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Working from home is one of the many benefits offered by today’s modern businesses. What’s better than rolling out of bed in your pajamas and logging in to your computer to start your day? Nothing! However, working from home presents you with certain challenges. Namely, how do you stay on task when you’re surrounded by distracting temptations? The first step is to create a space that’s just for work.
Here are some tips to help you set up an amazing home office space:
Set Actual Work Hours
This is one of the most important parts of working from home because even with flexible hours, you need to know when to stop. It’s easy to work over eight hours in the comfort of your own home.
I try to quit between 3 and 5pm. This is the time span when everyone else gets home, but that doesn’t mean I might not be tinkering around at 7pm.
But when you’re on your fourth 12-hour work day in a row, that’s a recipe for burnout. One way to avoid this is to put up a physical clock in the office.
A Beautiful Desk
To get yourself focused and ready to work, the right desk is critical. If you have space for it, a large desk is ideal so you can spread out and lay out your schedule, tasks, and any ongoing projects.
The Right Technology
When you’re working from home, it’s important that you don’t rely on subpar technology. For example, if you’re in the music industry, you should be using the best laptop for music production.
Quality technology will make your job easier. Plus, it allows you to be more productive and streamline your workflow.
Working from Home with Office Plants
Plants are clinically proven to help reduce stress in the work environment and they help make your desk a little more exciting. As a bonus, they help purify the air around you and create a calming effect.
Get Started Early
One of the main benefits of working from home is that you can start whenever you want. But just because you can start whenever you want doesn’t mean you should.
In fact, if you can, start as early as possible. You’re avoiding your morning commute so you might as well go straight into that to-do list while you wait for your coffee to brew.
Put on Real Pants
By putting on real pants, you’re setting yourself up for success. Getting out of your pajamas helps to put your brain into “work mode”.
You don’t necessarily have to put on a formal dress or suit, but put something nice on that makes you feel like you’re at the office.
Work When You’re Most Productive
I know, I know, I just said to get up early and start working. However, if you’re not a morning person, save your harder, more effort-heavy tasks for the times when you know that you’ll be in the right headspace for them.
Your motivation will come in waves during the day, but if you can predict when you’re feeling the most focused, you can schedule your tasks around those times.
Put the Right Music On When You’re Working from Home
If your job is mainly writing, it might be too distracting to listen to a podcast because you’re subconsciously focusing on the show rather than the task at hand. However, there are plenty of apps and websites that offer relaxing white noise or ambient soundtracks to keep your mind focused.
Working from Home Requires Some Breaks
As easy as it to work through the entire day without moving, this is not healthy. Not only is sitting all day bad for you physically, but it’s also not great for your mental health.
Make sure your breaks are actually leaving your desk and not just taking a break at your desk. Get out for a walk around the neighborhood, walk to a coffee shop, or go grab lunch somewhere.
Pick a Time to be Finished
As I mentioned before, it’s very easy to get too involved in your work-from-home day and work way over eight hours. But, you should give yourself a hard end time to make sure that you’re achieving a healthy work-life balance.
Working from home is an amazing benefit but there are certain pitfalls that you should try to avoid as you work. Make sure to set up a space that’s set aside from your sleeping area that’s specifically for your business tasks. Liven up your desk space with plants, the right technology, and great lighting.
And finally, treat your home office like your real office (if it’s a guest room like mine), making sure you take advantage of some formal structure like a strict ending time and real breaks away from your assignments. With these tips, you’ll have a great work at home experience for sure!
Krystle Cook – the creator of Home Jobs by MOM – put her psychology degree on a shelf and dived into a pile of diapers and dishes instead. She is a wife and mother to two rambunctious boys, sweating it out in her Texas hometown. She loves cooking, DIY home projects, and family fun activities.
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“Every day is another chance to get stronger, to eat better, to live healthier, and to be the best version of you.”
It is so easy to fall in to a burned out mode when working from home. Thanks for this incredible post.
Yes, working at home is a lot to take on sometimes. You have to do EVERYTHING and it takes a lot of dedication.
Good tips.. very easy to overwork at home.. surprisingly.
Yeah, people who don’t work at home think it’s a piece of cake. Granted I would much rather multitask at home than have to go to an office every day lol.