When thinking about working from home, what’s a major concern for many of us? NOT BEING PRODUCTIVE!!! Right? However, there are many important aspects to be considered when working from home, besides consistently keeping in our peak performance mode.
Productivity is Not the Be-All End-All
Being highly productive is not necessarily an indicator of work-life wellbeing. I’ve found myself working for long stretches of time, completing task after task only to find no comforting sense of completion. There was always more I could be doing, even if my business tasks were completed for the day, I could wash the dishes, make my bed, workout, fertilize my plants, go grocery shopping, prep dinner, etc. So many options to stay productive when working for home…I don’t have an end to my working day. At times, i’ve been incredibly productive yet scattered and exhausted.
When working from home, it’s easy to get excited about the sense of freedom and comfort you will feel being in your own space; but that “freedom” and “comfort” come at a hefty price. We experience a lack of structure which can often lead to an uncomfortable instability that blurs our focus. So how to we keep a sense of stability in our home work environment?
How Do I Keep on my A-Game?
Have a dedicated business workspace. Find a place in your apartment, condo, house, treehouse, wherever you sleep at night, and set-up your unused kitchen table, TV tray, or if you’re really fancy, the actual home desk you bought. Have all the basics you need to work and feel free to add in some whimsy. I have a Star Trek Data action figure to remind me to be logical. However, sometimes I like to move my work to somewhere I can get more comfortable for long stretches of writing or research. Don’t feel like you HAVE to keep planted at your designated desk, table, or what have you, move yourself to your yard or dare I say it…the couch if it sparks your fancy. Just make sure you are deliberate in choosing your space with your task in-mind. If this doesn’t work for you, and you feel that it helps tremendously to ONLY work in your designated spot, then keep at it! Whatever works best for you is the right way to work.
Breaks are IMPORTANT! Schedule breaks as your reward for completing some of your more hefty tasks. A break doesn’t need to look like sitting with your feet up drinking coffee (that’s actually how I work at the end of the day), your break should look like anything that allows you to come back to your work feeling fresh. I like to cycle through a variety of break activities. Making a fancy coffee drink from a recipe I’ve found on Pinterest, meditate, stretch, put my Pandora on shuffle and dance to whatever song comes up (this can be really fun, especially if you have highly varied music tastes like I do), 5 min ab workout, or watch a SHORT Youtube video which you can save to a playlist called “Work-Break Videos”. Again, just do anything which gets you back to your tasks feeling fresh and focused.
Use a timer. My friend Sage, a professional violinist and music teacher, picked up the timer method while practicing mind-numbingly difficult musical passages. She now applies the method to various tasks and projects as an incentive. Basically, if she’s not super excited or even motivated at all to do something, she’ll set a timer for 30 min or so. She’ll then just tell herself that she only needs to put 30 minutes into the task and regardless of the outcome, she can stop after the alloted time. Often she’ll find once she starts, it’s not all that hard to keep going. This method works well for almost anything, from answering emails to working out and it keeps your focused for that time, on one task. Since I’m writing about productivity advice from a musician, I feel the need to quote the profound classical composer W. A. Mozart;
The shorter way to do many things is to only do one thing at a time.
—W.A. Mozart
Make a short daily priority list, and I mean short. Make a list of 2-4 priority tasks which you want to complete on a given day. Make sure these are tasks which move your towards your overall goals. You want to make sure that you’re not fluffing up your hours to get a full eight-hour work day in, your work should be intentional and focused.
—Arianna Huffington
After a few months of making and following your short daily priority list, you will find that you’ve made some major progress towards your goals because you’ve spent the time everyday to asses and remind yourself of which tasks are paramount to achieving the results you want. My short priority list often looks like this:
- Workout
- This is often a time goal to work on tasks for a singular project, such as building a branding palette, website design, SEO integration, etc…
- Meditate
I guess you could say my list encompasses care of my body, mind, and soul.
Take a day off! I’m incredibly guilty of not following this advice. If I do take a day off, it’s accidental, and I often feel so stressed about not being focused and productive, that I don’t really enjoy my “off” time. It’s much better to mindfully schedule a day off or at least a few hours off so that the productivity monster doesn’t creep up on you.
I hope y’all have found some or all of these tips helpful for your work from home structuring trials.
What have you guys found to be most helpful for keeping yourself balanced and well when working from home? Please comment below. I would love to get your perspectives on what you do to improve your work and home life.
