10 Tipps how to be productive when working from Home

Are you e being asked to work from home, due to that virus that is completely spreading all over the world and risking the health of a lot of people? It does probably sound pretty cool first .You   have been waiting for this opportunity along time and you are happy to spend time with your loved ones. But is a lot harder than it seems to be productive and to get things done.

This is for those people who are able to work from home and are asked to do that for the coming time period. you do it and it is a lot harder than it seems.

There are  several challenges come with working  from home. In this post , we’ll talk about the 10 challenges and  practical tips to boost your productivity and get you job done from home. and working remotely.

1) Start the day on your terms

You need  to have some kind of a morning routine that makes you feel energized and gives you  faith so that you are getting your stuff done. My routines have changed and there is no right or wrong, but I can tell you there is a huge  difference of practicing one or not. 

Here is what I do: at the moment:

• wakeup and 2 min visualizing something beautiful in the future.
• Gratitude exercise .- I love to  use the 5 min journal
• Drink water (with lemon)
• Walk the dog 
• Drink green tee
• Stretching and 10 min yoga
• Get dressed
• Make my Coffee
• Planning the day - if did not the evening before. at least I go through  the key priorities, visualize how I fell once have  got them done and schedule the time in y google calendar.
• Journaling some ideas..
• Now I start checking email and messages.

Do not just roll out of the bed to get on to your laptop to reply to your first e-mail. Do not start your workday in bed by answering your emails as that will drain your energy. This is even more likely  now as you do not need time to travel or move to the office.  So make sure you are setting yourself up for success
before you are going to dig into the work . That is really important.

2) Get dressed for success

Getting out of the Pyjamas and putting pants on is  a Challenge ,when you are working from home . But believe it or not: How you dress for success -even when you don`t  have to report to the office , to show off what you have dressed on- and  if it is just for you or a video conference call you have to do – makes the difference. Shine Online! This will help you to approach the day a lot more ambitious. So when you are thinking of your morning routine for tomorrow also put out what to wear so you don´t end up in your yoga pants all day long.

3) Choose a designated place to work

For a lot of you it will be the obvious thing to use the dining room table or the kitchen table because you don´t have a home office.  If you have a home office fantastic.

If not, you will really need to find a space that´s  going to be where you are getting into in the mode of work at home. You would love to have a place where you can shut the door and avoid people and animals for what you have got to do.

Look for an  option to sit  a desk where you can put  all the things you need , ideal it is near a window or facing the window so natural light comes on your face when you have video meetings, clean up the background so you shine  even in the kitchen and best you are in a room where you  can shut the door. Make sure  there is no TV in that room because that is really a hard thing to resist. Play and pretend just like if you would go to the office and imagine yourself  sitting at your desk, that this table is  your office desk  where you do the things  and can step into the  mood  of concentrated work.

4) Make a list of priorities

You may be in the position where you have to do a lot of chatting using Whatsapp and SACK., you are constantly checking you email and jumping into Skype or ZOOM  to talk to the team and see what they need whenever the case is .

But if you don`t have a list of priorities it is an easy thing to let all these things and the additional distractions at home  keep you from doing the things that you have actually got to get done.

This list of priorities is also very useful for the fact that : when you sit down for work it is easy to forget the fact that we are working right now and not doing home worklike cleaning the pantry, cooking, playing with the kid etc.

Find  a way that  you  can “clock in” and “clock out” for work at home- so thanthat you get things done.

Try to I make that list  of 3-5 priorities in the morning and it helps to push you through the daily moments.

5) Use Calendar Scheduling

You are not getting everything done .The lists are unending. and that is  why scheduling the time for things you would like to get done is very important.

Are you looking at a list of priorities and work streams and wonder how to design yourself a structure to avoid procrastination? Losing sight of task and time management can quickly lead to a slump in productivity.

I’d like to recommend to block working hours out in your calendar. Block out time for each of your daily priorities as part of your morning or evening routine and get alerts when your task are about to switch. Setting smaller daily deadlines help create the personal task structure and momentum triggers. Ensure all your calls have sufficient time blocked out for prep and afterwork.
If you know that managing your time is the main issue when working from home, please join our “Home office Time management” online training.

Get yourself a planner where you can block the time and get reminders:

• Google calendar
• Ical
• Outlook
• a whiteboard calendar
• a calendar notebook
• print  daily worksheets
• download our Weekly and Daily Planning sheets here.

