Business

How to Stay Focused When You Work from Home

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Are you dealing with new challenges now that you work remotely&quest; COVID-19 changed the way people work with a lot more <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;tech-tips-remote-employees-follow&sol;">remote work<&sol;a> happening&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Before 2020&comma; about <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;pewresearch&period;org&sol;social-trends&sol;2020&sol;12&sol;09&sol;how-the-coronavirus-outbreak-has-and-hasnt-changed-the-way-americans-work&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">20&percnt; of people<&sol;a> worked from home&period; As of October of 2020&comma; 71&percnt; of people worked from home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Whether you&&num;8217&semi;re new to the work at home life or you&&num;8217&semi;ve been doing it for a while&comma; figuring out how to stay focused can be a challenge&period; Removing distractions and setting boundaries can help&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Keep reading for more tips on staying focused while you work from home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Create a Dedicated Workspace<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You can work from your laptop on your sofa or even lie in bed and crank out emails&comma; but having a dedicated workspace and using it regularly helps you stay focused&period; The ideal setup is having a separate room for your home office&comma; but that&&num;8217&semi;s not possible in all homes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Setting up a work station in a section of another room can work&period; Choose the area with the least amount of distractions where you can work quietly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you&&num;8217&semi;re using your home&&num;8217&semi;s wi-fi&comma; proximity to your router is a consideration&period; A home office on the opposite end of the house might not receive a strong enough signal&comma; which can make your internet connection spotty or slow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Within that space&comma; set up your desk and other necessary work areas to maximize space and keep you focused&period; Consider the activities you need to do and how you can best set up your space to accommodate those activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Have the Right Tools Available<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you work from home&comma; you don&&num;8217&semi;t have access to shared office equipment&comma; such as printers and copiers&period; You also need a desktop computer or laptop that&&num;8217&semi;s powerful enough to handle your workload&period; This article from <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;lenovo&period;com&sol;us&sol;en&sol;faqs&sol;laptop-faqs&sol;how-to-work-from-home&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">Lenovo<&sol;a> touches on ideal laptop requirements when you work from home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Make sure you have all of the tools you need readily accessible in your work space&period; Start with what you have&comma; and decide if your current home equipment is enough to handle the workload&period; You might need to upgrade some of your equipment or add pieces that you don&&num;8217&semi;t already have&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you have key work tools in place&comma; you can work efficiently with fewer interruptions&period; You don&&num;8217&semi;t have to go to a print shop to pick up copies of documents you need&comma; for example&period; Instead&comma; you can simply print them at home with your printer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Remove Distractions in Your Environment<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Sit down in your home office and look around for distractions&period; Do you find yourself staring out the window and watching people outside&quest; Reposition your desk so you don&&num;8217&semi;t have an easy view out the window&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Maybe your office is in the living room right in view of the TV&comma; so you&&num;8217&semi;re tempted to turn on your favorite shows&period; You might need to relocate your office or turn the desk to avoid the TV temptation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Lots of clutter can also be a distraction&period; If it bugs you&comma; you might find it difficult to focus on your work tasks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Everyone is different in what they find distracting&period; Notice what draws your attention away from work&comma; and find ways to remove or overcome those distractions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Block Electronic Distractions<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you&&num;8217&semi;re home and not in an office&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s easy to sneak in a little more time scrolling Facebook or visiting websites you wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t normally visit&period; Reduce those electronic distractions to increase your work productivity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Many extensions and apps can block certain websites during a set period to keep you from mindlessly navigating to them&period; They can limit your time doing certain activities to help you spend more time on work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Another strategy is to silence your phone or turn off notifications during your work at home time&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s natural to reach for your phone whenever you hear a sound or see a notification across the screen&period; Checking that one notification breaks your work flow and could suck you into more activities on your phone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Dress the Part<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">No one is there to enforce a dress code when you&&num;8217&semi;re working from home&comma; but avoid the temptation to work in your favorite pajama pants and bunny slippers&period; How you get ready for the day can affect your mindset&comma; which can make or break your productivity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you&&num;8217&semi;re in loungewear&comma; you might feel less focused and a lot less business-like&period; If you dress up for work&comma; even if it&&num;8217&semi;s a little more casual than you might wear to the office&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;re shifting your brain into