How to STAY Productive EVEN When Working From Home

After the deadly Covid Pandemic, work from home is with no doubt a new normal to our post-covid economy. The lock-downs during Covid times made it clear to the whole world that it is possible to work from home, and still get work done. While the idea looks good and sweet by saying, work from home comes with its own pros and cons. There is enough time to be with yourself and the people you care, there is the freedom to work from whichever place you like. But there is one thing you struggle with…How to be productive in doing your work.

As a digital nomad who does my work from ‘home’ most of the times, I have learnt to come up with ways to overcome some of these challenges. And I have devised ways to help me concentrate on my work even when I am working from home. Not only do these strategies help me get my work done, they also help me be effective and productive in what I am doing. So, right now, I am going to share with you my strategies to ensuring you are productive in whatever you are doing – even when working from home.

1. Write Down A List of What You Want to Work On

I attribute 99% of my work successes to this one habit. From my own experience, there are two ways I crush on this one. One, I write down the to-do list the night before. Or…I write them down in the morning when I am (after my typical productive morning routine here) ready to get at work.

If you want to be productive in your work, I recommend you write 3 important tasks that you want to achieve by the end of the day. There are always a lot you are ‘tempted’ to achieve. But I don’t want you to overthink on what you should do and what you should not. Just take out a paper and a pen, and write down 3 important tasks that come to your mind. And then work on them one at a time. Not only does this allow you to be effective and productive, it also gives you a small workload to focus on. Which most of the times will yield better results in your work (if you are familiar with the 80-20 rule).

2. Find a Good Work Environment for Your Work

It might be your kitchen, or your bedroom. I don’t know where you like working from. What I know however is that, when it comes to working from home, you have to choose the most favorable work place to do your work. This means a quiet place that is free from noise, movements and any distractions of all kinds – a place that will allow you to concentrate fully on your work and get it done before you realize how you did it.

If you have enough space at your home and no one to distract you, what I recommend is creating a ‘work office’ for yourself. This could be a separate room in your house, or just a work space in your living room. If you are working from your bedroom, a chair and table is a good work space, than working from your bed. The thing is you have to get a good working space, if you want to be effective and productive when working from your home.

Now, I am not a good fan of working on bed (even though I am literally working from here now). What I love however, is working from outside work spaces. For my case, my work from home tasks involve working on my blog articles. So that means I am just working silently – no phone calls, no video conferencing, just my keyboard. That’s why for me, I love the public libraries. If your work from home tasks include things like phone calls or video conferences and much of talking, the library will not be a good place for you. An alternative to you will be the coffee cafes, and other co-working spaces (check them out when you are in any big town or city).

Now you might find your surrounding environment is full of outside noise (it happens most of the times). You are working from your bedroom but your neighbor Jack is yelling at his girlfriend Cate. Or you are in the outside co-working spaces, but there are other digital nomads who are causing some ‘noise’ – may be they are on zoom calls. If you find yourself in these situations, there are two things you can do. One, you can start living in less noisy apartments and avoid people like Jack and Cate. Two, you can learn to lock yourself in your own world by putting your headsets on every time you get to your work. I prefer the latter especially when working in outside spaces like the coffee cafes. When I put my headsets on and play Westlife, I get my work done before knowing it. So, I recommend it.

3. Take Breaks Between Your Work

Look, it’s science. You can’t be productive if you are working for long hours continuous. Your human brain cannot just work well that way. You have to take breaks in between. The medics and health people recommend taking breaks after working and sitting for 15 minutes. It’s good for your back and posture. What I find working for me however, is taking a break after every 30 minutes. It allows me to refresh up, and gain the energy to work on the next task.

Remember, it’s all about being effective and productive in doing your work. And that’s why I even mentioned earlier that you should focus on 3 important tasks to do. Direct all your laser beam at them, and achieve better results.

And these are my 3 tips to staying productive EVEN when working from home. To give you a recap:

3 Things You Can Do

• Write down a list of what you want to work on – and do each task one at a time
• Find a good environment favorable for work – a quite place with no movements. An alternative will be locking in your own world by putting your headsets on when you are working. If you have a spacious home, create a home work office. If not, libraries, coffee cafes and other outdoor office spaces will do.
• Take Breaks Between Your Work

Let me know in the comment section below, what is one single tip you apply to keep you productive when working from home?