If you find yourself having to self isolate and work from home, you may want to consider some of the below tips to make your work experience more productive and fulfilling.
Step 1, find a dedicated work space.
One of the biggest advantages to working from an office is that you can separate your work and home life. Now that you are working from home, you need to try your best to recreate the same effect. Pick a dedicated spot that you can make your “office”. The ideal characteristics include:
- Quiet and away from the distractions
- Good wifi signal
- Access to plug points and any other things you require at a moments notice (paper, pens, printer, etc)
- Good Lighting
- Close to a window or natural light
Step 2, set up a schedule.
Now that you are having to work from home you may be tempted to attend to errands or things around the house that you now have the ability to do such as running the dishwasher, doing laundry, fixing up things around the house, etc. This is one of the major perks about working from home, however you need to be strict with your time as it is very easy to get carried away.
Set up a schedule that will work for you. This doesn’t necessarily have to tie in to your normal day to day office schedule as you now have a lot more flexibility. You could, for example schedule in your daily workout for 11am to break up your day, which also means you don’t have to rush and shower first thing in the morning. This will also help eskom with demand management as the traditional electricity peak times are now a bit more spread out.
Step 3, make sure you are setup correctly.
As things stand, we are most likely going to be working from home for the foreseeable future, you therefore need to be setup for an optimal experience. Make sure you have a comfortable chair, download the necessary tools and software you need for video conferencing and project management. Check out this 2 part series on some great free tools you can use in your business. Have an empty wall or desk that you want to turn into a whiteboard? The team at MoxiWall offer a great product that can do just that.
Step 4, use extra time to your advantage.
In a time where everything is uncertain, there is panic in the air and a lot of general negativity it is important to seek out and hang onto any positives you can. The main positive of working from home is the extra time you have. You no longer have to spend time commuting to and from the office, attending meetings and all the small talk in between. Use this time to your advantage. Some suggestions:
- Make sales calls and keep on top of your pipeline (This is probably the most important thing you can do right now. Check out this article on what you should be doing to innovate your business during the corona pandemic: Covid-19 and it’s effect on Small Business).
- Get through that admin that you have been putting off for ages.
- Take an online course.
- Use the extra time to strategize and plan. We so often get caught up in the day to day and working IN our business and not enough time to work ON our business. Now is the perfect time to set goals and strategies to grow your business.
- Start a side hustle – a world of problems is a world of opportunities. Is there any idea or skillset that you have that you can capitalize on?
Step 5, get down to business.
Working from home can be distracting. You may be a parent and your kids are stuck at home as well, keeping them fed and entertained can be a full time job. But at the end of the day you still have work and a job to do. And trust me, it is imperative that you keep working and keep the economy ticking over. Find the time and execute on your responsibilities. Plan correctly and you will find your productivity will go up significantly.
Step 6, stop working when it is time.
One of the most important things is to make sure you can switch off between work and personal time. Working from home can make it difficult to do this, but it is important to have a distinction between the two. Especially now that you shouldn’t be leaving the house to exercise and socialize it is important to make time for you and your friends and family. There is only so much TV one can watch. Make time to call friends and family that you haven’t spoken to in a while. Pick up that guitar that has been gathering dust. Re-read through all those New Years Resolutions you made just 2 and a half months ago. You are being forced to stay at and work from home, don’t look back on this time with regret. Rewatching every season of Game of Thrones is not going to get you closer to achieving your goals.