Millions of workers had to transition to work from home due to Covid-19. For many, it was a massive change in their habits, even if work from home was already implemented and practiced in some specific jobs. Nevertheless, working from home is not something that you can just arrange in a day, it actually requires some organization. Below are 5 important tips to remind in order to be efficient and healthy when working from home.

Prepare a comfortable workspace

If you ask most people who worked from home before the self-quarantine induced by Covid-19, or if you look at common articles about this topic, you will see that one critical point, if not the most important, is to organize properly your workspace. What does it mean ?

  • First, if you can, find a place where you can have some quietness and where you will able to focus on your work. This may not be easy and this is one important difference between work from home as a choice and work from home during a quarantine where you may be sharing a small space with your family. Nevertheless, as much as possible try to get a quiet space to be able to work efficiently.
  • Then the second important element of your workspace is to get a comfortable desk / table and a proper chair. These two elements are absolutely key in making sure that you are in the right position to work and will not have any physical issue after several days of working from home such as pain in the back.
  • On a more technical standpoint, to be able to work efficiently, make sure to have the right online connection and routers to be able to connect and work online.

List precisely your goals and make a clear to do list

While working from home, you will have to manage some additional tasks, especially during the quarantine. You may have kids, you may have other circumstances and that’s why you need to be very well organized to work efficiently.

One way to do it is to make a list of what you need to achieve before to start your day. Make sure to be accurate and consider that even if you are at home, you have to organize your schedule in order to be able to accept the other elements that can be part of your life during the lockdown. Maybe you will have to do home schooling for your kids, to have some additional calls with your colleagues that you usually see at the office, or to do sport. All of that takes time which is why it is important for you to plan it accordingly.

Stay connected with your team…virtually

Even if you are in self-quarantine, it is the case of most (if not all in some cases) of your colleagues. Then to stay connected as a team, we recommend to have a regular virtual team call. It may just be to discuss your global objectives, or to discuss about your daily life during quarantine, the most important is to have a moment where you will share together, like we explained more in details in our previous article on Staying Healthy during Self-Quarantine.

To do so, many tools are available, from Google Hangout to Skype, WhatsApp and others.

Create yourself a daily routine

Another advice to be productive, motivated and energized while working from home during self-quarantine is to create yourself a new daily routine.

You can start by setting up work hours to maintain a balance between your time at work and your personal time. If you are with your family, it is important to organize your schedule accordingly to respect their needs as well.

It is also important to be disciplined in respecting your schedule and to take regular breaks to move and stay energized. One of the best technique to do so is the Pomodoro technique. In this method, you basically identify your goal, work on it during 25 minutes, then take 5 minutes break in order to move and then come back to your work. And every 2 hours, you can take a longer break of 15/20 minutes. This method is really a good way to implement an healthy work schedule when working from home.

Distraction management

The last advice, which is actually also very important is to manage your distractions at home.

For some reasons, because you are not in your professional environment, and because during quarantine your contacts with the external world are more limited, it is easy to spend too much time on the news feed or your favorite social media.

So the first thing to do is to separate your workspace and your distractions, for example, turn off your social media notifications and put your phone on silence mode if you do not wait any urgent call.

Then you can set up some distraction time using the Pomodoro technique we talked about previously.

Conclusion

Even if this period is not easy with self-quarantine requested in many cities and countries, you can still find efficient ways to organize yourself for working from home. By following the tips we presented, you will be able to work in better conditions and doing so, being more productive, you will also reduce your stress level and allow yourself more time for your personal activities.

*Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash