Working from home has been an absolute privilege for me- I SO love it! The time freedom it provides, as well as being able to work in my PJ’s is a dream. Working remotely means something different for everyone. Maybe you have your own business and work on that remotely, maybe you work for a company that allows you to work from home, maybe you work on a side project from the comfort of anywhere in the world. It really is such an amazing thing when you think about it. Have you started working from home, or want to start working from home and need some tips on staying productive? Sometimes with all the distractions of being able to work from anywhere in the world will I overtake our productivity. My work from home regimen looks different everyday, but if you’re interested in a daily routine- let me know! Some days I’m sitting at my home desk area and working from home, and other days I’m at the beach or a park or a cafe working from anywhere I want! Today I’m sharing the things I do to stay on track when working from home and making sure that I get done everything I need to do!
- Set Alarms
Whether you’re working from home for a company/someone else or working from home for yourself and your own business, setting alarms to wake up and get your day started are crucial. I normally make sure I set my morning alarms to about 8:30, which gives me a chance to wake up, check my phone to see if there are any pressing emails, and get myself ready to go down to my desk and begin work. If you don’t set alarms, you might find yourself dilly-dallying and worse- sleeping in. You definitely don’t want to cultivate lazy behaviour by working from home, which is why I recommend setting multiple alarms to wake up, check emails, eat breakfast, and carry on with the beginning of your work day.
I also like to set alarms and calendar reminders in my personal phone and my work phone for when I have calls and phone meetings with people, and I have the outlook app for my phone so it reminds me of what meetings I have scheduled for the day- 30 mins and then 10 mins before they occur! This helps with being able to tell if you are accidentally double booking something, and also helps to know what free time blocks you’ll have throughout your day to take breaks and have lunch.
2. Plan & Review what needs to be done for the day
It is so easy to fall out of routine and forget the important things you need to get done in the day if you’re not working in an office and have people coming in to talk to you during the day. I use my planner (as many of you know I absolutely love to plan) My planner is from the Recollections line sold at Michaels and Amazon, and I love it! You can purchase it here, I bought it because of it’s vertical daily planning, which means my Happy Planner stickers and planning supplies fit within all the boxes! You can shop my favourite Happy Planner stickers here. I normally spend my Sunday evenings getting my planner ready for the week, making sure to add in all important events and things to remember for the upcoming week. This is really helpful in remembering things that I need to do or buy, or upcoming events. I personally find this to also be super helpful in my work day, because I’m able to just grab my planner, write down the things I need to do and check them off one by one. Highly recommend getting The Happy Planner stickers, because they make planning that much more fun and enjoyable! They have all kinds of different sticker books depending on what your week/occupation looks like. I have a plan with me post -HERE- so you can check out how I plan my week, and how I make it pretty!
Creating a task list for the day/week has been one thing that has helped me incredibly with staying on track and the satisfaction of ticking things off the list is fun!
3. Some days you need to get dressed
Ill be the first to admit- some days I spend the entire day in my pyjamas or lounge clothes! This is partially because its comfy as heck, if I’m working from my own house normally nobody from the outside world will be seeing me and also partially because sometimes I’m not feeling the greatest due to my endometriosis. But some days, I find my productivity is just not the same if I don’t get dressed, get ready and look as if I’m going to an actual work environment. ( At least leggings and a sweater if anything) Normally I’ll still end up staying in comfy clothes, but its getting out of bed and getting out of bed clothes that really makes the difference. On the days where I work from cafes or outdoors (my favourite kind of work days!) I’m kind of forced to get ready, go out and SHOW UP. Which is the most important thing to remember to do when working remotely. Some days I can show up and be productive as heck while wearing comfy pyjama pants and other days I need to put on a little makeup and an outfit, go for a jog or walk and work all day. It’s all about what works for you! I find being in my Lululemon or Aerie clothing is the absolute comfiest work day/chill day clothing. I could be bias because I love being comfortable and looking cute at the same time!
4. Check in with people you work with – Keep yourself accountable
This one is super important and I feel as though a lot of people who work from home only see the time freedom as the biggest aspect to their new career. Remember that If you’re working for an external company like I do- that checking in with your boss and coworkers/team is crucial to ensuring the business runs correctly and lets everyone know that you’re serious about your job! I like to schedule weekly Monday morning meetings with my boss at 11 AM. This way I let him know what I’m working on for the week, and he can tell me if there are other pressing projects that I could work instead or alongside what I’m currently working on. Bosses are there to help you prioritize your work, so this is important to remember! Chatting and checking in with coworkers throughout the day/week also lets them know you care, and makes sure that the work load is being spread evenly among everyone working in your team or sector.
If you work for yourself, and own your own business (which I also do), its important to keep yourself accountable. Set an hour of the day, everyday, to check in with your social media, emails, marketing etc… to make sure you stay on track. Its very easy to fall into a lazy trap when you work for yourself, because all the work is either dependant on you or on a small group of people. Set up a time period weekly to write down your business goals for the week, whether they be financial based, time based, social media based. All your goals are important and you can be sure to stay on track to reaching them by keeping yourself accountable and checking in with your business and yourself on a regular basis. My planner also helps with this because I’m able to set both short term and long term goals in it!
5. Music Music Music
I quite literally have playlists in my Spotify that I dedicate to a work day. I normally start my mornings with a relaxing playlist to wake up, make some coffee and begin work, and throughout the day I will shuffle through my playlists depending on the work I’m doing. A lot of the times, music will keep me productive- especially because I play it out loud- and makes me focus without zoning out. I find that zoning out during the work day is super easy to do when your brain is not focused on something, even white noise, in the background. I know a lot of people who work from home and leave their TV on the background for white noise, however depending on my work load, I sometimes find TV a bit distracting which is why I utilize my playlists when I work from home. Spotify premium is my friend because I can shuffle through whichever songs I want, and I can take it with me on the go from my phone if I’m taking a walk or an outdoor break.
6. Get Outside
Ive mentioned in many of these different points that I like to work outside home a lot of the times. I like to remember that working from outside home is directly equivalent to spending money so I try and work outside home about 2-3 times during the work week. A change of scenery is SO important in productivity and can also heal a lot of creative block. I like to take my laptop and a notebook to the beach in the summer and enjoy the sun on a patio or a picnic bench, or even a picnic blanket in the sun! Im such an outdoors/nature girl so I’ll be outside at any chance I can get (even in the rain). I like to work at Starbucks or other local cafes in my area, get a coffee and work from there. Cafes offer minimal distraction in comparison to working from your bedroom or living room. You’re not able to put away dishes, fold laundry, cook dinner early or start cleaning your room and finding things you thought you lost 5 years ago. It gives you a place to clear your mind, a change of scene and a way to be able to work in a new environment. I love trying coffee from all over my city, and Toronto makes good coffee! I have a list of some of my favourite Toronto coffee shops which you can find HERE, that are laptop and remote work friendly!
Regardless of how you work or what you’re working on, remote work is definitely a privilege. Make sure that you’re making the most of your time working from home and I hope that using these tips will help a lot with understanding what does and doesn’t work for you! Leave me your tips for productivity when working remotely, id love to hear 🙂