If you’re not used to working from home, doing it now during the circuit breaker can get a little challenging. From constantly being confined into your house, to not being able to dress up, to not meeting your colleagues and so on. Sometimes, even our mental healths can take a toll during this crucial period of time. However, don’t worry as Beauty Insider is here for you. We are giving you 15 tips on being effective and productive when you work from home.

Start early

When you’ve got to go to the office, your morning commute, either when you drive or when you take the train, you’d feel ready and awake by the time you got to the office. However, when you are at home, your only commute is from your bed to your computer, which you would still feel sleepy.

The solution to this is actually starting your work as soon as your wake up. As difficult and ridiculous as that sounds, it’s the truth. Start your work first thing in the morning and gradually work on it throughout the day. If you wake up later, prolong your breakfast or lunch, the sluggishness will not wear off.

Plan your day as you would in the office

We’re not saying you have to dress in suit and ties, but it’s all in your head. You have to mentally prepare yourself and do all the things you’d do when you’re at the office. For example, set your alarm to wake up early, have a bath, go get your daily dose of coffee and fire up your computer and get to work.

Choose a workspace

Instead of sitting on your comfortable Rozel couch one minute, your dining table the other, and your bed, pick a place and stick to it! Just because you’re not working at the office, that does not mean you can’t practice the same work ethic. Dedicate a specific room or surface or table in your home to work and that will be your work desk. This is because, if you’re gonna switch your places every now and then, you’re probably going to procrastinate and never get work done.

Limit social media

Almost everyone is guilty of this. When you’re at home that means no one’s supervising you and you can do whatever you want and whenever you want. We’ve all been at that “5 more minutes on Facebook and I’ll continue my work”, but that 5 minutes almost never happens. To limit your time on social media, remove them from your browser shortcuts and log out of every account. With this, you’ll find it a chore to constantly log in.

Work at your most productive peak

No one has the ability to work every minute of the day from the time they wake up to the time they head to bed. Everyone has their own peak period when you’re most productive. So recognize that period of time and plan your day around it. Set the easier tasks to be done during your off-productive window and the much harder ones to be done when you’re most productive. This is because you know you’ll be in the right headspace and state of mind to execute those tasks.

Tackle your distraction

For those with kids at home, this is the time they want to spend the time with you. Before the circuit breaker it was all work work work, and school school school. Although this seems like a good thing, it also can be distracting when you’ve got work to do.

What you could do it, set timings for your kids as well. When you are busy doing your work, have them sit with you and do other kinds of work as well. They could do revisions, colouring, painting, or anything that keeps them busy at the table. This way, you have your eyes on them and they have their eyes on something else. You get to do your work while they do theirs. It’s a win-win.

Make a list

When you work from home, you not only have to do your work-related job but sometimes you also have to juggle the work or chores at home. One way to do this is by making a checklist every day. Start from the most difficult, most challenging or the thing that takes up most of your time, then work your list down to the easier tasks. Once you finish each task, check them out and you’re good to move on to your next task. This could also be as a daily schedule.

Match your music

Make music your companion while you work. Listen to music that matches the energy of the project or task that you are working on. If the music has a fast beat, it keeps you pumped and motivated to keep working. Alternatively, you could also listen to video game soundtracks as they are perfect for the job. This lyric-free music is specially designed to help you focus, hence only making sense that it will help you focus on your work as well.

Video communications

Sometimes working from home can get a little boring and lonely. You can only focus on a certain period of time. However, to beat this isolation, you can now opt for video communications. Go on Skype or Zoom and stay connected with your team members or office mates and work together. On the other hand, if you start feeling lonely and do not want to disturb your office mates, you could always have a video conference call with your bunch of friends and work together but on your own tasks.

Block out noises

Use a headphone or earplugs to block out your neighbour’s barking dog, noise from your family members or the sound of traffic outside. Studies have shown that a delicate blend of soft music combined with soothing sounds of nature like waterfalls, raindrops or the waves of the oceans helps activate the calming part of your brain that aids in concentrating and lowering your heart rate along with your blood pressure.

Set boundaries

When you work from home and are no living alone, you will definitely have a company with you. You have to make sure to set boundaries with your roommates, housemates, siblings, parents, and your spouses. The only ones who are allowed to come near you, sit on your lap are your dogs, because they’re too adorable to say no to! Getting back to that, you need them to respect your space during your work hours. Because you work from home, that doesn’t mean you get to do things as you would normally do.

Take breaks

Sometimes when you’re too focused on work, you get distracted and work on continuously that you avoid breaks completely. However, you need to remember not to let the feeling of working at the comfort of your home prevent you from taking a 5-minute break every now and then just to relax Also, instead of taking a break by watching a YouTube video or an episode of a TV series, you should move away from your desk and laptop. Take a walk or spend some time talking to others that are at home.

Go out

Now that you’re in lockdown and spending all your time at home, get outside for some fresh air as much as possible. We don’t mean get dressed and go out, but just to your porch. Do some gardening or walk around your block. You would enjoy other areas of your home by reading a book in your porch or at the gazebo and so on.

Fix a finishing time

You may think that working from home has a work-life balance, but don’t be too quick to judge the situation. Sometimes working from home can have you feeling like you’re at a casino. You may be too caught up in your work that you completely lose track of the time. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that you set a finishing time for yourself based on the workload you have. Once you hit that set time, finishing it up and close your computer and spend your time with your family or catching up on Netflix.

Stay positive

Most importantly, you need to have your attitude in check. Do not let your confined situation ruin your happiness, tranquillity or productivity? It’s very easy to let your mind wander to the dark side, but under no circumstances should you let that happen. Hence, constantly keep yourself motivated but doing what makes you happy outside the time you are doing your work. Hit your friends up, call your family, play games, watch movies and so on.