Working from home? These handy working from home tips will help you increase performance, business continuity, and achieve greater work-life balance.
In today’s post I share with you several tips for working from home or studying from home.
My heart goes out to anyone who has lost their job because of this pandemic.
To those of with the option to work from home, let’s remember to give gratitude for the blessing.
What's Covered in This Article
Adapt a routine
The importance of maintaining a routine is that it prepares your brain psychologically and keeps it reminded that even though you’re at home all day every day, you’re not on holiday but working or studying.
If you’re like majority of people currently working from home, it’s It is highly likely that you’re new to working from home or recently managed to find a remote-based job.
Therefore, adapting a routine will not only help you stay productive and maintain balance but also help you in transitioning to the remote working lifestyle.
The easiest way of going about that is by adapting to the routine you had before moving to remote working and then tweaking it to your current situation.
In my case for instance, pre-social distancing I woke up at 4 am daily. I’d begin my day with prayer, then content creation, followed by 1 hour gym time from 5:45 am. I’d then come back home, freshen up and leave for the office. As I only take to meals a day, my first meal would be at around 10:00 am followed by the next one at around 3:00 am. I would then leave for the day at around 5 pm then walk 5KM back home as part of my evening exercise routine. As I neither take dinner nor watch TV, I would pretty much be in my bed by 8PM.
Now, it’s been about a month of working from home full time. In terms of the routine, I have adapted this exact routine except for the gym and 5KM walk back home. What I do instead is a 6KM morning run followed by a 20 minute work-out in the morning and no evening exercise. Everything else remains the same.
Make sure to also set a work schedule and stick to it. Again, adapting what you had pre-remote working is the easiest way to go about this.
Otherwise you might end up overworking yourself because you’re home.
Maintain a designated work space
Just like with adapting to a routine, to work from home effectively, you need to maintain a designated work space that you can ‘go to’ everyday for work.
And my advise for you is let this place be away from your bed.
If for reasons beyond your control it has to be on your bed, let it be on a different side from which you sleep.
Maintaining a designated work space helps create physical boundaries between your work and personal life space. It is also functions as a constantly reminder to your brain and other people (including little kids) who may be staying with you that you’re not on holiday but are working even though they’re seeing you at home.
And over time, every time your people see you at that designated spot, they know you mean business.
Which brings me to my next point.
Set ground rules if sharing your space with others
This goes hand in had with the routine and designated work spaces.
If you’re sharing your home with other people, set clear rules about what is admissible and not, where and when during your working hours.
The last thing you want is unnecessary interruptions or bloopers like these that have been doing rounds on the internet:)
We have truly entered into a golden age of "Interrupted Skype Interviews" and I'm really happy for them and I'm gonna let them finish, but let's not forget one of the greatest interrupted interviews of all time! OF ALL TIME!pic.twitter.com/20PYap3axZ
— JRR Jokien (@joshcarlosjosh) March 24, 2020
Get a comfortable home office equipment
To effectively work from home, you will need the most comfortable furniture for your designated remote working spot.
What to keep in mind as you purchase your home office furniture is that no one knows when this pandemic will end so you’re probably going to be sitting on that chair for the longest time. So select your options accordingly.
And you don’t have to go for the most expensive ones.
By taking advantage of the discounts offered by different furniture stores around Kenya, you can get some really comfortable but affordable office desks, computer monitors, chairs, etc.
If for one reason or another you can’t afford to invest in your personal home office equipment, consider speaking with your employer on the possibility of bringing your office equipment home for the duration you will be working from home.
Dress up and go to the ‘office’
One of the perks of working from home cited by most people is the fact that you can work in your PJs.
I’m here to let you know that to effectively work from home, you need to take a shower and dress up as if you were going to the office.
Aside from this being a constant reminder for yourself and others living with you that this is work and not holiday, it readies you in case you need to ‘show up’ for an impromptu video conference call and/or check-ins with your colleagues or work partners.
Besides, unknowingly clicking on the video button is the new “reply to all” and it’s worse if it happens while you’re dressed in that ugly ‘Jik’ or ‘ODM’ t-shirt with a whole in the teet area.
Consciously avoid digital distractions
Unlike at your office where basic etiquette and guidelines like putting your phone on silent, not visiting non-work related websites, etc were adhered to, you’re kind of on your own in your new home office.
For your productivity and your own sanity, it’s imperative that you adapt similar guidelines especially around social media use, making/receiving calls, etc during your scheduled work hours.
In my case for instance I disable internet and mute my phone during working hours just like I used to do while I worked in the office and it has proven to be highly effective.
Make known to your team mates your work schedule and availability
Use work from home apps and tools such as Microsoft outlook, Microsoft teams, etc, to set up your work schedule, including your availability and out of office dates and hours (complete with time zone).
Consider sharing your calendar too.
With the absence of face to face meet ups, don’t keep your colleagues guessing whether you’re available or not.
Invest in good quality technology
With nearly everyone now working from home and into the unknown distant future, its inevitable that at some point you and your colleagues will need to hold communicate virtually to maintain business continuity.
That’s why it is crucial that you invest in high quality technology to effectively do your work.
This includes fast speed internet, laptop or PC with substantial RAM and ROM, good headphones, to make sure that you work can from home and minimize unnecessary infrastructural hurdles.
Well, that’s it for now.
Did I leave out any work from home tips that are working for you? Have you implemented any of these tips? Share with our readers your experience in the comments below.
Stay safe.
Love,
EvaMtalii
