5 tips to successfully work from home

Working from home is becoming the new normal. But how comfortable are you with that? If you previously worked in an office, surrounded by people, this can be a difficult change to manage. You may feel isolated, or lost, not knowing how to manage your time.

Here are 5 tips to help you work from home that come from my personal experience as a freelancer.

Tip #1: create clear boundaries between work time and personal time

First of all, it’s important to set some clear rules within your household, especially if your partner or housemates work from home too. Decide who is working where, as well as what is allowed and not allowed during working hours. Have a chat about these rules to make sure everyone has a say in creating them.

Creating a routine will bring structure to your day. You will first need to define your start up routine: think about what you need to get done before you start working, e.g. have breakfast, exercise, go for a walk, do household chores, etc.

You also need to define your end-of-day routine to enable you to properly switch off of work. I recommend that you finish your day by reflecting on your activities, clearing your desk and doing an activity that will recharge you.

Tip #2: create a social environment around you

Working from home can be lonely, but there are several ways to re-create a social environment.

• Keep in touch with colleagues via instant messaging services such as WhatsApp, Slack or your company’s own messaging system. However, make sure it doesn’t become a distraction by cutting off notifications when working.

• Arrange at least one daily phone or video call to chat with a close colleague or friend. Not a work meeting, but a conversation to catch up on everything, work and non-work.

• Use your breaks and lunchtimes to catch up with friends and family, or spend time with your partner or housemates.

If you like having noise and movement around you, you could join a coworking space or work in a café.

Finally, you could find an accountability buddy to help you keep track of your goals and share achievements. This could be someone from your team, or from another team.

Tip #3: look after your mental health

It’s important to be in the right mental space to be able to focus on your work. Separating work from the rest of your life is a key element of your mental health. Creating strong boundaries between work and personal time is a first step (see tip #1).

I also recommend that you build personal time within your days and weeks. You could be spending this personal time on your hobby, to learn something new, to exercise, to read or to watch TV. Whatever it is, it needs to be enjoyable and help you recharge.

You will need to be more aware of your emotions and moods, and accept that some days will be more difficult that others. Here’s a suggestion from an experienced home-worker:

“Learning to embrace all moods. This was something I tried to do quite early. It's impossible to feel positive and productive all the time so if you just can't be arsed, say it aloud and embrace it, slob out and then make a conscious attempt to switch to a positive mindset”

Kate Tattersfield, Freelance content writer

Being mindful of what’s going on inside and in the moment is a key skill to support your mental health. Here’s a short exercise to ground yourself to help you when you start feeling overwhelmed by emotions:

• Step 1: sit comfortably. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Count to 4 when breathing in. Count to 6 when breathing out.

• Step 2: ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. What are you feeling in your body—in this moment?

2. What are you thinking—in this moment?

3. What are all the feelings you are experiencing—in this moment?

• Step 3: reflect on what came up during your check-in, and adjust what you were doing accordingly.

Tip #4: set up your home office

The environment you work in is very important to your wellbeing and productivity. If you’re not set up in a way that suits you, you will quickly lose focus.

Find a place in the house where you will not be distracted, ideally next to a window. If you set up an area of your house as your home office, decorate it so that it becomes a place you enjoy working from. 

Set up your desk so that you are comfortable: consider buying a laptop stand to make sure your laptop is at the same level as your eyes. If you work from your dining table, make sure it’s not cluttered with non-work things that can distract you. Try a few different chairs from around the house and see which one works best for you.

Finally, think about what you want to hear. Do you prefer to work in a noisy or a quiet environment? If you prefer working in silence, you could invest in ear plugs or noise-cancelling headphones to block out the noise around you. If you enjoy working in a buzzy environment, music or background sounds (like café or rain noises) can help you focus better.

Tip #5: make the most of your work time

When you’re working from home, it’s easier to be distracted than in an office. First of all, identify the distractions around you (TV, phone, household chores…) and remove them. You could also give your distractions a specific time-block during the day, e.g. watch TV during lunch.

To make the most of your working day, without losing track of time and of what needs to be done, I recommend planning your day at the start of each day:

1. Check what meetings and calls are in your calendar, and add in preparation time if required

2. Write down the tasks and activities that you want to get done.

3. Timebox your tasks by giving each a specific time period

4. Time-block your tasks in your calendar, by giving each a start and end time.

5. Plot in your breaks and lunchtime

At the end of the day, take 15 minutes to review your tasks, achievements and challenges, and use that to plan your next day.

I hope you found these tips useful.

If you struggle working from home and would love to be helped in creating a balanced lifestyle, get in touch!