Tips For Working From Home For The First Time

Angela Gupta
4 min readSep 11, 2020

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Are you planning to start working from home? Is this your first time and you seem a bit lost on how to get started? Well, working from home offers plenty of benefits. You can work at your own pace, plan your day, and schedule things accordingly, set up your office wherever you want, and do absolutely anything without having your boss hover around you.

Working from home is the new trend, many companies are going remote (in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak). However, the trend has been going on since way before this happened. People switch jobs or start with their freelance careers. This article is curated to help you get started with working from home without having to worry about the many issues.

Here are a few tips to help you be productive and stay at the top of your game-

Create a proper workspace

Now, having a designated workspace does not mean that you have to stick to this place every time you are working from home. It simply means that you have an organized spot where you keep all the necessary work stuff. This way, you can go to this place whenever you need to get important things done. You will need a table set up where you can keep your laptop and other files properly. Make sure it is a comfortable space as you may have to spend more than just a few years here.

Organize your day

Start with waking up early and taking a shower. Make yourself a coffee and a nice breakfast to kick-start your day with a fresh and clear mind. Now, you can either plan your day a night before or do it right in the morning. Jot everything you have to do down and feed each one of the tasks in your calendar. Calendar reminders and events will help you stay organized all day and will make sure that you accomplish each task and deliver it promptly. You can use Google Calendars to make it possible.

Minimize the distractions

Working from home means that you will get distracted from your family members, will face network issues, or might have to go through the many noises coming from the neighborhood. The idea is to be productive as much as you can, so make sure to get rid of all the distractions. Communicate with your family about your work meetings and try to purchase all the equipment needed to create a comfortable work environment in your home. Set up your devices to “Do not Disturb” so that you do not keep getting distracted by the many calls or messages.

Set definitive time aside for breaks

Don’t assume that just because you are working from home, you won’t need breaks time and again from your work. A break is essential to maintain your productivity level. You need to stick to the routine of taking a lunch break and then short breaks to just relax. Decide a break-time activity and make sure that you follow it every day. It could be consuming snacks, taking a walk outside, spending time with the family, or stretching a bit.

Pick a finishing time each day

You may believe that working from home provides more work-life balance but be vigilant of that thought, as you can be stuck in the never-ending loop working without any balance. So, set the alarm at the end of the day to signify your usual working day is coming to an end. It is not important to wrap up the work at exactly that time but it is necessary to realize that the working day is practically over and it’s time to call it quits for the evening.

To Sum Up…

We understand that you can end up missing the unlimited coffee or the ever so freezing air conditioner that your office had to offer. However, working from home isn’t that bad either, right? You get to save many hours on travel which you can spend with your loved ones. You can finally enroll yourself in that dance class or gym you never had time for before.

Working remotely has its own pros and cons. We want you to focus on the pros and that is how you will be able to make the most out of it. Try to plan everything beforehand and keep yourself motivated. Set milestones for each and every task and celebrate when you achieve them. Also, don’t forget to focus on your personal life and try to socialize as much as you can!

Happy working!

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