Many professionals dream of working from home to escape the many challenges of working in an office. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of wanting to avoid a long commute. There are others that want a quieter space where they can be more productive. Regardless of your reasoning for working from home, it’s important to do so effectively. The tips below can help you tackle your days, weeks and months when telecommuting.
1. Start Work On Time
When working from home, it’s imperative that you make a decision to start working at the same time each day. Sometimes there is a tendency to delay getting started in the morning since you don’t have a commute or someone expecting you to arrive on time. This can become a habit that’s hard to break. Starting work at the same time daily enables your body and brain to get acclimated to a routine. More importantly, a consistent schedule will help you achieve a higher level of productivity.
2. Obtain Secure Remote Access
One of the reasons why a greater number of professionals work from home these days is because innovative technologies have made it easier than it was in the past. Having remote workers can actually save business money. Many companies use software for secure remote access, which allows local user access to a remote server, computer or network. This will often include files that are in another location, regardless of the geographical distance.
Remote access is generally facilitated through an internet connection or telecommunications. Having remote access has been a game-changer for many professionals that work from home. When you have access to all of the systems that you would use when working in an office, you're less likely to be hindered during the performance of your job responsibilities.
3. Have a Dedicated Work Space
It’s easy to get distracted when you work from home if you don’t have a dedicated workspace. If possible, it’s best to have an office that you can physically enter each day instead of working from your kitchen table. The best-case scenario is to have a room with a door that you can close when necessary. This enables you to stay focused as opposed to paying attention to what’s going on around the house.
4. Attend In-Person Meetings
When planning your day, it’s best to schedule in-person meetings in the afternoon during your least productive hours of the day. This may sound counterintuitive but studies have shown that people are more effective when they complete difficult tasks in the morning and attend meetings in the afternoon. This is because most professionals are more alert and productive after having had plenty of rest. Notably, periodic in-person meetings will give you a chance to stay connected to colleagues so that you don't feel isolated.
5. Use Collaboration Tools
One of the benefits of having secure remote access is that you can collaborate with colleagues more effectively on different projects. Depending on the nature of your job, there are collaboration tools that can make working on different projects much more efficient. There are a wide variety of web-based tools that can be used when collaborating on a project while working remotely.
6. Leave Home at Least Once a Day
Although working from home is beneficial for a lot of reasons, you must establish a schedule and systems to make sure you remain motivated throughout the day. One way to ensure your routine doesn’t become monotonous is to leave your house at least once a day. This is important because working from home can cause feelings of loneliness and taking a break by going outside of the home gives you a chance to interact with other people. It can be as simple as going to the post office or walking the dog for 10 to 15 minutes. You can accomplish the same thing by taking the time to socialize with colleagues after normal business hours.
In addition to the tips provided, you'll need to figure out what works best for you. One of the joys of working from home is having the autonomy to do things your way.
