focus on work when it’s time to work.

Make Your Bed

Making your bed should already be part of your morning routine. Seriously, I can’t stress this enough. Making your bed impacts your day in such huge ways that you should be doing it everyday. Especially if you’re working from home, you definitely need to be making your bed first thing in the morning.

Making your bed allows you to accomplish your first task in the morning, makes your space look neat and tidy, and gives you that boost of motivation to continue being productive throughout the day.

Also, making your bed in the morning will help ensure that you don’t jump back into it.

Stick to Household Chores Only in the Morning and Evening

When you’re home, it’s incredibly easy to get distracted by everything that needs to be done around the house. If you were working at the office, you wouldn’t be able to accomplish the mountain of laundry you have or reorganizing under your sink cabinet so all those household chores should wait when you’re working from home as well. Things like laundry, dishes, and tidying up should all be done before or after your work hours which ensures that you’re truly focusing on your work and not the 5 million other things that need to be done around the house.

Especially with everyone being encouraged to social distance themselves from others and stay at home…

We are spending more and more time at home the next couples weeks so all those home tasks can definitely wait as you’ll have plenty of time to get to them later.

Set Up Your Home Office

Having the proper space, tools and atmosphere has a huge impact of being able to work from home.

If you don’t already have a home office, putting together a makeshift office during your remote work period is great to staying productive and getting work done.

Chances are you weren’t able to lay in bed before while working so you shouldn’t be doing that now either. Set up a work space at your dinning room table, counter top, or desk and create your makeshift office for the time being.

I personally find that being in a separate room is best for me to focus. If you don’t have a home office, using a spare room or at least a space that you don’t use to relax or sleep like your bedroom, is ideal. Having that separate space almost acts like “you’re going to the office” and you can more easily separate when you’re at work and when you’re at home.

Functional & Motivational

You need to create a space that’s functional and motivational. Make sure all your office documents and essentials are near you so that once you sit down to “go to work” you don’t need to get up to grab a pen, documents, or stapler and get easily distracted.

You also want to create a space that inspires you and motivates you to work hard and focus. Working from home can definitely have it’s perks and you should take advantage of this time. You can put on an inspirational podcast instead of the typical radio station playing at the office or diffuse some essential oils or a light your favorite candle in your home office.

Make this time enjoyable, but also productive.

Having a clean, organized space really motivates me and lets me think clearly. I definitely feel that your space directly correlates to how you’re feeling and a lot of us are feeling incredibly stressed and overwhelmed at the moment. Eliminating that stress when it comes to working at home by keeping a clean and organized space is essential to making your working from home experience enjoyable.

Eliminate Distractions

This should go without saying but at home you obviously don’t have your supervisor watching over you making sure you’re staying on task and doing your job. However, to truly stay focused and on task, eliminating all distractions such as your phone, TV, other people, household chores is essential for getting work done.

Obviously situations are different with parents balancing kids being at home, but telling your kids if you’re in this room you are at the office and shouldn’t be disrupted unless absolutely necessary will help create boundaries and eliminate distractions.

Schedule Short Breaks

Just like if you were at your office, you would have a coffee break, have a quick conversation with a coworker or get up and walk around the office. It’s important to give yourself some breaks throughout the day even if you don’t have that face-to-face interaction with others.

Set a timer to ensure you’re not taking 30 minute breaks every hour, but a quick 10 minute break every bit is a great way to make sure you’re moving around and not sitting down all day.

I love having my Apple Watch because it tracks my movement throughout the day and lets me know when I’ve been sitting for too long and need to stand up. Reminders like that, allow you to still get up and move around and not make the day as daughting while still making sure you’re getting your work done.

I also love my Apple Watch because it also allows me to leave my phone elsewhere while I’m getting work done but if I get an important message or phone call from someone it will let me know and I can still reply. This keeps me from scrolling on Instagram or Twitter during the day which happens when my phone is right next to me, but still allows me to feel connected if someone needs to get in touch with me.

Take Your Lunch Break

You get a lunch break during your 9-5 so you should definitely make sure you get one while working at home as well. Normally, most people have to prep their lunch ahead of time to bring to work with them. You should still be prepping your lunch the night or morning before once again to continue with your normal routine, but also so you’re not spending an hour and a half cooking and eating lunch.

During your lunch break, make sure to move away from your desk and computer. Mentally, you need a break from looking at a screen so switching things up like eating your lunch outside if it’s a nice day, going from a walk, or reading a book, gives yourself a change of scenery and will definitely boost your productivity.

If your kids are home, it’s great to use this extra time that you would typically miss out on if they were in school, to catch up with them and have lunch all together.

Keeping Track

Getting work done may be more difficult from home than at the office. However, regardless if you create to-do lists at work in the office or not, creating a to-do list while working at home will visually let you know how you’re doing working at home.

Physically crossing off your tasks on a list let’s you see what you’re accomplishing and gives you structure throughout the day. It also shows you if you’re feeling like you’re not getting much done, visually all that you’ve accomplished to keep you motivated and show your progress. Every job is different, but creating lists and somewhat of a schedule for your day is something that I think everyone can truly benefit from.

Clock Out

No one truly knows how long people will be working remotely from home and how long businesses will be shut for. To keep yourself from getting burnt out, make sure to actually clock out when it’s time to clock out. With having access to your work 24/7 it’s easier to continue working past your normal working hours, but for your mental sanity, you need to “leave the office” as you normally would.

This is what’s great about creating a separate office space like utilizing a spare room. That way, when it’s time for your work day to be done, log off your computer and shut that door until the next morning almost acts the same way as if you were working at your office.

I hope you found this How to Productively Work Remotely at Home post helpful. I know a lot of people are stressed from their new work situations, but I think this is time for all of us to enjoy our time at home and also be grateful to have a job that you’re able to work from home as other’s aren’t so lucky.

Working from home can be great and extremely enjoyable. I hope this post helped you stay motivated and productive while working from home and alleviate some of the stress that we’re all facing at this time.

If you would like more productive or motivation while working from home, you should check out my other motivational posts all about getting motivated and productive even if you’re in a rut.

Kickstart Motivation – How to Get Yourself Motivated

How to Set Goals and Actually Achieve Them

Top Resources that Seriously Motivate You

How to Stay Motivated When Studying: Tips Every College Student Should Know