Today “Work from Home” is on the rise. Though working remotely might be a dream for many people who are tired of commuting to the office everyday through traffic jams, still when people are asked to work from home, they are skeptical.
Well, being skeptical is natural! Staying productive, feeling motivated and having a proper work-space to work are some of the major issues.
If you are finding it difficult to stay focused while working from home, then here are some simple remote working tips to help you stay motivated!
When you have to go to your office you have a routine. You have a specific “waking up time”, “leaving for work time”, and so on. You stick to your routine.
But what happens when you are working from home?
Your routine is jeopardized! You are unable to stick to your routine.
You might start working late in the day and continue with work till midnight. Because when you work from home you sometimes do not know when to shut your computer down and rest!
As a result, you might end up feeling exhausted!!
Here, my advice would be: Plan your day out. When you are working from home you do not take your ritual office lunch breaks and coffee breaks, so better make your home routine and stick to it. Try to take short breaks often and this will let you stay focused throughout your work from home period.
For example, wake up early, make yourself a nice warm cup of tea or coffee, take shower and then start working. You can at least try to avoid waking up late and sitting with your laptop straight away!
You can make a timetable for yourself in a calendar. Then it would be easier for you to follow the timetable. You would definitely not want the dividing line between work and personal life to get blurred.
Working remotely can be difficult sometimes. Especially if you do not have a designated workplace you might lose the motivation to work.
Suppose if your working space is your bedroom, you might always feel sleepy and you might feel like napping all the time.
So, to avoid such scenarios you can choose your work-space accordingly and decorate it however you like. The reason behind doing this is simple- to keep yourself motivated and focused. This step also lets you maintain a clear boundary between your personal and professional life!
No human being can be fully functional without taking small breaks from work. Because after a certain point of time your productivity and willingness to work- both will fall. Short breaks are much needed to break the monotony.
If you really want your productivity and creativity to rise, you must sometimes take your eyes off your computer screen and do something different. Like, you can water your plants, or take short tea breaks, you can go to your balcony and catch some fresh air.
After these breaks you will feel more energized to work and find yourself more motivated and less distracted.
When you are working from home, you are probably not seeing your colleagues! If you are not communicating with your colleagues and friends, then you might feel isolated. As a result you might develop depression as well. Hence, staying connected is crucial.
Not only communication with your colleagues makes your job easier but also keeps you mentally healthy!
You can connect with your team via any online meeting tool and conduct video chats/meetings and discuss work and share virtual coffee!
Another great way of communicating with your teammates could be instant messaging apps!
Biggest challenge for working remotely is the distractions at home. Your family members might not know about your work schedules. Your kids might come and distract you; your partner might watch movies out loud and so on.
Easiest way of avoiding these nuisances would be providing your family members a timetable of your work schedules. This way they will know when you have your important calls and meetings.
If you have watched F.R.I.E.N.D.S then “being organized” reminds you of Monica. Right?
How she is obsessed over being super organized! That is how Monica manages her work, home, family and dysfunctional friends!
Well, I ain’t asking you to develop an OCD and become a paranoid over organizing person. But, being a little organized can help you pull yourself together and work efficiently.
You can set tasks for yourself and set your targets for the day. You can make a list of whom to call, make follow-ups and have meetings with.
Working smarter is always appreciated and pays off well too!
Managing remote team members is not an easy task. You probably keep calling your team members and ask about what they are working on and so much more. But this process gets cumbersome and confusing after a certain point of time.
Are you wondering an easy way out of this confusing situation?
I have a few suggestions that you might find helpful. Let’s see what are they?
If you are facing difficulty in communicating with your team and keep a track of communication among the team members, then do not worry.
I know communication inside the office is much easier where the entire team performs hand in hand. Face to face interactions with one another give rooms for better management of tasks and carry out everyday activities hassle free.
A CRM can help you seamlessly manage your team members. You can see all the relevant data, create tasks for yourself and your teammates and tag them to the specific tasks and do much more. You can mark important events in the calendar in the CRM as well.
With all data centralized in one space, there’s less chance of communication gap.
The biggest challenge of working from home is collaborating with other team members. Sometimes some of your team members might need some training and guidance from you.
How you do it?
It is simple- by staying connected with your team members.
There are several meeting applications through which you can stay connected with your team members and discuss work.
Giving speech sessions and training to your team members are easy when at office where everyone is present at the same time.
Taking client calls, taking down notes, preparing presentation everything is a lot easier.
But how will you do these all alone at home?
How will you guide your team members?
How will distribute designated tasks among your team members?
Putting in place the right collaboration and coordinate tools can make huge difference here. The ability to coordinate with your team, share important updates and collaborate on various tasks can help you keeping the team together and improving productivity!
Despite several challenges of working from home, it can be rewarding as well. If we are able to handle the challenges and the common issues, then we can work remotely without compromising on productivity at all!
The crucial part here is to put in place the system that let’s you collaborate, communicate and coordinate seamlessly.
If you are facing challenges in working remotely or simply want to improve your productivity while working from home, our experts can help. Get in touch with us for a quick guide on the tools (and of course tips) you can leverage to work remotely!