Remaining productive when working from home is a new challenge for the workforce. Adopting new habits is crucial to maintaining and elevating productivity.
Before the emergence of Covid-19, scores of workers adhered to the same routine—commute to the office by 9, have an hour-long break for lunch, and head home at 5. The rapid spread of the pandemic across the globe forced businesses to adapt when they could no longer have scores of employees inhabiting office space. Leading to mass migration from office work to remote work.
In many ways, this format has proven to be viable and even lucrative, despite concerns over losses in productivity and discipline. Many companies have decided to maintain at least a partial remote-work dynamic, even after lockdown restrictions began to ease in certain regions.
The concerns about productivity, however, are not entirely unjustified.
Many employees struggle to self-motivate and succumb to distractions easily. As a remote worker, it is vital to put strategies in place that help you stay on track and inspired in the absence of an office environment. That’s where micro habits come in. Micro habits are actions that require minimal effort but offer long-term significant results.
These 3 micro habits are relatively easy to implement, but they’ll make a major impact on productivity—especially if work from home burnout is becoming evident.
Be Consistent with Your Schedule
One of the main benefits of a 9-5 office job is the structure and consistency in your day-to-day schedule. Many of us don’t realize how challenging it can be to self-motivate without a strictly enforced daily routine, and we fall apart when it’s taken away.
For most workers, it is essential to plan and stick to a structured routine to avoid falling behind, missing deadlines, and becoming stressed.
The freedom to plan your own workday is a wonderful privilege as it allows you to structure your day around other important tasks. If you are a parent, it gives you the freedom to perform all of those everyday parental duties with minimal disruption to your workday.
If you know that you work better early in the morning or later in the evening, you can tailor your hours to suit your preferences. While there’s nothing wrong with planning your work schedule to suit your other needs, issues begin to arise when your schedule becomes inconsistent. Humans are creatures of habit, and we rely on routine to keep us stable and productive.
Routine also helps us maintain a healthy balance between our work lives, personal lives, and leisure time. When the lines between those facets of life become blurred, we often begin to feel anxious and out of control. Deciding on your work hours and sticking to them will help you stay productive and calm during the week.
As important as it is to work consistently during your allotted hours, it is just as important to take breaks.
Planning these as part of your schedule is helpful—whether you take multiple short breaks throughout the day or one long one. Those of us with workaholic tendencies may forget to give our brains a rest during the day, so scheduling your breaks and setting reminders on your calendar will help you maintain a balanced and healthy schedule.
Prepare for Work as If You Were Going into the Office
It happens to the best of us. We find out that we’re going to be working from home, and immediately our minds start to imagine the possibilities. Rolling out of bed at 8:55, making coffee, and sitting down to work in pajamas and slippers.
While this may seem like an inviting prospect after years of strict schedules, dress codes, and pressure to appear professional, it is easy to slip into habits that cause a loss of motivation and self-esteem. A healthy morning routine is extremely beneficial for your mental health and overall productivity.
While it may not be necessary to put on a full face of makeup and dress in formal business attire; getting out of bed early, having a shower, eating a nutritious breakfast, and dressing presentably will help get your mind and body ready to start a productive workday. Neglecting these little habits might not seem like a big deal at first, but it will likely take a toll on your motivation and energy levels.
Set Clear Boundaries
One of the biggest issues in a remote work dynamic is your work and home lives becoming too intermingled. This has a knock-on effect, and studies have shown that remote work can even affect your sleep patterns. Part of the reason for this is that you don’t switch off, and work seeps into every facet of your life.
Your family or housemates bother you during work hours. Your colleagues bother you while you’re off. Your personal communication channels become clogged with work-related messages, and every room in your home becomes your office.
The only way to prevent this from happening is to be crystal clear with yourself and others about your boundaries. For instance, make it clear to your family that they shouldn’t bother you during work hours unless it’s an emergency. For all intents and purposes, they should consider you to be at the office.
Another important aspect of this separation involves your physical space. Any space that you use to relax, unwind, or enjoy time with your loved ones should not be a workspace. If you already have a study or a home office, confine your work activities to that room. If there isn’t a room available to turn into a home office, then try to find a quiet section of your home with space for a desk.
Make sure this space is somewhere you aren’t likely to get disturbed by background noise or other household activity. Set it up away from things that you know will distract you, like your television and other forms of entertainment.
Last, try to keep your work and personal communication channels separate. If possible, get a cheap phone with a separate number for work calls and messages. Once your workday is over, turn it off and put it away. If you need to join WhatsApp groups or email chains for work, try to avoid doing so with your personal number or email address. This will help avoid the intrusion of work stress into your leisure time and preserve your energy for working hours.
Another helpful trick is to use a separate browser for work-related activity. Using your personal browser will likely lead you to distraction, especially if your favorite social media and entertainment sites are bookmarked.
The Takeaway
Working remotely poses endless challenges and requires discipline, structure, and a change in habits. Creating a set schedule, adjusting your mindset, and putting strict boundaries in place are the keys to boosting your productivity and balancing your work and home life.
