Do you work remotely? Or maybe you’re just planning to join the group of remote workers. In the age of the Internet almost every office and intellectual work can be done from any place in the world. More and more employers follow this market trend. It makes teleworking available to its employees and gives them the opportunity to work from home office. Also people who run their own business or work as freelancers carry out orders for their clients at a distance.
How to be productive by working from home? How to do your job and not get distracted. Here are practical tips and best practices for working remotely.
#01 Create yourself a permanent workplace
The first step is to designate an area in your apartment or house that is specifically designed to do the job. Ideally it will be a separate room that you can turn into your home office. If you are limited in space, you can use part of the room as a place to work. Organize your workspace. Separate your home space from the one you work in. Separate the area where you can place your desk, computer and other office equipment and supplies.
Regardless of the location you choose, make it a permanent place where you will work every day. Try to eliminate any distractions from your surroundings. Make sure that your workstation is comfortable, calm and quiet so that you can focus on your duties.
#02 Invest in high quality technology
Creating a home office or place to work may require some investment. Unless you get a ready-made set of remote working tools from your employer to do your job every day, you may have to buy a few things. Such as a desktop computer, laptop, monitors, tablet, keyboard, mouse, printer, scanner, cell phone or headset.
A good Internet connection with high bandwidth is extremely important when working remotely. A solid Internet provider and reliable router will save you a lot of trouble with technology. Working from home often requires more than just sending emails and chatting. Sometimes you need to take part in a video conference, upload or download large files. For all of this you need a reliable Internet connection and a router that can keep up with you. Nothing kills your productivity when you work remotely like frequent network problems and lack of Internet access.
It is also worth investing in high quality headphones with a microphone. Noise reduction can really help improve the quality of your phone calls. Look for a headset that provides long battery life for wireless headsets, Bluetooth compatibility, a microphone with noise cancellation, etc. All these parameters will help you make your remote work a little easier. Thanks to good headphones you will be able to hear what others say cleanly and clearly and vice versa.
#03 Choose comfortable office furniture
You may also need to invest in office furniture. Depending on the amount of space available, consider buying a large desk, bookcases and a comfortable office chair.
If you don’t want to, you don’t necessarily have to choose the most expensive furniture. There are many furniture manufacturers that offer affordable desks and office equipment that are relatively easy to set up at home. If you have little space and a small desk you can also think of a solid monitor arm to make the most of your desk space. Remember, the point is that you will work in this place every day. Buy comfortable, functional and ergonomic furniture and other necessary equipment.
As we know, people who work in offices often suffer from constant back pain, which is caused by sitting in the same position for too long and not moving enough. If you work from home, you have a big advantage, so you can take small breaks and do some exercises – let’s face it, it’s not really comfortable to do some stretching exercises in a dress in front of all your colleagues. Which is also a very big advantage – you can change your position from time to time. For example, you can work from your sofa for half an hour – but maybe not longer than that. Here comes a very practical invention as a help. So-called laptop pillows. They are very stable, but also very comfortable. A German company Cloudyboard came up with such an idea. It is definitely worth a try.
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#04 Develop a morning routine
A pleasant advantage of working from home is that you don’t have to get up early to get to work. You don’t have to stress, hurry up and get to the office in traffic jams. Theoretically, you wake up and start the computer and you are already at work. However, working from home does not mean that you can completely skip your morning routine, which you usually do before you leave home for work.
Try to act as if you are not leaving home. Still, get up early in the morning, stretch out, take care of your hygiene. Hydrate your body. If you usually eat breakfast in the morning, prepare a healthy and nutritious meal. Since you will probably sit at home most of the day, take a short walk in the morning to get some fresh air. You can also practice, run and do your morning workout. Physical exercise naturally stimulates endorphins, which increases the level of happiness, joy and motivation that are important for productivity. By exercising in the morning, you can enjoy these benefits in the following hours of the day. Your morning can also be a time for reflection, meditation. You can also use your morning hour to plan your day and set your goals.
There are many opportunities for what your morning may look like. Develop your ideal morning routine that will help you get a good start to the day and switch from home to work.
#05 Don’t work in your pajamas
Working in a casual outfit is one of the reasons why people love working from home. Some people do not even take off their pajamas and start working immediately. Unfortunately, if you like to work in your pajamas, you unconsciously kill your productivity. Your outfit really matters, even when you are working from home.
Even if you do not plan to leave home, dress for work as if you were at the office. Besides the psychological attitude to work, you’ll be ready for any kind of video chat or online status meeting with your team. You will be mentally and physically well prepared for the day ahead. It’s not about dressing in a suit or a business suit right away, but about comfortable and tidy outfits that are suitable for work.