The market has brought new trends, including in hiring regimes. Currently, employees who work freelance and work from home are gaining more and more space in the corporate world, especially after the recent labor reform. Working from home can be very advantageous, both for companies and professionals, but it is necessary to pay attention to some crucial issues to ensure good work and not lose productivity.
Given this scenario, what can you do to avoid losing productivity when working from home? Check out our tips below!
1. Have a suitable work environment at home
Working at home or while lounging on the sofa is not a very productive habit. We are more prone to procrastination and diversions under these circumstances.
To avoid this, reserve an exclusive place to carry out your professional activities and adapt it according to your needs. This way, you “automatically activate” your work function and can maintain your focus on work activities.
2. When working from home, set schedules
Working from home is generally synonymous with more flexible hours, but, to create a productive routine, it is important to establish a time to start and finish work.
This way, you can create a habit and avoid taking up your production time with other activities. Furthermore, this is the only way to control your hours worked, avoiding stress and problems caused by overload or delays.
3. Don’t procrastinate
Leaving it for later is a more tempting practice when working from home. However, the big difference for people who work with high performance for a long time is, basically, sitting down and doing what needs to be done at the right time.
So don’t procrastinate, keep in mind that all your work activities are important – regardless of where you are working.
4. Take breaks
Working for very long periods without interruptions can harm your productivity. There are several studies that demonstrate that these rest periods are essential for us to remain productive. A survey conducted by DeskTime, for example, showed that the most productive professionals took a 17-minute break for every 52 minutes worked.
This way, if you feel tired in your body or mind, even out of turn, allow yourself to take a few minutes to breathe fresh air, drink a coffee, etc. – but, of course, don’t take breaks that are too long!
5. Understand your circadian cycle
Our daily rhythm, our body functions and states of sleep and wakefulness are regulated by the so-called circadian cycle.
And when we are not well synchronized with this kind of productivity clock, our performance tends to drop, we face stress and loss of concentration.
Utilize the extra freedom that comes with working from home to schedule your work hours around your circadian cycle. Some individuals, for instance, work better in the morning, while others are more productive in the afternoon. Determine the times when you are most productive, and then give the most pressing tasks top priority during those periods.
6. Make other residents aware of your work period
Making the rest of the household understand that you are working is not always as easy a task as it seems. Establish agreements such as: keeping the door closed, not receiving visitors during working hours, not turning up the volume on the TV, radio, etc. This way, everyone starts to get used to their work routine, which avoids constant interruptions.
7. Consider coworking
Despite improving quality of life , working from home can also be boring and reduce our productivity. In these cases, try to plan a few days of work away from home, such as in cafes.
There are building options that offer coworking space in their structure, so you get the best combination: the flexibility of working from home, but with the structure and professional environment of a company. Furthermore, in this model, you can, even working from home, network and contact other professionals who frequent this space.
8. Don’t forget to have your leisure time
When working from home, one of the initial impulses may be to do a work “marathon”, to advance and finish projects. However, as we have seen, breaks are, in fact, fundamental to ensuring productivity and good performance.
Furthermore, when working from home, loneliness can increase in our routine, which can make us less willing and more stressed. To avoid all this, it is essential to reserve moments for leisure, especially with those you love. This will help give you that extra boost for your creativity and productivity.
9. Adopt productivity techniques
When you work in a company, you follow a routine stipulated by it. But what about when you work from home?
Adopting productivity techniques can improve your performance. Methods such as Pomodoro, Smart and Getting Things Done are quite common for this.
10. Use technology to your advantage
Using mechanisms that help you maintain your concentration on work within the stipulated periods helps to guarantee your work rhythm.
In this sense, there are applications that can be very useful. There is, for example, Offtime – which blocks notifications from social networks during the stipulated period – and AppDetox – which helps to “calm down” your smartphone, stipulating a usage time for each app.