Working from home is gradually becoming the new normal and everyone’s dream since the outbreak of COVID-19, which triggered many organizations to adopt the system. While it sounds like a joy ride, free from traffic issues and having to encounter your boss’s bad days, staying within a specific schedule can be challenging for working-from-home persons.
Learn how to stay focused when working from home, whether self-employed or working for a different organization.
1. Own a Committed Work Area
While working from home allows you to create an office set in nearly any of your rooms, having a committed workspace helps to minimize distractions. A devoted work area, in this case, should incorporate almost all qualities of a traditional office, from adequate lighting to productive furniture.
Your home office should also be located away from obvious distractions, such as near the kitchen or living room. In simpler terms, your workspace should be strictly for working and nothing else that would contribute to double-mindedness.
2. Digital workplace solution
One of the most strategic of ensuring total concentration when working from home is by sharpening digital workplace solutions for your office. The system refers to a virtual office surrounded by several office essentials (both software and hardware) that facilitate better working and cooperation with colleagues.
With a digital workplace solution, you will have a more excellent workflow and a straightforward feedback mechanism, helping you stay focused on your priorities. When looking for digital workplace solutions for a virtual office, go for productivity and collaboration tools.
3. Avoid Social Media
Sometimes, what’s meant to be a 5-minute break with a peep at your WhatsApp or Instagram accounts can quickly turn into three hours of swiping, liking, sharing, and laughing. You can easily hinder social media distractions by temporarily blocking the apps with focus apps and software while working.
The applications allow you to set a timer within the time you intend to prevent social media usage. Some examples of focus apps for people working from home include Serene, Freedom, RescueTime, Focus, and self-control.
4. Dress for Work
Many people view working from home as an opportunity to rock on your baggy sweatpants, mini-dresses, or SpongeBob t-shirts, while it’s not. Even though you aren’t leaving the house, dressing for work has been proven effective in facilitating concentration when working from home.
It showers your heart with work-oriented feelings and fills you with an office mindset. Furthermore, attending zoom meetings with an ‘inappropriate’ dress sends a negative picture to your supervisor and superiors and distracts other employees.
5. Stay Fit for Work
When you’re not nourished enough while working from home, you will most likely fall into distractions which might significantly affect your performance work. Nourishment for work revolves around eating healthy, drinking enough water, getting adequate sleep, and taking showers before starting.
Staying nourished while working at home contributes significantly to improved performance by limiting distractions that are otherwise brought by an empty tummy, sweaty body, and dehydration.
6. Work With a Schedule
There’s something magical about working with a specific routine, especially if you’re a working-from-home person. In a highly distractive environment, a well-planned timetable will help you waste no time on unnecessary matters and focus more significantly on the essentials.
However, ensure not to over-plan yourself so you’ll be forced to forgo your resting hours for work. A good working-from-home schedule should include time for major and minor tasks, breaks, unplanned activities, meetings, and end-of-the-day evaluations.
7. Embrace Breaks Between Working Hours
As the saying goes,” work without play makes Jack a dull boy.” It’s okay to feel like you wish to work the whole day when working from home, a move that experts have highly discouraged. The human body should relax after hours of staring at the PC, responding to emails, and other office stuff.
Taking breaks makes you more active as opposed to wasting time, as you may think. However, remain reasonable with your intervals to avoid wasting more time than initially planned. You should plan and set your break times in your daily routine and adhere to them respectfully.
8. Take a Step Out Once in a While
Working from home can bring some boredom, especially if you’re all alone in the house. Sometimes, stepping out to meet and engage your friends can help bring more focus when you get back to work.
At least you will no longer imagine how your neighbour or colleagues are doing while working after you’ve met them physically. Ensure your schedule contains time to socialize, even if not every day. It helps you feel more connected in the ‘isolated’ working-from-home environment.
9. Get the Right Working-From-Home Tools
All working setups require specific tools to be successful. Similarly, working from home wouldn’t be complete without the right tools, such as proper desks and chairs, a stable internet connection, high-quality gadgets, a stable and safe power supply, and good communication channels.
Others include accountability tools such as shared calendars and cloud-based time tracking and focus tools such as room dividers, noise-cancelling headphones, and silencing mobile devices. With all the above tools, you will have total concentration at work, achieving the most excellent results possible.
Distractions are usual, so be easy on yourself as you strive to remain focused when working from home. As challenging as it can be, staying focused when working from home is quite manageable with the above ideas and a little determination. Practice the tips one at a time, beginning with the easier ones as you progress.
