How To Be Productive While WFH

It is very hard to stay focused, productive when you are working from home. The biggest challenge in working from home is nobody takes you seriously. LOL!

Secondly, our kids start to get creative as soon as they see their mom and dad doing something on a laptop. Our baby starts feeling cranky for no reason.

Thirdly, our pets get in the mood of playing and our parents start getting an enormous amount of questions which they feel we are the google source to get answers from 😉

Well, they all are pretty sweet but their acts and actions do impact our productivity.

How to be productive from home then? Not to worry, I shall discuss some steps to be followed if you really want to be focused and productive even when you have numerous distractions around you 🙂

1) Find the Right Place and Furniture

Keep a dedicated work area reserved for you to work effectively and efficiently.

Working by sitting on a bed is really a bad idea. It keeps you reminded that you are feeling sleepy.

Finding the right place where there is ample sunshine to feel good and positive is very very important.

You can decorate this area with fresh indoor plants. Greenery keeps your mood fresh.

I absolutely love woods and greens. I have a little snake indoor plant that accompanies me while I work.

In your house, you have to select one place as your work area and if possible try to keep a separate room for this work.

It helps when you take business meetings through video conferencing when your kids are crying and your dog is barking 😉 Shut the door and you will be rescued from this. LOL. (I know, kids just keep tapping on a door, can’t help with this) 😉

As far as furniture is concerned choose a dining table or small folding table to keep your laptop on, for writing, for keeping your reference books, notebooks, files, diaries in one place by not scattering them all over.

Choose a comfortable place to work more professionally and to be more productive while working from home.

2) Prepare a To-Do List

It is better to plan the next day’s agenda in advance by making notes or to-do lists.

Nowadays you get fantastic free apps on your mobile to make a to-do list. Prefer to make it in a notebook or a diary instead.

I have a day planner diary with me in which I write down things that I am supposed to do the next day.

It keeps you sorted, organized, and disciplined. Be creative with the to-do list that you make.

Once you note down tasks to do, it will keep you reminded until you actually finish that task.

Once you are done with the task tick it off.

It feels like you have achieved the world with every tick mark that you make. 😉

3) Pay Attention to What you Wear

Say “NO” to pajamas, night suits, bathrobes for the time being.

It does not give you a feeling of working professionally.

I have observed the attire that you wear impacts productivity directly.

4) Set Reminders

We have to also look out for other chores along with our work. For these other chores set a reminder on a cell phone or smartwatch or simply write it down but make sure if you are writing you are not missing it.

It is sensible to either set alarm for such other chores or else give some work to your cell phones and smartwatches 🙂

It happens to me. When I start working on content writing I forget what my mom had told me to do or what I had committed to do. Thanks to my cell phone for acting as a savior in this scenario.

5) Recognize Distractions

Figuring out distractions make half the chunk easier 🙂

We have different people around us who are coming into our room, asking us something, our little boogers come to play with us, our pets keep walking, running here and there around us. We can’t ask them to keep quiet until we finish our work (practically impossible) but we can train our mind to stay focused even when they try to distract us with their sweet gestures 🙂

6) Follow your Timeline and Set Routine

I have set times to keep my professional and personal activities aligned properly.

Set a time for having lunch, picking up kids from school, giving medicines to your parents, giving food to your pets, breastfeeding your newborn prince or princess.

We can not remember a lot of things at a time. Setting a routine and timeline would help much.

Having a determined timetable and schedule would help a lot to avoid the complete mess and chaos of endless chores.

7) Be Aware of Laziness and Lenient attitude

Working from home seems a “cool” idea as there is no one to keep track of whether we are working or not. Nobody is there to do the so-called “bossing”.

Here, we are our own boss. In such a case being lazy and lenient can hamper our productivity. Therefore, being disciplined plays a vital role here. Being accountable and responsible towards work results in ultimately finishing the assigned task successfully.

There will be some days when you feel like doing nothing, still, the show must go on. Take a nap or small breaks or just a refreshing walk in the room, balcony, front/back yard, and get started with work.

8) Take the help of Vision board or Sticky notes

Decorating walls with sticky-notes are kind of an annoying idea for others 😉 but it is useful for us to keep reminded about our tasks every now and then and to stay motivated.

When the Goal is in front of you, you try to achieve it at any cost but when it is nowhere, getting that task completed becomes difficult.

Get a bunch of sticky notes today 😉

Vision boards are the best sources to keep you inspired and keep you working to be there where you want to be in life.

Get creative with it 🙂

9) Frame Strict Rules

We are not supposed to keep talking over a call by keeping aside our work. It just breaks our flow and link with whatever we are working with.

Set up strict rules for others by letting them know what you do and what you avoid doing during your work time.

Humbly, tell them you are going to call them back once you are done with your work.

Thanks to inbuilt templates in our cell phones.

10) Complimenting on Targets

When we are our own boss there is no one to praise us, give us perks, give us rewards that we deserve, give a letter/note of appreciation.

We have no manager, no boss, no colleagues to praise on achieving our targets.

Well, not to be upset for…

In such a scenario, It is our duty to pat our back and to praise ourselves.

I tell you a trick here,

Buy a bunch of Thank You notes or Notecards (nowadays you get customized as well).

Write a motivating and appreciating message for you in it.

Paste it on the vision board.

This will keep you encouraged and stimulated to work hard.

11) Enjoy Personal Space Once you are Done

This is “your” time.

When you work you often feel like checking social sites, watching TV or video, chatting with someone as there is no boss to keep watch on you.

Once you finished working, do these activities in your “me” time. Do whatever you wanted to do for yourself.

As soon as I am finished with my work, I spend some time with my parents, listen to songs, and pen down the next day’s to-do list before I sleep.

Allow this time for completing remaining chores, spending time with kids, your baby, pets.

After all, they all were trying hard to get your company when you were busy working 🙂

Working from home seems a seamless job but it is not.

Many times we go crazy while striking balance among all these activities.

Do not forget to relax and meditate for some minutes. Take it easy!

At the workplace keeping personal life aside from professional life is kind of easy as you are surrounded by a professional environment but when you are at home balancing the two is very challenging.

I hope this article would help you to some extent to be productive while working from home.

Enjoy being your own boss 🙂

See off!