Waking up 5 minutes before an important meeting, lying on your bed rather than taking a bus to the office, wearing colorful pajama pants instead of a formal suit, sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Our world has changed a lot since the first Covid-19 case took place. We have all had to get used to working from home. However, as time is flying by, it seems that not everyone has been successful in building a productive working routine from home. So, let’s take a look at 7 useful practices to help you adjust to the modern work-at-home environment.
Having your cortisol (a stress hormone) under control affects your daily mood and well-being. A simple sleeping schedule is a perfect tool to regulate cortisol in your body. So, from now on try to wake up every day at the same time (oh yeah, on weekends too). Don’t forget that if you decide to wake up early every morning you should definitely go to bed earlier as well. A proper 7-8 hours of sleep will provide you with energy for the entire day!
What is the first thing you do after waking up? Probably, you turn off the alarm on your smartphone and start scrolling through Instagram or Twitter. If this is true for you, then it is a good day to change your habit. Receiving bad news from the media or putting a lot of useless information in your sleepy brain is not the best way to wake yourself up. Try to drink a glass of water instead or do a short yoga or stretching session. Physical activity enhances blood movements, warms up your muscles, and helps you wake up faster.
A good side effect of quarantine is that there is no need to hurry up in the morning because you’re running behind to catch the last bus to the office or spending hours in a traffic jam. Now your morning is a peaceful time which you can spend for yourself. For instance, you could find a new hobby and learn something new, or start to learn a foreign language, or improve your knowledge in the sphere you work in. There is so much you can do with this free time in the morning! Creating a morning routine that works the best for you helps increase your daily productivity.
It is common knowledge that the majority of people feel more productive during the early hours of the day. Find your “perfect hour” and begin to work in the morning. Don’t leave your responsibilities for 5 minutes before the deadline. After your usual morning routine or productive rituals mentioned above, try to start work as soon as possible.
You will finish with the biggest part of your to-do list before lunch and you will have more time for family and friends in the evening.
After lockdown started, we no longer had to be in the office from 9 am to 5 pm. You may need only 5 hours to complete all your tasks for the day, for 5 hours of efficiency you can accomplish more than 8 hours of work with distractions. So, try to stay focused and limit all possible distractions, for example, put your phone away, don’t open social media, etc. Keep yourself productive, not busy.
As a strategy for productive and focused work, you may want to try interval practice. Think about how long you can work without losing your attention. 25-30 min or 1 hour? Set a timer and do your tasks for this period of time, then have a 10-15 minute break, then start your work again. In fact, our brain cannot work 24/7, so don’t forget to give yourself time to take a deep breath and regenerate your energy.
No, no, no, don’t worry, there is no need of doing a huge makeover of your room. Let’s begin with small changes in your working space at home. First, do not do job-related tasks in the area where you sleep or rest. If your living space doesn’t allow you to do this - at least turn your back to the “distracting side” (aka your cozy bed) of your room. Believe me, if you see your soft, inviting bed sooner or later you will end up there instead of working. When there is no visible distraction you will be more productive. Clean your desk and remove all unnecessary things that you may have there. You even can decorate this place like your office desk, and it will help you create a work atmosphere around you as well.
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