How to make working from home, work

Working from home has become the new norm this year. A lot of us are juggling household responsibilities, work, anxiety and distractions all at once. While we have all enjoyed and had a laugh at the funny videos that go up on social media about the various embarrassing situations that happen to people working from home, we also know that this is tough.

That’s why we are giving you some stellar tips this week, on how you can work from home and make the most of it.

Work from home tips and tricks

• Set up a space. First, clear out a space that has enough and more natural light and ventilation. If the need arises, be sure to have overhead lighting as well. Make sure the space is attractive and professional looking.
• De-clutter your space. You cannot work if the space that you are in is a complete mess. This will only distract you from your workload. Save for the items that you will need, as well as a good chair and desk, remove any other unnecessary items from the work space.
• Minimise on distractions. When you work from home, there can be many distractions – noises, friends and family and the likes. Let everybody know your work times and make sure that you are away from distractions. This means that nobody gets to disturb you and that the television and radio etc are not played too loud.
• Keep kids and pets away as much as possible. Make sure that your children and pets will not keep running in and out of the work space that you have arranged. This would constantly be a distraction and will also reduce the amount of productivity that you have. If possible, have a room for yourself with a door that can be closed.
• Set up a schedule with deadlines. It is easy to get a bit lazy and let go of deadlines, especially when you are dealing with an uncertain situation like this pandemic. Stress and anxiety can get to you easily and you can start to feel paranoid. Therefore, we suggest that you set up a schedule on a daily basis with a set list of tasks to do and then attach deadlines to each. Tick each one off as you complete them. This will boost your sense of mastery as well.
• Prepare for online meetings. If you know that you have online meetings coming up, make sure that you prep for them on time. Have all the information that you have at hand, check to make sure your internet is working well and that your devices are fully charged. Dress appropriately if it is a video call.
• Keep progress updated. Because you are working remotely, it is essential to keep the rest of your team and your management updated about the progress of the tasks that are assigned to you. This way people know that you are doing your job right and they also know where you are in a task that could have been allocated to the whole team.
• Collaborate better than ever. One of the best tips to work from home effectively would be to collaborate better than you ever have before. Arrange online team meetings, keep in touch via emails and if possible get your work place to use a work monitoring platform that will make life easier on everybody.

P.S. – It is easy to keep eating out of stress when you are stuck at home and also have to balance work. Some of the tips to not overeat when you work from home would be to eat a breakfast that is filling like cereal, oatmeal and muesli in the morning which will keep you fill till afternoon. It also makes sense to have smoothies and fresh fruit juices around, nuts and seeds to munch on and things like vegetable sticks with hummus, which are all healthy snacking options. Get rid of the carbs, fats and sugary items.

Tips for being a work from home entrepreneur

because we are all going through an unprecedented time, one of the ways you can stay motivated and in a great head space would be to work towards achieving some of your own goals. If you have always wanted to start a business, this is the perfect way to get going. You have more time at home than ever before and more time to sit with yourself. Rather than allowing all that anxiety and negative energy spiral you out, make it a point to do the following and channel it positively.

• Start doing research on your area of business interest.
• Find out what the market and the economy is like under the current situation.
• Look at what other similar businesses are doing and learn from their strategies.
• Use the time to excel at your own online marketing, social media and email marketing skills.
• Put together a small plan for a website and social media pages.
• Plan on business contingencies and back up options for your services and products.
• Figure out the funding part.

We know that this sounds like a lot. But trust us on this, once you start working, you will see how much easier your days get and how better you can regulate your headspace as well. To help you out, we also have some accredited trainings that we feel can be of use. Why not try them out as they can all be studied online as well, and turn this time into a super productive one?