Remote working is nothing new. If you look at this LinkedIn Report you’ll find that 79% of job opportunities offer flexible work hours, which has increased the possibility of remote working. However, the COVID-19 situation accelerated the process of migrating from the traditional work dynamic to remote working. And you may think this is great at first, even easy. But the hard part comes when you need to create some work-life balance. Here we’ll show you some tips for effectively working from home amid the global threat of Coronavirus.
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Experiment With Your Work Schedule and Habits
At the office, you may work 7-8 hours a day sitting in your office chair and you don’t get distracted by other things around you. But when you’re at home this is different depending on the activities you do during the day. That’s why it’d be good to experiment with different working hours. If you’re someone that wakes up early you could try working as soon as you get up and have breakfast. This will allow you to finish your work in the afternoon, leaving you some time to rest after that.
However, this might not be the case for everyone. Some people can’t just concentrate on working during the day. We’ll call them night owls. If you’re one of them, you’d probably like to start working during late-night hours. If you want to know which working schedule works best for you, then you should experiment with different hours during the day or night. This will make you be more productive since you’ll work on the schedule that best fits your work-life balance.
What about your clothes? Do you prefer to spend all day in pajamas while working? This is convenient for people who like to work comfortably. However, other people may relate their office outfit with working, and although it might sound weird for most of us, this is something that makes them feel productive. You can even use props that remind you it is time to work (or rest). Your brain will automatically relate that specific object/accessory with the shift in the scenario when you start working or resting. This could be a shirt, your shoes, or even a watch. So maybe you want to experiment with your outfit, as well as the place where you want to work.
Choose The Best Workspace In Your House
You don’t necessarily need to have an office in your house to have a place to work. You only need to have a spot where you feel comfortable and don’t have any distractions. It could be your living room, your bedroom or simply anywhere where you feel that you’ll be able to concentrate. Also, remember that a clean space is a place where you’ll be motivated to work. So try to keep everything nice and clean.
You may also want to read: The Challenges Of Working and Learning From Home [Interactive Q&A]
Take Breaks
When you convert your home into an office, it may be hard to know when to stop. You don’t have someone to tell your work is complete and you should stop. So it is important that you take regular breaks so that you don’t saturate yourself.
Establish a Clear Goal For Your Working Hours
This is the most important part of the discipline. If you create a clear working schedule, you’ll get used to it the more you work with this dynamic. Therefore, you’ll be more productive and you’ll also know when to stop. Regardless of the fact that you finished your tasks or not, you should finish at that hour you established. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll get distracted and work slower than usual, leaving all tasks incomplete. You should also let your family know when you start working and when you finish. Sometimes when people see you all day at home, they think you’re always resting, even if you’re saturated with daily assignments. So it’s important to have your family’s cooperation.
You may also want to read: 10 Tips for Work At Home Success
Turn Off Your Notifications
We know it’s hard. You receive a notification and you immediately want to respond (even if it’s just your friend sending you a meme). And it’s not your fault. Our brains feel some kind of pleasure when we do this. So it’s important that, in order to keep your productivity on the top, you turn off your notifications. Some apps like Slack allow you to program when you want to receive notifications based on your working hours.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a software engineer, data scientist, or work in another field remotely, COVID-19 shouldn’t be something that stops us from reaching our career goals, but something that encourages us to be more productive. Working from home might be something positive if you take advantage of the situation. You’ll spend more time with your loved ones, work comfortably, and still reach those work goals you had long-established.
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