If you use physical planners you may use a clock to remind you that rings the bell or the cube

Not much feels more satisfying when you can tick of another task of your to do list, by ensuring you mark up enough time every day for each task and divide your day into specific chunks, you can make your results immediately visible and that will boost your confidence and success feeling.
 If you think that Time management is the main issue if working from home is´nt efficient  get our “Home office Time management” training. Get yourself a planner or download our Daily Planning sheet here. or use Google Calendar as he give nice reminders so that you do not miss a meeting online.

If you have a lot of control over what needs to get done and you get step by step results -it makes you feel  a lot better even though when you do not get all the things on your list done , because we never get everything done and the list is unending.Make your results  visible to yourself and boost your confidence.

6) Create real human interaction and avoid getting cabin fever

If you work just in chats and vial email remotely and do not have  to get on the calls with your team it is great if you have your daily  coffee chat with Video for at least 15 min a day so we still feel we are like interacting with each other if you don´t have other online meetings throughout the day. This is a great way to have still social connection  and can let people know you care about what they are going through during this time period.

Here are some ideas to interact online.with video and have fun.

• 15 min coffee chat online with your Team
• Online Cocktail party where we dress up and have our favourite drink showing up
• Create  a Team Music playlist to share good vibes
• Online yoga Classes to get new energy midday
• Sharing video on facetime  to have Online accountability for deep dive silent work time
• Create a facebook group etc. 
• Create a project Instagram account
• go for a daily walk 

7) Keep your  Communication lines open

You will have issues  with your communication 

• at home  -with  your significant other and your children ,your family  and friends who need to understand that you are at home but you have work to do  and that might be confusing them.
  Your “significant other” is  not really realizing that you are not home to hang out with him or have time to do house-cleaning ,  cooking but that you have actually “work” to do. 
• virtually with your team, your staff , your clients, your suppliers and with your employer who never had worked in such situation before, who probably goes through periods like: are they even doing anything right now? Because they can´t see you and they are not used to that.

So keeping those communication lines open no matter what your from of communication and  tools you have to use in your team that is really important

Do that as much communication as you can.

Because making that makes everybody feels good about what you are doing and allowing you the time to focus on your work.

8 ) Plan Lunch and Coffee Breaks

How long can you be concentrated? In the last 20 years I learned that is is a good rule to plan 20 -30 min sessions instdea do 60 -90 min. We might not get finished but  we get 80 % don ein 30 as well as i n 60 in . There is something like the parkinson law that means that we weill ned as much time for a task as we dedicate. If you feel like you a re rporcastinating tan ask yourself. Why am I not getting concentrated on that topice? Mybae you gfeel that your work is not good enough or you fear rehection ?

Maybee you sit there and are tired becaus you where watchinh netflix and you k just need a sleep?

Taking a shower , a nap a walk inbetween can boos t your enery and littel 5 min sleep bring our brain to thea and that can help us to come up with creative ideas and solutions we would net get by distractcion of Tv or Music  and ndieht be steering 60 min into the computer screen.

Plan your Lunch breaks and do not walk every 10 min to the fridge for  snack to compensate your feelings. Use the meal preparation as meditation and start enjoying  and celebraring this part of life more cosnciously.

9) Agree your schedule with your family and friends

People might me thinking why is she/ he not responding?  The assumptions our brain can  come up  with can create fear. Your children might just want to have your attention and  disturb you by  showing what have  build or drawn. Your family wants a decision what to have for lunch right in the middle of a call. Be prepared to show up as a calm as possible and become a real leader who shows compassion for the urge and needs of your faily members. I recommend you prepare some housekeeping rules for your Family team. Plan space so that everybody gets some privacy  and you  meet only for coffee breaks and lunch and the daily walk. Prepare a plan with your children so they know what is their  schedule  until teatime with you.

10) Help others

Not everybody copes with being alone these days. Many of us are scared, face crisis in business and health. Show compassion an ask where you can help. 

Hera re some great examples I saw:  Younger people send  letters to  the mail box of their neighbors offering to do the shopping , others are meeting on there windows and clap at  a certain time and switch on music and wave to each other.

 Ask how you can help your team and your clients.

Let me know how can I and my team help you right now?

What workshop can we create for you?

Send a DM on Instagram or just email us  here, [email protected]

We have time and really want to help you