How2: Stay Productive While Working From Home.
Never would I have thought that I would spend the majority of 2020 working from home. On March 16th, I packed my laptop and charger in my bag to bring home, along with some standard office staple items, day book, a couple pens, a random phone holder freebie I got and post-it notes. I left all my other bits in my locker thinking I’d be back in 2/3 weeks or so, oh how I was wrong.
Before this, I’d probably worked from home a handful of times on odd occasions, so I was quite excited. I’ve officially been working from home for almost 7 months now and while it’s been nice to sleep longer and not have to get on the train in the morning, I soon started to miss my routines, my morning walk to the station, chit chatting with colleagues and pretty much all the stuff I used to complain about lool. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that I’m in a career where I have the option to work from home, but it does take its toll on you sometimes. Waking up & working in the same space, not really seeing anyone else, not having a structured routine that you have to follow and if you’re like me who doesn’t have the luxury of living in Zone 1/2, going into Central London becomes a chore from home, but from the office it’s a breeze!
I’ve had days where I absolutely love working from home and others where I wish I was back in the office - I’m sure we’ve all been there. So I want to share with you a few tips that I’ve found keep me productive while working from home, even on days when I’m just not feeling it. I can’t lie, I’m giving out advice but there are some days when I don’t do some of these things, but I wouldn’t be helping anyone if I didn’t share!
The first thing that I think is the most important, try to find a space away from your bedroom to work. I understand this isn’t always so readily available to everyone, but if you can, do it! It makes such a difference being in another room when working. Waking up in your bedroom, working in your bedroom, wind-down time in your bedroom and back to sleep in that same bedroom is going to get very dull very quickly. It’ll start to take it’s toll and the days will just merge into one, I’ve had days when I’ve felt like I’ve been working all day because I literally hadn’t left my bedroom. Even if you just start your morning in another room, sit at the kitchen table, set up shop on the sofa in the living room or even on a really nice day, work outside with the hotspot connected, it’ll make such a difference to your day. I’m lucky enough that I have a space to work (shout out my brother who just moved out to go to uni, he’s said I can use his room as an office when he’s not home!) and I enjoy working in there so much more than I did when my bed was literally 30cm away from me.
Something else that I definitely don’t do (I’m trying to get as much sleep as possible) but I should probably get in the habit of doing is waking up an hour or so before you start work and actually “waking up”. Quite a few times, I’ve literally rolled out of bed and onto my laptop, my team have seen me looking like a blowfish in the morning and if I’m honest, I couldn’t care less because they’re my peoples (shout out my team, bunch of gs) but on days when I have given myself a bit more time to wake up, have a coffee, do standard morning things, I’ve felt so much better. 100% more refreshed, 100% more productive! Having breakfast also makes the world of difference, I don’t really eat breakfast at home (never have, I think it’s now just become a habit) but when I’m at my boyfriends he always makes sure I eat and I definitely notice a difference in my energy levels!
I’m more of a work in silence kind of girl, I’ve always been that way; I like complete silence when I really need to concentrate, whereas one of my good friends used to watch Disney movies while writing her dissertation in the library - everyone’s different! So you need to find your optimum environment to concentrate, whether that’s listening to your favourite podcast while you work, listening to some ASMR or bopping along to a real good RnB playlist, find what’s best for you and do it! There are some videos on YouTube you can find which supposedly stimulate concentration due to the specific sound waves they let off and how the receptors in your brain receive them, so that’s always a fun one to try as well! If your mum is being too loud on the phone to your aunty or your little brother is too busy shouting at his friends while playing Call Of Duty, pop in those headphones and see how productive you can be!
Believe it or not, there are also some foods that actually help with boosting your brain power and memory! Omega-3 is always the top of the list when it comes to foods that help the brain and is known to sharpen memory and be a natural mood booster! The best place you can find it is in fatty fish such as salmon - so if you’re not a fish person, I’d suggest you get on it! For all you coffee lovers out there (say I), you’ll be happy to know that despite getting a possible caffeine addiction, it is also proven that drinkers will have increased alertness and concentration as well as an improved mood. Now I know a caramel latte makes me happy, but I didn’t think it was facts!! As well as these 2 things, other foods you should try to add to your diet are: blueberries, turmeric, broccoli, pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate, nuts, oranges, eggs and green tea - all of which are proven to be key players in keeping your brain healthy as well as their own individual benefits (dark chocolate for example is known as a natural way to release endorphin, the pain killer hormone - check out the post on our Instagram page to find out more).
If you’ve run out of your standard office stationary, then buy some of your own cute stationary. I’m a bit of a geek for stationary, I love a cute notebook and pen set, or some oddly shaped sticky notes - weirdly makes me excited lol. So things like this I feel are a cute little motivator to make you more excited to get your tasks done! Amazon, WHSmith, Paperchase and The Works are just some of the few retailers who sell an abundance of different stationary bits to keep you working hard! I’m obsessed with calendars; iPhone, wall, Outlook, all of them… that could be a very cute addition to your room/office space and will allow you to clearly see what you have on every single day. I also realised I’m not much of a virtual to-do list girl, I like to write, tick and cross off what I’ve accomplished, makes it feel a bit more real for me, so a to-do paper pad is another handy addition to your day to day bits and bobs.
I know it’s a bit of an unsaid thing, but every office worker enjoys a cheeky trip to the toilet to just have a little break, you might even take a little longer on purpose just because! When you’re working from home though, breaks just seem a bit out of reach. I don’t know about you, but I always feel like I need to be at my desk so I can reply to my teams messages ASAP when in reality, that’s not how your normal office day goes! So, take those well deserved breaks, even if it’s a short trip to the toilet! Don’t just be glued to your laptop all day, the same way we need breaks in the office, is the same way we need breaks at home - you know what mamma said, too much staring at the screen will make your eyes square! Research shows that at least 5 minutes in every hour should be spent away from the screen, so use that as a benchmark and get started!
This sort of ties in with the above but I need to specify as it’s a really important one that I know a lot of us are guilty of raises hand in guilt, is not taking a lunch break. So let me get this clear, TAKE YOUR LUNCH BREAK!!! Not only do your eyes and back need a rest, but your brain does too, you’ll literally burnout if you’re constantly working and lunch breaks are something we should all be taking advantage of. When I say take your lunch break I don’t just mean sit at your desk and browse the latest Zara collection, actually get away from your desk; go for a walk, workout, pop to the shops for your favourite snack or even take a little recharge nap, but whatever you do, get away from your desk! So many of us hard workers would rather just power through lunch and not take a break because we’re “on a roll” or whatever other silly excuses we make, but that’s not looking after ourselves and we only have 1 body so we need to take care of it!
Okay, I think that’s enough tips to get started with! For all of us people who are lucky enough to be able to work from home through all of the madness going on in the world, let’s all be grateful as there are many who haven’t been as lucky as us. As tough as some days may get, when productivity is low and moral is even lower, try to crack a smile and remember this too shall pass. The grass may seem greener on the other side, but the grass is only greener where you water it. Let us know if you have any of your own tips to stay productive or whether you’ve tried some of ours - we always love to hear from you guys!
“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” - Walt Disney