At some time in our lives, we all have thought about taking a long vacation to stay, work and chill at home. And unfortunately, the day came true- due to the COVID-19 pandemic now, the only problem is “working from home” that sounds good in theory and only included only; sleeping, working in pyjamas and no rush to work is far more challenging than you have imagined and currently, almost every employee across the globe is going through this change.  

As things are moving faster than we thought, it can be challenging to wrap your head around the reality that we have sent home to minimize the spread of COVID-19. Now our expectation from the “Work from home” is the same but the environment is not. And it is not easy for everyone to adjust to this sudden change in our daily lifestyle. That’s why I have come up with this blog post to channelize the positive energy and encourage others to stay productive while working from home.

The key to staying productive while working from home

When working from home the key to success is to create a positive environment that will allow you to focus on the work in hand. At home, there are several sources of distractions and believe it or not at home you become your own enemy. As there are no co-workers at home to watch you working so, you can drop the pen whenever you want. Whether you are a beginner who is experiencing it for the first time or professional with regular remote work, here are some tested and proven tips to make sure you stay sane, engage and productive while working from home.

Get start early

When working from home, you have plenty of time in your hands so, rather than wasting this precious time utilize as much as you can. Believe it or not, one way to stay productive while working remotely is to hit your what-to-do list as soon as you wake up. Simply, starting the project as the first thing in the morning is the key to making progress through the day. Otherwise, the lazy stay at home vibes will take away all the motivation to perform.

Read More: Things Every Parent Should Know and Do during Coronavirus Pandemic

“When I work from home, I wake up early, perform the morning routine and immediately sit with the cup of coffee and start working. Usually, at work I start my work around 10 A.M but when at home I start work early. I make breakfast once I have completed one task. This helps me to stay productive.”___ Alice Redcliff

Pretend like you are going to the office

Sometimes you have to trick your mind to stay productive at home. The mental association you have with the work plays an important role in quality production. Now just because you are not going to the work doesn’t mean that the feeling should be lost. While working from home you can pretend that you are going to the office and plan things accordingly by setting alarm, make coffee, get dressed nicely and work on your desk.

“When you are working from home, get up, eat and dress nicely to pretend you are going to work or you might end up going back to your bed" ____Anna Hammond

Select a space in your home based on your work

The office at home serves a great purpose specially in situations like pandemic but the situation is not the same for everyone all the time. Find out what your work requires from you? Is it creativity, crunching numbers, lawful advice or business consultation? Once done you can find a suitable place at home. It can be a sofa in the drawing-room or dining table or your bed depending on your project. You can also divide your day. For instance, most people are creative in the morning so, they like to work on the dining table. The afternoon they are relaxed so, they like to spend their time on the sofa and in the evening, they like to answer all the emails while relaxing the bed.

“When I work from home, I start my day with a cup of coffee and a laptop on the dining table. Until the afternoon I complete most of my tasks and move to the sofa after eating my lunch to finish the rest of the work” ____Alice Redcliff  

Make it harder for you to waste your time around social media

Social media apps and shortcuts are designed to make it easy for your search and browse quickly. While at work, this convivence can detriment your productivity.  

To cut down your social media ease to us when working from home, remove them from the browser shortcuts, log out of your every social media account. You can also work on the Incognito tab of the chrome to make sure you have logged out of all the accounts and each word search you conduct doesn’t autocomplete the word you are typing. This way you won’t be tempted to take unnecessary breaks while working and complete the tasks with utmost focus.

“I remove all the social networks from my toolbar bookmark because even if you don’t want to browse them, I subconsciously do when I feel down. Therefore, you need to remove it keep yourself on the track”____ Alec Biedrzycki

Log off once done

The important aspect of the healthy work-from-home routine is creating boundaries and understand where your limit ends. Log off the day and not from the computer only, make a habit to tell yourself that you are done for the day to signal your mind that it is time to stop thinking about the work already. Have a last-minute idea in your mind, write it down to discuss it tomorrow. Just because you are working from home doesn’t mean that you have to be logged down in the system 24/7.

Give yourself some time in this quarantine to create the balance between your life and work.