work mode&period; It helps you differentiate between relaxation time and work time when everything is happening at home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">It&&num;8217&semi;s a simple psychological trick that can help you get more out of your work day&period; Plus&comma; you won&&num;8217&semi;t get caught slacking if you have an unexpected video call for work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Stick to Your Schedule<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Schedule your worktime each day&comma; even if you have flexibility in your work from home schedule&period; A schedule makes your work time more structured&comma; just like it would be in an office environment&period; Establish your working hours for each day&comma; and stick to the schedule&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you&&num;8217&semi;re at home&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s tempting to squeeze in a few chores during your work day&period; Whether it&&num;8217&semi;s dirty dishes&comma; laundry&comma; or general tidying&comma; those cleaning tasks can distract you and interrupt your work flow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If possible&comma; work from a location in your home where you can&&num;8217&semi;t see those messes&period; Establish a cleaning routine that gives you time outside of your work schedule to tackle those tasks&comma; so they aren&&num;8217&semi;t constantly looming while you&&num;8217&semi;re trying to work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you tend to get distracted&comma; whether with messes&comma; media&comma; or other distractions&comma; set timers&period; Decide how long you want to take away from work&comma; and use your phone to set a timer for that amount of time&period; When the timer rings&comma; stop those extra activities and go back to work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Give Yourself Breaks<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">You might think you&&num;8217&semi;ll get more done if you push through your work day without breaks&period; But research shows that you&&num;8217&semi;ll likely perform better if you give yourself breaks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">If you focus your attention on a task for too long&comma; it can wear you out and hurt your performance&period; Even a short break gives your brain a rest and might help you focus better when you get back to your task&period; You&&num;8217&semi;ll likely be more productive&comma; remember more information&comma; and feel better&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Decide on regular break times during your normal work at home schedule&period; You might take a longer morning&comma; afternoon&comma; and lunch break&comma; or perhaps you prefer shorter breaks more frequently throughout the day&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Experiment with different break options&period; Then&comma; stick with the one that works best for you&period; Schedule the breaks into your work day calendar if you need to so you remember to take them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Stay Active<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">During your work breaks&comma; don&&num;8217&semi;t just sit around&comma; especially if you sit all day for your job&period; Getting active during breaks can help boost your energy levels and refresh your mind&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you&&num;8217&semi;re at home&comma; you have lots of activity options&period; You can take a walk around the block to get fresh air&comma; or jump on that exercise equipment in the basement that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t get much use&period; You can even pop in an exercise video or turn on a quick YouTube workout&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Have a Daily Agenda<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Knowing what you need to accomplish can help you stay on track and meet your work goals&period; Determine what you need to get done with quantifiable goals for each one&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The way you set your agenda or plan your activities for the day depends on how you work best&period; A checklist with the different tasks you need to complete is often a motivational tool to help you keep track of your work for the day&period; You might also pencil in each task on your calendar for the day to set time limits on each task&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Set Boundaries With Others<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">When you work from home&comma; your friends or family might take that as an invitation to chat or spend time with you&period; They might assume you can join them for an extended lunch&comma; or they might ask you to help them with something during the workday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Even if your remote work is flexible&comma; allowing others to change the work schedule you&&num;8217&semi;ve established can hurt your productivity and cause frustration&period; Decide on your boundaries and rules for how you use your work time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Then&comma; express those rules and boundaries to others&comma; especially those who frequently interrupt your work time&period; For your immediate family or roommates&comma; tell them when you&&num;8217&semi;ll be working&comma; and ask that they respect those work times&period; Set rules for when it&&num;8217&semi;s okay to interrupt you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">For friends or extended family members who don&&num;8217&semi;t live with you&comma; simply explain to them that you have dedicated work time&period; Let them know that it&&num;8217&semi;s your job&comma; and you can&&num;8217&semi;t take time away without notice&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Stick to those boundaries once you establish them&period; If you give in once&comma; that person will likely expect you to continue making exceptions for them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Stay Focused When Working From Home<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Being able to stay focused when you work from home can be a challenge&period; Your home is comfortable to you and is full of distractions&period; Minimizing those distractions and treating your day as if you&&num;8217&semi;re going into the office can help&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Visit our business archives for more work-related content&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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