How to work effectively from home: 4 secrets of self-organization

Working online is a lifestyle, but how can you work from home effectively? In this article, you will learn how to motivate yourself if you are a rare visitor to the office or work remotely. Home work can be effective. If you have the skill of extreme concentration. How to develop it? We also wrote about this here.

1. How to organize your space

Pros and cons of working from home

How to work effectively at home if you are surrounded by irritants and constant distractions? First, you need to understand what exactly keeps you from concentrating on work tasks. It can be anything, but the difficulties one way or another rest on personal qualities or predispositions.

What prevents you from working from home effectively:

• The habit of procrastination;
• Isolation from the team or work team;
• Lack of external control of your workflow;
• Frustration due to the inability to separate hours of work and hours of rest;
• You may miss participating in an interesting project if you do not contact colleagues at all;
• If you are active and sociable, most likely “remote work" will become hell for you.

Each type of work has its pros and cons. You just have to understand how well you can work remotely and whether it's worth it. Depending on the goals and objectives for the future, the style of your work is determined. However, working from home has its undeniable advantages.

How remote work is superior to office work:

• Productivity goes up significantly when you don't waste time arguing with co-workers in the smoking room.
• Systematic frequent phone calls are an essential attribute of almost any office.
• You can always put your personal phone on silent mode or turn it off during working hours;
• You don't have to "be in shape" for meetings and summer parties. Working from home, you can solve important issues and even negotiate serious deals with clients in “sofa mode” and without getting out of your spacious and comfortable home pajamas.
• While working remotely, rhythmize your working day. More than one rest break is a good way to do this. Find a rhythm that works for you. If you master the rhythm of your working day, stress will be a rare guest in your home office.
• Well, and, of course – savings. A nice bonus of working from home is that you do not have to spend time and money on the road.

After finding out which factors make remote work less effective, and which, on the contrary, are key, decide for yourself whether you can also effectively solve tasks outside the office. If the answer is yes, then read the article further.

We have selected useful recommendations on how to organize your workspace and time. You will learn how to work effectively from home and not lose the quality of your duties.

How to work from home efficiently and organize your space

• Organize a work area. Try to find the quietest and most peaceful place. Well, if it is as far as possible from the kitchen.
• Don't skimp on amenities – buy an ergonomic chair. If you spend 7 or more hours a day in a sitting position, it is important that your body is in the most comfortable position. An uncomfortable posture in which a person spends a long time can reduce the quality of your work. Whether you notice it or not.
• Make your home office a place where you want to spend time. Decor is an important aspect that influences your attitude towards the workflow in the background. Get in the mood, hang your favorite picture or find space on the table for a small rock garden. Find your decor item "for the soul."
• The table is important. The larger it is, the more it increases your chances of being effective. All working tools should be at hand. Even if it's not the size of the table, then buy shelves or cabinets that will provide you with quick access to everything you need.
• Don't clutter your workspace. Regular cleaning is good. A couple of minutes – and your working tools in their place. In addition, the order on the desktop often leads to order in the head. Find your place for each working tool and your thoughts and ideas will be ordered according to the same principle. And you can see the most effective solution for the problem you are thinking about at the moment.
• The same principle applies to information. Find a way to organize "incoming data" by task. This is especially useful when you are working on multiple projects. Or over one large and long-term.

How to work from home efficiently and manage your time

You have probably heard about time management. Many books have been written on this topic, but, paradoxically, often there is simply no time to read them. So we did it for you and came up with a simple five-component formula that will allow you to control time:

1. Structure your work day. If you find it difficult to create a unique rhythmic freelance schedule for yourself, just work from home from 9 am to 6 pm every day. With a break for lunch, like in the office. This start will help you understand if you need additional schedule adjustments and provide a basic working rhythm.
2. Set a reminder on your phone or computer. Special applications and programs remind every hour that an hour has passed. So you can stop for a moment every hour to understand what you are doing right now – are you procrastinating or immersed in the process. And, again, the rhythm of the day.
3. What are your priorities? It is useful to make a list of goals at the very beginning of the week. But no one forbids you to create small goals for each working day.
4. Make a plan. If you are working alone on a project, you will need an action plan. Use mind maps for this. This is a useful tool that will allow you to see from the outside how your project looks like in your own head. "Dumping" all the goals of the task and ideas into one mental map file, you will get the opportunity to adjust.
5. Keep an account. Writing down your every action is pathological and not necessary. Make a plan of action at the beginning of the day, and mark what you have achieved and what you have not done at the end. It's also helpful to write small notes to yourself next to the things you didn’t do — the reason why you couldn’t figure out the task. At the end of the week, you will have a map of your project activity. You will be able to understand what is preventing you from achieving results, and what, on the contrary, has successfully fit into the overall picture of implementation.

How to effectively work from home if your boss has forgotten that you are?

It's impossible to be effective when you don't communicate your progress to those you work with, or at least to those who fund your project. Even if you are not asked to, report more often about yourself and how things are going with the project. And not only to colleagues in the general "chat", but also report intermediate results to the authorities. Otherwise, you may get the impression that you are not doing anything.

Long-term projects for which there is no news look like a pipe for lowering the budget. You are paid money, and even if you are not asked for what, it is useful to report that these investments are “in the works”.

Come to the office sometimes, or call on Skype. You are and you work. Let everyone know that you are alive and happy to work on the project!

It is also a good way for you not to lose your socialization skills and at the same time follow the news in the office. You are part of a team, even if you don't work in the same room with them. This is important to understand.

How to work effectively from home? Learn to focus

Office visits are discipline. If you're out of sorts, a caring colleague or even boss can always distract you from your disturbing thoughts. But if you are at home and got up on the wrong foot, no one will distract you from gloomy thoughts. No one will pat on the shoulder and pour coffee. So do it yourself.

Hang a poster or create any other message for yourself that will remind you every day why you wake up in the morning. Everything must have a meaning. Especially at work. After all, you devote most of your life to it.

Finding meaning and not losing it “whatever the weather” is a real art. Master it and you will be successful.