7 Tips for Working from Home
How changing my surroundings helped shape better habits
“How do you get anything done working from home?”
This is one of my favourite questions to answer.
Even though working remotely has become super common, many people still can’t fathom the idea of working productively from home.
Friends of mine will often speculate the various setbacks they think they’d come up against working from home, but the truth is, my experience has been nothing but positive. I’d actually go a step further and say that trading the traditional work environment for my home office has been the catalyst for many positive changes in my life.
It’s a balancing act
Working from home has helped me shape better habits, but like with anything, there are daily choices that I make to help keep myself in check.
Inspired by the questions I’ve been asked on how I structure my work days, I thought I’d put together a post documenting some of my solutions to the potential setbacks of working from home.
Enjoy!
1. Keep things tidy (yes mom, you were right all along)
Nothing derails my productivity more than when our condo is cluttered. Especially now that I’ve claimed the second bedroom as my home office.
Whenever I spot a misplaced item in my peripheral, my focus goes out the window. And once I notice one thing, I start noticing clutter everywhere. I’m sure many can attest to this.
To avoid the above from happening, I keep things organized. I like to find “homes” for our things so that they always get put away once we’re done using them. As a rule of thumb, I try to leave a room tidier than when I got there.
Tip: If I have a couple minutes to spare I’ll often try to tidy something. I’ll throw a load in the laundry, go through our mail, take out the recycling etc.
Small tasks here and there amount to a lot of work by the end of the week.
2. Take breaks
When you work from home, distractions are lurking around every corner, and it’s not just the clutter waiting to distract you. There’s the snack cupboard, the TV, your adorable co-worker (aka the dog). The list is endless.
One of my new/simple tricks to combat distraction is to split my work time into 90 minute intervals (the same intervals that I use for sleep).
90 minutes of uninterrupted work is a nice amount of time to focus on a specific task. You can get a surprising amount done in this time frame and it’s short enough that your mind shouldn’t start to wander.
Once your 90 minutes is up, take a short break. Stretch your legs, work on a blog post, refill your coffee mug or whatever floats your boat.
Tip: I try to match some background audio to the work I’m doing to help keep me focused. For production/less creative work I usually put on a podcast. For creative/concept work I like to stick to music with minimal lyrics.
3. Separate your work and home life
When your work and home life exist in the same space, it’s important to set boundaries so that one doesn’t overwhelm the other.
I’ve found that setting time and space limits is important.
While the couch does look like a comfy place to set up shop, I only work in my office. When I’m done for the day, I close the door and leave my work there.
I try to do the same thing with my time. I think there’s a misconception that working remotely means you should be ready to work whenever. This can be the misconception surrounding creative professions too. If you’re passionate about your work you should be doing it at all hours. Right?
Wrong. I like my job but I also like my family, my friends, my dog, cooking, working out (kinda) etc. It’s important to try and stick to some sort of schedule. Work when it’s time to work and live your life the rest of the time.
Tip: A big plus to working from home is that it’s easy to keep on top of little chores around the house… but this can also turn into a problem. While I think it’s totally cool to take a break from work to toss a load in the wash, set some time limits.
Expanding off of 90 minute work intervals, maybe consider adding a time limit to your breaks as well.
4. Stay connected to your team
People think that working from home equals loneliness, and truthfully, sometimes it can. Lucky for us we live in the 21st century and there are a plethora of apps that make communication easy.
At Trajectory IQ (TIQ) we rely on Slack for our day-to-day messaging. It has a beautiful interface, is easy to use, keeps conversations super organized and it integrates with many of the other apps we use in our workflow.
We always start and end our work week with a team call to make sure that we’re all on the same page and can highlight what we need to focus our collective efforts on. It’s also a lot of fun to use Slack’s screensharing abilities to have show and tells and fill each other in on what we’re working on.
Tip: Just remember that even though you’re in a virtual meeting, you should still aim to make a good impression. TIQ cofounder (my boss) put a great little post together with 5 simple webcam rules. Check it out!
5. Don’t reinvent the wheel
When a group of people have to work together as a team but are separated physically by distance, it’s important to define a workflow and find the tools to make things work seamlessly.
To help keep our team connected and on track, we’ve integrated some awesome applications and tools into our workflow. For this posts sake I won’t be listing off all of the apps we use (if you’re interested, this post goes into full detail) but I will say this, there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
If you’re facing challenges in some aspect of your remote work, chances are someone else is too. Do some research and ask around. More than likely there’s an app or tool out there that can help you out.
Tip: Join a group of colleagues that are in the same area of work as you. I’m part of a community (again on Slack) made up of local designers. Whenever one of us is faced with a dilemma, we pose it to the group and get suggestions or advice.
6. Create a motivational environment
This point is an extension of point No. 1. While it’s important to keep a tidy workspace, it’s just as important to create a space that inspires you to create great work.
Nothing kills productivity more than when you don’t have the right tools for the job. Invest in the right programs and equipment and keep them up to date.
Next, work on creating an environment that you actually want to spend time in. Things to think about: natural lighting, storage units, cleanliness, artwork… beer fridge 😏?
Tip: If you like to keep things simple but also want to display some of your favourite personal items, try creating “loud” and “quite” areas within your space.
We installed a feature bookshelf above our desk to house a collection of our favourite books and knick-knacks. For the rest of the room, we tried to balance the busyness out with bare walls and minimal furniture. It creates a personalized space without being too distracting.
7. Leave the house once and awhile
As a social person, I knew I’d have to integrate socialization into my schedule if I was going to make the remote thing work.
Luckily for me, the team at TIQ are a pretty lively bunch and put a solid effort into communicating with each other. To add to this, I try to seek out local meet ups (like Creative Mornings), plan lunch dates with friends and fit in morning group workouts during the workweek.
Tip: As soon as I recognized that my productivity and general happiness improved when I started my day off in a social setting, I moved my workouts to the am (read more about my morning routine here).
I’d encourage any remote worker to try and set their alarms a little earlier and test this theory out.
Thanks for reading!
If you have any questions that weren’t covered in the above, leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
Even better, if you have your own tips and tricks for tackling remote work, please share! I’m always looking for new ways to improve the way I work.
