How to stay focused working from home
Are you wondering how to stay focused working from home? I’ll be honest, I’ve been doing this for six years. This past year has been a struggle between my mental health journey and having my children home due to distance learning.
Working from home was a dream come true but who knew it would come with this jagged path. Although the idea of being able to work from home is exciting, it indeed is daunting when you aren’t focused or disciplined. When you add on additional factors completely out of your control, it’s easy to become frustrated and disheartened.
I always had this fun idea of working from home where I can be my own boss and set my own rules but within a few weeks, I realized I had been wasting a lot of my time on some unnecessary stuff instead of working.
I began comparing my work from home business with my corporate one and I had some huge eye-openers. When you work by yourself, it is super easy to lose focus and get tempted to do other things that aren’t related to your work.
Don’t you worry, I was in the same shoes and oh boy! It felt terrible. Hence, it became super essential for me to come up with a solid plan that would work for me to stay more focused and productive while working from home.
Simple Tips to Help You Stay Focused
I did deep research and read plenty of self-help books to get back on track. Here are the exact tips that I followed to stay focused while working from home.
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1. Know your WHY
I cannot stress how important it is to know your why before starting out literally anything. Your work from home may be giving you financial freedom or more time to spend with your family or be your own boss. We all have some or other reasons before stepping into something new.
Find out the key reason on why you actually started, was it just for fun or you actually want to make a living out of it. Then write it down in BIG BOLD writings and stick it on your desk where you can quickly grab a glance whenever you go astray. This will keep you focused on your goal and eventually you will be more focused even while working from home.
Sit down and write out some big goals for your business and try to batch them in small chunks. Make yearly, monthly, and weekly plans and treat your business as though it is what you strive for it to be.
2. Block your time
Time blocking has literally saved me from being lethargic and actually got my work done. Set aside some time for a particular task or work you want to kick-off.
For example – If you’re a blogger, give yourself 30-40 mins of time to work on your blog content creation.
In that particular time-slot, you aren’t allowed to check your phone or do any other work except the assigned task. This works like magic for me. Even while writing this piece, I have blocked my time where I am only allowed to check the mails once I finish writing this post.
3. Cut off distraction
If you are someone like me who loves checking emails and replying to everyone instantly, you need to take a break. It is super common to hop on some social media apps and end up scrolling mindlessly.
It’s then an hour or so when you actually realize you did nothing except looking at those cute shiny images. You won’t do this if you are at your workplace. Use apps like StayFocusd or RescueTime to help you avoid social media distractions.
4. Batch your work
I am a big fan of batching the tasks to stay super productive while working from home. When you’re running a small business, you are the CEO, media planner, customer service, graphic designer, and whatnot. To simplify this, I batch my tasks and it really makes me feel accomplished.
Batching your work means doing a similar kind of thing together and then moving on to others. For instance, if you are a photographer, take the editing task one day, resizing the other, labelling the next day, and so on. Don’t try mixing up different tasks. This way you will get more of your work done with super ease.
5. stay focused by Setting boundaries
When you are the boss, you need to set some healthy boundaries with your clients as well as your family members. As much as you would love working and delivering your services, you cannot be available 24:7.
Set out your work hours and do the work in those hours. Again, this is all about mindset. Determine what is that will work best for you to stay focused. Some steps may include:
- putting your phone on DND
- letting family and friends know when you are unavailable
- blocking off time (or a day) on your calendar so clients cannot schedule time with you
- starting each day with a set time for breaks and stopping work
6. Practice morning routine
Have a proper routine to follow before beginning your work. Do something to nourish your mind, body, and soul. Remember, you cannot pour from an empty cup.
Practice self-care in the morning such as meditation, yoga, journaling whatever makes you feel blissful. Having a healthy morning routine will boost you up for your workday.
As much as it is important to work for your business, it is also much essential to develop a self-care routine. Figure out something that works for you and stick to that.
7. Dress like a boss
Working in PJs may be super comfortable and your all-time dream but to be productive and have a feeling of CEO, you need to dress like one.
This will set up your mood and you will realize your responsibilities like a boss which in turn will make you focused while working from home. Think like a boss, wear like a boss, and finally act like a boss.
8. Make your workplace inspiring
How about going to the place that energizes you and you are so tempted to work better?
Having an inspiring workplace won’t only keep you focused while working from home but you will develop long-lasting respect and gratitude for the work you are blessed with. And in return, you will want to give as much as you can for your dream.
Hang some inspiring words or have that feel positive vibe kind of environment. Voila, you are ready to kick off your daily work from home goals.
9. Taking regular breaks will help you stay focused
It is proven by studies that taking regular intervals while working for long hours could actually boost up the levels of productivity.
I normally take 5-6 mins of break for every 40 mins of continuous work. It refreshes my mind and in turn, I get some exciting ideas to work on.
Go for a walk or just roam around for just 5 minutes to freshen up your mind. It also has some health benefits besides getting mentally focused on your work.
Working from home can be super challenging especially when you’re a beginner. We tend to lose focus easily or get distracted. But I’m sure if you follow at least five to six tips mentioned above, you will notice a gradual change.
I always stress on having a proper mindset whenever you begin something. Working from home is no different.
I would love to know which of the above tips are you more inclined to try to reduce distraction while working from home.