5 Simple Changes That Will Boost Your Productivity When Working From Home
By: Rose Bak
Tags: Productivity, Life Lessons, Work From Home, Organization, Business

5 Simple Changes That Will Boost Your Productivity When Working From Home

Photo by Tomas Yates on Unsplash

I used to be pretty organized, back in the distant past of 2020 when I worked in an office.

I had a good system for tracking deadlines, I was generally able to find things I needed with my filing system and I had small periods of downtime between meeting where I could do fun things like go to the bathroom or eat lunch.

For me, being organized and keeping a routine was the key to maintaining productivity and getting a lot done every week.

Then the pandemic hit.

All of the programs I manage are essential services, but it’s not always essential for me to be on site. To reduce risk, I moved to working remotely three to four days a week and in the physical office once or twice each week, depending what I had going on.

Suddenly my organization system was in shambles. I was losing track of emails. I had “to do” lists at both my home office and my actual office.

Things that used to be drive-by conversations now required a video meeting and as a result, my schedule went from jam-packed to “I want to cry every time I look for an opening”.

I was mostly working with a laptop on my bed, or from the couch where there were a lot of distractions from the other people and animals in the house.

Every time I needed something, I had to hunt around from room to room looking for it.

Worst yet, I was drowning in communication.

As our staff moved onto the Microsoft teams app we enabled the “chat” function in the software. This means if someone wants to talk to me they might text, they might email, or they might contact me in the Teams app.

Keeping up with all this was challenging, and when I needed to find something later, I was looking in all three places. Totally unsustainable.

About five or six months in, I had finally had enough. I released my resistance and finally accepted this was going to be our reality for the foreseeable future.

I asked myself, if I was starting a work from home job fresh, what would I do to be successful?

Then I made some changes. Big changes. Small changes. But all designed to increase my productivity while working from home.

If you’re struggling with organization and looking for ways to increase your productivity while working from home, these tips might work for you.

Create a home office

We had a room that we euphemistically called the “guest room” although instead of a bed it was filled with junk.

I cleaned it out Marie Kondo style and was able to create space both to teach online yoga classes and make an office for my day job.

Then I bought one of those desk tables on wheels, the kind you have in the hospital. The one I bought has an adjustable height, and since it’s lightweight and on wheels, I can easily wheel it out of the way when I need the room for something else.

If you don’t have a separate room you can use, clean out part of another room. There’s got to be a comfortable corner somewhere that you can access.

And don’t forget to get a comfortable chair. You can only sit on your dining room furniture so long before you start losing feeling in your legs.

Make sure the area you choose has a good connection to wi-fi. If you need to, buy a basic extender to ensure you maintain your connection while you’re working.

Having a dedicated workspace that is not your bed or dining room table also helps you to create a separation between your work life and your home life. It’s easy for those lines to blur, so set yourself up for success.