PhotoOur homes are places where we all want to feel comfortable, safe, and able to relax and enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
Many people take a lot of joy in decorating and organising their homes to reflect their personal tastes and interests, and turn to their homes as a haven for retreating from the stresses, frustrations, and complexities of the outside world.
In recent times, however, more and more people are not just relaxing at home, but are working from home – at least part of the time – as part of the massive global explosion in remote working.
While there are undoubtedly various benefits associated with working from home, however, there are also a number of potential challenges – and one of the most common of those challenges is simply maintaining productivity when you’re in your own familiar surroundings, and don’t have a boss, or coworkers, looking over your shoulder.
Here are some suggestions for turbo charging your productivity when working from home.
Create a comfortable working environment where stress is minimised
In order to be productive, it’s necessary for you to be able to be comfortable enough in your home office space that you are not distracted by issues in your immediate surroundings, or by physical discomfort – such as might occur from a non-ergonomic office chair.
Creating a comfortable and relatively stress-free working environment at home can involve all sorts of things, ranging from contacting roofers to quickly fix a leak that has developed, to maintaining a comfortable ambient temperature and wearing the right outfit during the day.
While you don’t want to be “comfortable” in the sense of being completely relaxed and losing the will to be productive, being actively uncomfortable is sure to end up making you more stressed and distracted, and will tend to negatively impact your productivity as well.
Manage distractions and sources of stimulation carefully
In recent times, a lot of attention has been getting paid to the way in which regular distractions and sources of stimulating media – such as social media and video games – can contribute to difficulties with focusing, as well as to reduced productivity.
According to various commentators such as Adam Alter, writing in his influential book “Irresistible,” properly minimising digital distractions in particular may be extremely important when it comes to creating an environment where it’s actually possible to remain productive, and to avoid compulsive attention-wandering among other things.
On the same note, the book “Deep Work” by Cal Newport argues compellingly that It’s essential to be able to do one thing at a time with minimal distraction in order to be as effective as possible.
Minimising distractions and sources of excessive stimulation in your home office environment may be very important for boosting your productivity.
Maintain a routine, and daily rituals, that help you to feel professional
Being productive in a home office context is likely to actually have a lot to do with putting yourself in situations that help you to “feel professional.”
If you’re working from home and are wearing your pyjamas all day, you are significantly more likely to be distracted, to suffer from “imposter syndrome,” and to feel less focused on what you’re doing.
On the other hand, following a set morning routine – that involves things like dressing in a professional outfit and being at your desk by a particular time – can really help to put you in the right headspace to be maximally productive.
