How to work from home and be productive

During the last years we have heard more and more about Working From Home (WFH) and in the last period, due to the spread of COVID-19, this opportunity became a reality for almost everyone.Non

If on a hand working remotely can be the perfect match that allows us to do our job in a more relaxed environment while alternating it with domestic tasks, on the other hand we risk not focus, don't have enough break and to be overwhelmed with all the daily duties.

The fear of not being productive, to be checked by the managers and the idea to have lunch in front of the laptop, puts us in front of a big risk of stress, in particular if we are not used to WFH and/or we have to do it for a long time.

What to do then?

• Set a schedule and respect it. You can be flexible so if you have some specific needs for personal or business situations, you can start to work a bit earlier or finish a bit later, but try to identify and fix your best hours for every task.
• "Start the day" routine is the key. Working remotely might have different starting time for everyone , not only 9-to-5, so try to figure out what you need before sit and work, maybe some work-out, a cup of tea or black coffee, take a shower and dress up or stay in pijiama till lunch time... Don't oversleep just because you can and find a nice alarm-sound to wake you up.
• Take breaks and do it for real. What do I mean? A real break is not keep on staying in front of the laptop doing shopping online, neither on social media using your phone. Take time for yourself to have a proper meal, to eat a fruit or go to the balcony to breath fresh air... make your eyes rest and so your mind.
• Socialize with your colleagues would also be a good idea and you can still do it virtually. Take time to talk to each other about some work experience, share your successes and failures, ask for help and help who asks. Do training alone or together also to increase your knownledge and discuss about it during a meeting.
• Organize your space don't leave the working space in a completely mess. if you don't have a working space, try to close and hide the laptop after working time and create rules if you don't leave alone.
• Stay healthy. Eat well, treat yourself and don't exagerate with sweets and desserts.
• End the day with a routine as you do to start the day is important to end the working day with some recurring actions.

Communication is always very important in a work enviroment, it doesn't matter if we are in the office or not. Luckily technology is helping us with alternatives. Zoom. Skype, Teams Microsoft permit us to talk and see each other, but also Google drive or wetransfer make possible to share documents in realtime without wasting time. (A lot of imputs about tools are available online, There are also some about documents storage that might be useful for this temporary new work conditions)

We have all the elements to can have a safe and healthy work environment as well at home as in the office, is on us to make everything work and to chose what is more adapt to our life and specific situation. Give yourself rules but don't pretend too much in the begininng. Your mind has to adapt to the new condition, it might take few days. Also remember to call in sick even if you are home. If you don't feel good you wouldn't be productive and the days after you'll need to repair at the mistakes done while you weren't focus.

Find out more details and tips and if you have others share them with us

Keep calm and Work From Home!