Structuring Your Day Properly When Working from Home
The pandemic led to a great many people having to adapt their working lives to include working from home, something that some people had more trouble with than others. If you find yourself in this situation, you could land on any end of the spectrum regarding how well this system works for you.
If it goes well, you might be enjoying the fact that you have a greater degree of control over your day and that you can work in an environment that is altogether more comfortable for you. On the flip side, you might be struggling with elements such as procrastination and motivation. Without the proper framework, your day might lack structure, making it more difficult for you to deliver the kind of results you want.
If it goes well, you might be enjoying the fact that you have a greater degree of control over your day and that you can work in an environment that is altogether more comfortable for you. On the flip side, you might be struggling with elements such as procrastination and motivation. Without the proper framework, your day might lack structure, making it more difficult for you to deliver the kind of results you want.
The Right Tools for the Job
Sometimes trying to frontload this kind of internal change entirely through your own willpower can be a very taxing ordeal, so there’s no reason that you shouldn’t enlist some additional help. Fortunately, there are several tools that can help you in this regard, and with their help, you can begin to sculpt your workday into something that encourages your most productive attitude.
First of all, you might find that simply acquiring the right setup goes a long way to helping you here. While it can be tempting to just place yourself on the sofa and work with the TV on all day, you might find that both of these elements are doing your productivity more harm than good. Instead, you might want to consider investing in a proper desk and chair that can provide good support for your back and posture – something that can go overlooked despite its importance in a job that involves a lot of sitting.
Beyond this, you might want to look into tools that can help you with how to actually structure and plan your day. Digital schedules and diaries might be what you need in this case or something more specific such as Microsoft Findtime. You might be wondering, what is MS Findtime? It’s a meeting scheduler that can make it easier to manage the various, conflicting schedules of all those who would need to be involved – making your life much easier.
First of all, you might find that simply acquiring the right setup goes a long way to helping you here. While it can be tempting to just place yourself on the sofa and work with the TV on all day, you might find that both of these elements are doing your productivity more harm than good. Instead, you might want to consider investing in a proper desk and chair that can provide good support for your back and posture – something that can go overlooked despite its importance in a job that involves a lot of sitting.
Beyond this, you might want to look into tools that can help you with how to actually structure and plan your day. Digital schedules and diaries might be what you need in this case or something more specific such as Microsoft Findtime. You might be wondering, what is MS Findtime? It’s a meeting scheduler that can make it easier to manage the various, conflicting schedules of all those who would need to be involved – making your life much easier.
Making Sure to Get Outside
Part of the regular workday that might be absent when working from home is the dreaded commute. The commute might be something that you viewed as frustrating, and you might be happy to see it gone, but it still added a component to your day that required you to leave your house and spend your time in a different environment. When you’re working from home, it’s easy to just spend the whole day sitting inside, which can begin to have a negative effect on you over time, though it might not take very long at all.
You can counter this by simply taking the time to ensure you go outside. For example, say you wake up at 8:00 AM, work until about 12:00, and then have lunch. Take this time now to go outside and go for a walk, to a green space if possible. If you’re pressed for time, you could combine lunch and the walk, giving your time outside a bit of direction that you might feel is otherwise lacking. If this isn’t an option for you due to any reason, maybe you could shift it, so you get some exercise outside in the morning or after work. This might be more difficult if it’s dark at those times, but it might provide you with more freedom as far as the time that you have available is concerned.
You can counter this by simply taking the time to ensure you go outside. For example, say you wake up at 8:00 AM, work until about 12:00, and then have lunch. Take this time now to go outside and go for a walk, to a green space if possible. If you’re pressed for time, you could combine lunch and the walk, giving your time outside a bit of direction that you might feel is otherwise lacking. If this isn’t an option for you due to any reason, maybe you could shift it, so you get some exercise outside in the morning or after work. This might be more difficult if it’s dark at those times, but it might provide you with more freedom as far as the time that you have available is concerned.
Remove Your Distractions
It might be difficult or impossible to work in such a way at home where you’re actually that far removed from items that tempt you to procrastinate, but it’s important that you at least try. It might be that you have the self-restraint for this to not be an issue, and you might go as far as to say that you work better with certain things on in the background, such as Netflix or YouTube. However, these go a long way to create a more relaxed environment, which isn’t inherently negative but might have an impact on your productivity.
That being said, this might be an issue of preference. What works for one person might be a foil to another and vice versa. You have to find your own groove regarding what encourages you to work to your highest level of efficiency while at home. It’s liberating to have the flexibility of working at home, so making the most of it can really allow you to feel this.
That being said, this might be an issue of preference. What works for one person might be a foil to another and vice versa. You have to find your own groove regarding what encourages you to work to your highest level of efficiency while at home. It’s liberating to have the flexibility of working at home, so making the most of it can really allow you to feel this.