As great as working from home may sound, it comes with many challenges that can affect your motivation and productivity. Some of these are finding your work/life balance, distractions from family, television etc. That is why in this article, we have compiled some useful tips to help stay motivated and productive while working from home.
Work in Small Time Blocks
When you work in small time small makes it easy for you to manage big tasks. This strategy allows you to break big tasks into micro tasks and complete them in small blocks of time whiles taking quick breaks to break up your working day.
This makes you more focused and motivated knowing you have to complete tasks within a short timeframe. This makes you less distracted due to short deadlines which also makes you more responsible with your time.
Create a Dedicated Workspace
As you work from home, you are likely to be tempted to work in bed or in front of your television which will make you very unproductivity and inefficient. That’s why it is recommended you create a dedicated workspace purposely for all work-related activities. Creating a home office or a dedicated workspace allows you to stay focused during work, helps create a work/life balance and also minimizes distractions.
Organize Your Day
Organizing your day and workload helps you stay on top of all tasks for the day. This can be done by having a clear schedule for your daily workload and activities. You also can create a to-do list of all the tasks you need to complete for the day and check them off as you complete them. This helps you to easily prioritize the most important tasks to complete for the day. Not only does this helps you to get a lot done for the day, but will help you to stay motivated and productive.
Challenge Yourself
Giving yourself challenges can also boost your motivation and get you to work faster in order to meet your target. For instance, you can challenge yourself to complete an hour task in 30mins. This practice will make you stay motivated during work and also achieve a lot in a short time.
Get Dressed for Work
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Another way to stay motivated while working from home is to dress properly before starting work. Getting dressed for work makes you ready both mentally and physically. Our motivation for work can be significantly affected by the clothes we wear, this is because influences us psychologically.
That’s why working in pajamas can make you less motivated, less focused and sluggish. This does not mean you have to dress officially as you would wear to the office, but you should at least dress well.
Reward Yourself
Rewards are great motivators which can boost your motivation for work. When you decide to reward yourself after a task or at the end of the day, you will find yourself working harder and better knowing a reward is waiting for you. For example, you can reward yourself with your favorite movies or show only after completing all tasks for the day.
Minimize Distractions
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One of the major challenges that come with working from home is dealing with distractions. Your home is full of distractions that can take you away from your work at any time. Distraction is a motivation and productivity killer, which is why out it is important to make conscious efforts to limit distractions during work hours.
Below are some of the ways you can limit distraction while you work:
- Mute your phone notifications or place them on Do Not Disturb during work hours to avoid being tempted to pick up your phone.
- Get some noise-cancelling headphones to cut off excessive noise that can distract you.
Take Regular Breaks
Taking regular breaks is a way to restore your energy levels and keep you from being exhausted. Working long hours without regular breaks will not leave feeling exhausted but cause muscle and joint problems which can affect your motivation during work hours.
That is why it is very important to take at least a 5 to 30mins break to stretch yourself, get fresh air or snack to boost your energy levels again. This will make you feel refreshed, motivated and more focused when you get back to work.
Keep your workspace Free from Clutter
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Working in a messy or clustered workspace can make you disorganized and clumsy both physically and mentally which can affect your motivation to work. That is why you must regularly declutter and tidy up your workspace. Make sure your workspace is always clean and free of clutter. To do this, regularly get rid of unused items, trash and unnecessary items. Also, always organize your desk and drawers by putting stationary, files and other work materials in their proper location.
This does not only apply to physical things in your workspace but your digital files and documents also on your computers. You can reduce digital clutter by organizing your digital files into folders, removing unimportant files, cleaning up your work e-mail to archive any critical emails and deleting any emails that are no longer needed etc.
Declutter makes it very easy to find things whiles working and makes you a clean and organized workspace increasing your efficiency and motivation during work.
