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Working from home can be tricky sometimes, your mind can literally be tricked into thinking you are not at work, but who can blame it, After all, you are actually at home. As a freelancer or any type of professional who works from home, you need to master the art of controlling your mind and letting it understand (if you are like me) that home is not just home anymore, you work, live, play, literally do everything here now. Your productivity depends on it.
So, in today’s video, I am going to share with you my top five tips to help you be more productive working from home.
- TAKE EARLY SHOWERS:
Take your bath very early in the mornings like you would if you had a 9-5 job. Don’t forget your mind is tricked into thinking you are home and nothing serious ever really happens here, but if you take your bath early, your mind is tricked back into thinking “Okay something serious is actually about to happen” because showering is something we’ve unconsciously trained our minds over the years to associate with going out to do something serious.
It might seem too simple; you might even struggle to find a correlation between taking an early shower and your productivity. But trust me, having worked from home for over 5years, I can tell you for sure that this is the very first step to having a productive day every day if you work from home.
- HAVE ONE OR A SET OF WORK CLOTHES:
While we may not necessarily have uniforms at our regular jobs, we do dress a certain type of way, and this really does make our minds switch to work mood. You should apply the same tactic or trickery (if you’d prefer to call it that) while working from home. Have a cloth or a type of clothing that you set aside as your work clothes, if you were a banker, it will be suits, but the cool part of working from home is you chose everything, you are your own boss, it can be a pair of boxer shorts and socks…
Okay, take yourself a bit more seriously. Here are some better ideas
- You can brand some t-shirts with your logo on them or some motivational quote
- If you’re into Steve Jobs, get some turtle necks and call them your work cloths
- It could be a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, if you are the overly serious type you can even wear your suit every morning, it will definitely be weird, but the point is, find a specific piece or a set of clothing that is designated work clothes.
Whatever you choose, just remember to teach your mind that these are your work clothes, so whenever you wear them your mind will automatically go into productivity mode
- CREATE A WORKSPACE:
You cannot expect to be productive when today you are working from the kitchen, tomorrow you’re from the couch, and the day after that from your bedroom. At a regular Job, you’d have an office or a desk at least, this plays a huge role in your productivity, you have to recreate this at home, it doesn’t have to be fancy (although I don’t see why not). If you live in a big house, design a room as your office, if not, get a nice and simple work desk
Pro tip: if you live in one room, make sure you set your desk so your back is against your bed. I don’t have to tell you why.
- CREATE WORK TIME:
Pretty much like the previous point, don’t leave things to how you’re feeling today, have a designated time of work (and break as well), and try as much as possible to stick to it. We are creatures of habit and if you work at a particular time daily, your mind gets the idea of when it’s time to work and be productive.
- DECLUTTER YOUR SPACE:
This might seem a little too trivial, but it is important for productivity, even for people who work 9 to 5. Your space has to be arranged. Our minds are wired to worry about stuff and try to fix every little thing, if you have files laying around carelessly on your desk, clothes all over the place, and everything just messy, you cannot concentrate and therefore cannot be productive.
It’s easier to clean up at the office coz it’s just that “the office”. But if you work from home, then your office is not just your office, so it can be a bit harder and a lot trickier, but take out time to clean up.
I often say “Time invested in space arrangement is actually time invested in productivity”. So, make your space nice and clean before you go to work
Productivity directly translates to more income, feeling better, and overall improvement in our quality of life, so it’s definitely a big deal, and I hope these tips help you be more productive working from home. Go now and have a more productive day.
