More and more professionals, both freelancers and employees, work from home for all or part of their working day.
I myself have worked from home and continue to do so often despite now having an office and traveling to my clients’ companies to work on-site.
Even with everything and with it, I keep putting in hours at home.
And it is that working from home has its drawbacks, but also its great advantages.
The problem?
That sometimes it’s hard to concentrate and be as productive as you are in a workspace without the typical distractions we have at home, like the fridge for example.
So if you are one of those who work from home, to a greater or lesser extent, this post on how to improve your productivity is of interest to you.
1. Advantages of working at home
Let’s start by acknowledging that work from home jobs have its advantages. Especially if you live alone. So if you are considering starting to work from home.
You don’t waste time commuting
This is perhaps the most valuable advantage of all. The time that is lost daily in commuting is useless time thrown away.
You can dedicate all that time to yourself, or to your project in a very valuable way.
What results would you achieve if you had 1 hour more to dedicate to your project every day? How would you feel if you had 1 hour more for yourself or to sleep every day?
You don’t spend money on commuting
Apart from the time lost in commuting, you must also take into account the cost of that commute.
For those who go to work on foot or by bicycle, this court does not exist.
However, if you are one of those who go by car, motorcycle or public transport, the cost may be a peak at the end of the month.
How to improve your productivity working from home
Now that we have reviewed the pros and cons of working from home, the time has come to see what you can do to improve your productivity if you opt for this option.
1. Set a schedule taking into account the environment
If you work from home you may be able to choose what hours to work.
This is a fixed double weapon, since in principle this seems to indicate that you can choose when to start and finish working, however, if you are not clever at this point you can end up working when it suits others and not when you want.
What is certain is that if you live with other people you will want to take advantage of the quieter moments to work and be able to concentrate better. Taking advantage of those hours when the rest are out, sleeping, or lying on the couch watching Netflix.
2. Take a good daily planning
As you can see, daily planning always appears, and it’s no coincidence, planning your day is one of the best practices to improve your productivity either you are working in private or government job.
Note:
- Goals you want to accomplish that day (such as visiting two potential clients or giving a workshop).
- Tasks you want to do (such as serve 3 clients or update accounting).
- And time that you want to dedicate to those larger projects (such as working 90 minutes on the course you want to take or dedicating 1 hour to the texts for the new website).
3. Schedule the breaks you are going to take
In no case stop on the go or take breaks when you feel like it.
Schedule your breaks, either at a certain time or better yet, when you have finished a certain amount of work.
Otherwise, you will throw your productivity to the ground.
4. Even if it seems like it… “you are not at home”
What I want to say with this fourth point is that the fact of being at home does not mean that you can attend to any question that arises.
If the postman knows that you are always at home, he may always ring your doorbell and interrupt you every day. You will not open the door if you do not wait for anyone, you are working. Anyone who wants something let them know in time.
At first it may be a bit awkward to act this way, but someone knocking on your door does not force you to open it.
