‘Working from Home’ has become something of a phenomenon across industries in the UK, following the enforced restrictions on working and gathering in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting widespread adoption of remote working technology and processes has allowed offices across the country to offer remote or hybrid working arrangements to their employees.
At the start of 2022, a third of all workers had worked remotely at least once in a given week, representing a renaissance in our relationship to work. But for many, working from home presents new challenges – not in the least in the form of motivation. How do you maintain productivity outside of the office?
Create an Appropriate Workspace
Your environment is of fundamental importance to your productivity. While there may be a temptation to work from the comforts of your sofa or even your bed, these places are not conducive to diligent work. Not only that but introducing work to your personal spaces can have a detrimental effect on your mental wellness, whether through an increase in stress or a decrease in quality of sleep.
Ideally, you would be able to create a workstation entirely removed from personal living spaces in your home – such as a spare room you can turn into an office. Not everyone has space to spare, though, so some compromise may be necessary. Your kitchen or dining room table can be a good place to create a temporary workspace; you’ll also be close enough to your kettle or coffee machine that making yourself beverages won’t eat up too much of your work time!
Dress the Part (Partially)
Another strong temptation that arises from working remotely is to conduct business near-entirely in your pajamas – or at least, in comfortable clothes. If you aren’t engaging in video calls with superiors or clients, this can be beneficial to your comfort and health, but what you wear can have a psychological effect on your work ethic. Wearing appropriate workwear can keep you focused and on-task, not to mention presentable in the event of an unexpected video call.
Keep to a Routine
Without the collective routine of the established workplace, motivation can quickly disappear. With your work equipment right there in your home, it can become easy to put off less urgent tasks until after working hours, impacting your free time and removing any sense of structure from your working life.
Setting even a basic form of daily routine can help keep you on the ball. Getting regular sleep and waking up at the same time each morning is a vital part of this, ensuring you can keep to the same working hours. Similarly, a daily itinerary synced to your work email’s calendar can help nudge you back on track and prove a useful complement to any task management processes you decide to institute.
Banish Your Phone
Lastly, your personal phone is a portal to procrastination. Leaving your phone in the bedroom or on the other side of the house will help you avoid temptation and keep your focus on your work. If you are concerned about missing an important or emergency call from a family member, you can set your ringtone to its loudest – but being at your workstation, you are otherwise contactable already.
