The urge to work from home hits and you cannot be happier. You think everything can be done easily. You can spend an extra few hours in bed and be lazy. You can answer emails and important calls on your phone without leaving the comfort of your cozied-up bed. That’s you being nothing else but unproductive.
Somehow, convince yourself to not be lazy and get out of bed, but you are at home, and no manager is monitoring your activities, so it takes you until midnight to submit a small task. As a professional, that’s an unprofessional way to treat working from home. If you have been caught up in a spiral of bad work ethics, especially at your house ‘office,’ here are some tips that can help you fix it:
Shun away from social media.
There are ample ways to boost your productivity levels, but scrolling through your Instagram feed, refreshing Facebook pages, and watching 5-minute hack videos on IGTV aren’t going to help. That’s you solely procrastinating. The solution? When working from home, try limiting your smartphone screen time, especially when your intentions are to mindlessly scroll Facebook.
But how? Despite being aware of their tendency to procrastinate, most people are prone to do it anyway. While the best remedy is self-control, if you fail to adhere to it, here is what you can do:
Open an incognito tab on Chrome as your social media accounts won’t be pre-logged-in.
Resort to applications that temporarily block social media access on smartphones and PCs.
Setting deadlines
Even if you have a few hours' deadline, try setting personal deadlines. It’s a given that some people perform better under pressure. While it’s subjective if you see yourself distracted when given an extended deadline, maybe you should consider setting short deadlines. That way, you won’t have the time to check random Snapchat Stories or read irrelevant Wikipedia articles just because you have a lot of time.
Take short breaks
It’s unlikely that you will finish your work without taking any breaks only to enjoy your free time later. That’s one uncalled-for work ethic. It’s better to divide your tasks into sprints rather than completing major chunks of them without giving yourself a break.
Don’t take a break just to scroll away your social media feeds into oblivion. Rather, you need a fresh breath of air to freshen up your mind. To maintain a healthy lifestyle, try walking around after every hour and so.
Follow your work routine.
You get lazy when you know you have to work from home today. It won’t hurt to spend a little more time in bed, lie around, and start working when you feel like it. Trust us. You will never feel like it until you train your mind to.
When the dread of lazying around strikes hard, you can break the mental barrier between the comfort and the discomfort of getting out of bed by making sure you set your alarm, dress properly, and follow your typical work routine.
Bonus tip – Ensure internet connectivity.
Lastly, despite all the tips to keep your focus on work, note that your work will be impacted when your internet connection drops. Whether you are temporarily working from home or it is what your job demands, ensure stable internet connectivity so you don’t fall behind in submitting your daily work tasks. If such an instance ever surfaces, try out a different service provider. You can give a shot to Spectrum cable, which comes with Time Warner Cable customer service and guarantees no connection dips and disconnections.
Conclusion
Regardless of why you choose to work from home, it can lead to an abrupt cutback in motivation, productivity, and concentration if it is not adequately planned and scheduled. So follow the aforementioned tips, and you are good to go.
