How to Stay Productive When Youre Working from Home

How to Stay Productive When Youre Working from Home Working from home is a perk that many companies have been allowing their employees to embrace. Often employees feel more productive and produce high quality work as they dont feel the restraints that they may feel in the workplace. Working from home has seen very good results for lots of companies, but  its very easy to get side-tracked and before you know it, youve watched the entire first season of Orange is the New Black. So how do you combat the working-from-home-lull? Read my top tips on how to remain productive whilst working from home: 1) Treat it exactly the same as a normal day at work: A mistake that people often make when working from home is changing up their schedule. In reality, you should aim to begin work at 9am (or whatever your usual starting time is) and finish at the time you usually would in the office. This gives at least a bit of structure to your day and also sets a limit to the time you should stop working. 2) Wear normal clothes: I think weve all dreamed of wearing our pyjamas into work on a rainy Monday morning, so having a full day of working from home  seems like the best thing in the world! But just because youre at home, doesnt mean you can throw on your sloppiest tracksuit bottoms and scraggy t-shirt. Instead you should wear actual clothes. This will keep you productive and you wont be as inclined to relax on the sofa like you were wearing your comfy clothes. Remember the saying Dress to Impress! 3) Turn Facebook off: This one is pretty obvious, but turn off Facebook! It can ruin productivity, especially if youre at home all day. 4) Plan your day: Working from home definitely allows a lot more flexibility in your day then working in an office. This is a one of the positives of working from home! Despite this, its always important to keep some kind of plan and to stick with it. 5)  Do allow some flexibility: Working from home is ideal if you have a busy lifestyle. Embrace all the positives of working from home by going to the gym, having a wander in the park or walking the dogs. Dont make yourself feel like you have to be at home all day everyday. The modern working day allows for flexibility and this will naturally increase your productivity and the quality of the work you do.6) Turn notifications off social media: Ive already mentioned staying away from Facebook.  But really you should limit all social media use throughout your working day. An easy way to do this is to turn off push notifications on your mobile phone from any app that isnt to do with your work. This way you wont be constantly distracted by a bleeping phone or laptop. Simple! 7) Listen to music: Its been proven that listening to music improves productivity in the workplace. Being at home means you can listen to whatever you like, whenever you want! You can even bust a move without anyone even seeing you. If thats not reason alone to work from home I dont know what is. 8) Keep yourself organised: Theres nothing worse than having a messy workplace or untidy schedule. Make sure you keep your desk free from clutter clear workspace, clear mind! The same can be said for your desk at work it can work wonders for your productivity as it makes things more organised. 9) To-do lists: This is probably one of the simplest but most effective out of this whole list, but making to-do lists can increase productivity 10 fold! Having a visualisation of the tasks you need to complete works wonders, and its damn satisfying when you can scribble something off your list! 10) Just do it: When you work from home it can be easy to put off the tasks you dont want to do (such a calling a difficult client or sorting out finances). If you get these out of the way at first, you can embrace your day without having anything hanging over your shoulders. Whats your best tip? Let us know in the comments!