HOW TO STAY PRODUCTIVE WHILE WORKING FROM HOME
While working from home is super awesome, it can certainly be challenging to stay productive. It does take a certain personality to embrace this work style, but even if this is totally your jam, you might still find it difficult to be productive from time to time.
I have to confess though, I still struggle with this on occasion. But, whenever I follow the steps below, I always experience a serious boost in productivity.
TREAT IT LIKE REAL WORK
Even if you don’t need to leave the house to do your work, you must remember to still treat it like real work, which it is!
The most important thing to remember is to take your work seriously if you want to see results in your business.
I know this can be especially hard when you’re just starting out. I still remember my early days of working from home. I would go into the kitchen to grab some lunch and before you know it, I was doing dishes, cleaning the living room or doing other house chores.
While you may think it’s okay to do that, it really affects how much work you get done in a day. I used to feel like it was somewhat my “responsibility” to take care of the house on a daily basis because I was home. Oh was I wrong!
Ask yourself this, if you were still at your 9-5 job, would you be doing all those house chores during work hours? Umm... hell no, because you’d be at work!
Well, the same principle applies to working from home. You need to set yourself a schedule and stick to it, which brings me to my next point.
CREATE A DAILY ROUTINE
I admit because I’m a free spirit the word “routine” makes me cringe. I’m not a fan of doing the same thing every day because I get bored easily.
However, without a routine, it’s next to impossible to have a successful business at home.
So I keep reminding myself that this is still a million times better than commuting to a lousy job I hate and being told what to do all day, only to come home depleted and uninspired. No, thank you!
Sticking to a daily routine is very rewarding, I promise you. To make this a little less daunting, I try to focus on different tasks on different days so they don’t all feel the same.
Also, did you know that most successful entrepreneurs begin their day with a morning ritual? There is even a huge community existing around “The Miracle Morning” book by Hal Elrod.
Just don’t get overwhelmed by what everyone is telling you to do. It’s more about having a morning routine you can stick to rather than having a specific morning routine that someone told you “you must do”. Pick what works for you best and commit to it.
For example, I recently started this morning routine:
Get up and drink a glass of water
Sit down to meditate for about 10-20 minutes
Write a page in my journal on positive and abundant thoughts
Do yoga for about 20 minutes
Take a shower and have breakfast
Head to my desk to start my workday
Whenever I start my day with all of the above, I already feel successful and confident that I can accomplish my goals.
HAVE A DESIGNATED WORKSPACE
I always say this to people and I guarantee you’ll be way more productive if you have a separate workspace in your home.
If at all possible, create a home office in a spare room. However, if you don’t have a spare room, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a designated work area.
Simply pick a spot where you can place a desk that is not making you feel like you’re just lounging around. Whether that’s a spot in your dining room, a desk in your bedroom, or a corner in your living room, make it count. Don’t do anything else in that space other than work and don’t work from your couch, or worse, your bed!
Like I said before, you gotta take your work seriously if you’re expecting serious results.