If you have never worked from home before, you may think that working from home is easy. However, you might be surprised to know that working from home may be even more challenging than commuting to the office everyday. You may find yourself working even harder than you did while working in the office. Keep reading to discover 6 great tips for working from home.
At work, you have the energy of the office around you. Your boss and peers to talk to and help break up your day. You can have in person meetings with staff and clients.
At home, the energy is a lot lower. It’s just you. There are no in person meetings. Your boss and peers can’t come over for a quick chat to break down and solve an issue. At home, you also have the added complication of being around all your stuff. Everything in your home is a possible distraction. Your TV, your couch and don’t forget your bed.
So what can you do to make sure you stay focused and perform as though you are in the office?
6 Tips for Working From Home
Your Work space
Create a space in your home for your “office”. Once you enter your “Office” you mentally have to separate yourself from the rest of your home. Having a dedicated work space will help. Using your bed, will just put you to sleep.
Get dressed for work
Try not to drag yourself from the bed to your desk. Instead, clean yourself up, put on your work clothes and act like you are heading out to work. Even if your desk is only in the next room, prepare for the day as though you are commuting. This helps set the proper mindset and attitude that you would have as though you are commuting to work.
Prepare healthy meals
One of the problems I faced early on was the kitchen had all kinds of snacks. Mostly for the kids, but hey… they weren’t here… the wife wasn’t there to complain.. Who would know? My waistline knew and I payed the price.
You have to have healthy foods to snack on in order to maintain a healthy diet. Reduce the bad snacks in the house so that they aren’t the first thing you reach for. This is very important to prevent health issues in the future.
Stay active
When working from home you can easily find yourself sitting hunched over your desk for several hours in the day. This is bad for your health. Take breaks so you can take time to walk around and stretch. Again, my own experience is your guide and my waist line was proof that I needed to do something. So I began walking around the block and doing a form of moving meditation called Qi Gong when I couldn’t go outside. Find your activity and try to do something everyday for 15 – 30 mins.
Prevent Health issues
Prevent back issues by using the correct posture when sitting and the correct equipment. Being hunched over staring at one probably two computer screens for hours at a time is not healthy. I recommend investing in a comfortable chair to sit in and ask for the proper accessories for your work station. For the things you have to buy, your company may reimburse you.
Communicate
Out of sight, out of mind is very true with WFH employees. Make sure you attend meetings and respond in meetings so that your presence is known. Being responsive and answering emails in a timely manner goes a long way towards good communication.
Conclusion
In the end be disciplined and don’t be too hard on yourself if things aren’t perfect. Working from home takes time to get used to.
Take advantage of the many perks that come from working from home. One great perk that I like is not having to commute everyday. The time I reclaim by not having a commute, I use for other things like taking an online class or spending more time with the kiddies.
Once you get into a healthy daily routine, going to work from home can be a very good thing. Given the current situation I suspect the idea of working from home will become a new reality for our lives. At least in the short term.
For more information about me and my work, please check out my previous posts Conversations – Making progress on our goals. Thinking about investing. 5 tips to quickly get you started and Investing in Stocks? 7 Tips to Better Investing You can also subscribe to stay up to date with the topics of investing, leadership and cost cutting.