How I keep myself productive while working from home
When the pandemic started and everyone worked from home, I noticed that I dedicate a lot of time to unnecessary activities, such as scrolling whiles working, be it for my employer or for personal goals. This has led me to staying overtime finishing my work or not achieving anything on my personal side during the day.
In the long term, I found myself less concentrated and unable to keep my focus for long, getting annoyed with simple things and finally incapable getting into the “state of flow”. Several burnouts later I decided to observe myself, record what do I do throughout the day and experiment on changing the ways I work. This led me to several actions that best worked for me to get me going and fix my work problems. So in no particular order — here are the actions that help me stay focused and productive.
Dress for success.
If you worked in an office, you usually wouldn’t see people dressed randomly, even the most hardcode developers would have a shirt on or even a nice suit (Unless they live in the office and wear slippers). While this might not work for everyone, dressing nicely gives you the feeling that you are in a work environment — you are ready for work, feeling that you are capable and knowledgable person. It is a simple mental trick to fool yourself.
Try standing.
One of the most trendy things nowadays, everyone is getting a desk that can lift up and go down on a click of a button, however not everyone is keeping to the standing mode, that was the case for me. I have noticed that whenever I am in a sitting position, I am more relaxed, and have a kind of sleepy attitude (especially after lunch), maybe because of decreased blood flow to my brain. However, whenever I am in standing position, I am more focused, there is no place to sit down and relax. This helped me to get into the work mode and get things done. Inherently humans are not supposed to sit all day.
Change is good.
Yes, as simple as that. Comfort kills our productivity. I always dreamed of having a private room with personal desk and two wide monitors, a big book shelve which creates aesthetic pleasure. Turned out when I got what I wanted it did not workout so well. I was sitting alone in my room and nothing seemed to change, while getting depressed and sad. While it is good to have your own place, it is not a good idea to spend all the time in there. Laptop gives you mobility, you can work from anywhere. Your kitchen, your bed, try working from local coffee shop, if conditions permit. Don’t be glued to a single place, your productivity will gradually decrease, refresh yourself with new places.
Make it work.
In the office I would usually go to make a cup of tea and have a quick chat with my colleague about random things. When working from home, people chat to screens rather than real people. A quick break, just 5 min every hour, yoga exercise, 20min run during lunch or a chat with your loved one, even if its a pet, can have a massive impact on you. Dis-attaching yourself from work every now and then will keep your mind fresh throughout the day.
Silent mode.
This is probably the most important point for myself and I think I am not alone here. Whenever I would get stuck on something, I would grab my phone and start scrolling. Whenever I scroll, I read news, and they would cause an emotional reaction from me. This would drain me out quickly and by the end of the day I would be exhausted. Switching context in work is tiresome — dividing your focus between work and phone is even worse. This left me feeling annoyed about something I would usually ignore. I would find it hard to listen and concentrate on what is being conveyed to me. Now think about having this 5 days a week — burnout would be right around the corner. I quickly realised that if something important has happened, people around talk about it anyway and you would know it. You can call back everyone later, you are your priority. Now while I am working my phone is in another room and out of reach.
To sum up
Don’t be afraid to experiment, open up to new ideas and see what works best for you. Be uncomfortable, be more flexible — ultimately change is good, and in the end it is you who has to adjust your productivity. These are the things that helped me out and worked best, hope this will push you to try something new. Let me know in the comments what worked best for you.
