Win a WAR against work from Home.

As of today, there are 1191 cases of Coronavirus in India. The whole country is on lockdown. Don’t worry this is not another COVID-19 related article. But you know this could have been worse. We all know how Italy, China, and America are doing. Do you know what saved us? The ability that we can successfully “Work from Home”.

Work from Home was never an easy thing to do. At Home, no one is watching you or you do not really feel that peer pressure to complete your work on time. Plus you do need a hell lot of Dedication and Commitment as houses are full of distraction. Your Mom asks you to do the housework or your sibling decides to show up to your room every now and then. And if you live in a Joint Family then your house is no less than a Circus. Trust Me I know, I live in one. ;) It was equally difficult for me in the initial days.

But as Winston Churchill said:

“Never let a Good Crisis go waste”

Think of this lockdown as an Opportunity. You have all the time on your plate to finish your pending work or polish your cooking skills. Start something that you always wanted to do. I did try a few different things in the starting days to stay on track. Maybe what worked for me will not work for all of you. But if I will be able to help even a few of you, my job will be done here.

I listed down a few tips that worked for me:

1. Get started in a similar manner.

First, choose a corner in your house where you can work silently. This may or may not look similar to your Office cabin but it is very important to get started with your work from routine. Follow your morning routine the same way you used to do while going to the office. Dress up as if you are actually going to your office. Make your coffee and start working. Do the fun activity or interact with your family after you hit your first goal for the day and want to take a break. It’s very important to start your day early to get on board with your work or you will keep on delaying your work.

2. Make a Day planner

Yes, it is important to create a list of things that you need to achieve. When you come across this list every now and then you will feel obligated to complete them as soon as possible to get the satisfaction of marking them out of your list. I do not want to get deep in Psychology but this will give you a sense of accomplishment. You can reward yourself after achieving these tasks to keep yourself motivated. But make a list of 4–5 tasks for a day. Make sure these tasks are outcome-oriented. This way you feel Happy after completing them and having visible results.

3. Identify your most productive hours

I know we don’t feel like working the whole day. Therefore, it is better to work in Sprints. Set the time limit for yourself and try to complete the work within the set time.

Identify when you feel the most productive in a day and keep your hard tasks for that hour. Make sure you get up only once you complete the task.

4. Minimize distractions

Work from home brings distractions on the plate. Social media has helped us stay close to our dear ones. Similarly, it keeps us away from work. Therefore, You should always work in Incognito mode to stay away from social media distractions. Devices are smarter than us. For Mobile phones, I prefer DND (Do not disturb) mode or block all the social media and Entertainment applications like Instagram, Whatsapp, Netflix, Youtube from opening till you finish your tasks. This will keep you from opening them every 15 minutes.

5. Keep your family on board

Making sure your family knows you are working from home is equally important. It’s not easy to make them understand the concept of work from home. For them work is Office. They are used to seeing you go out and work and now suddenly you are around them the whole day. They are bound to give you household work and expect you to finish it first. You need to keep your personal and professional life aside by making a schedule for yourself and respecting it. This way your family will also be on board with your schedule and your productivity will increase.

All these are very general guidelines that will help you to increase your overall productivity while working from home. You need to be really disciplined to implement them in your life. Start by taking small steps towards success.