How to handle: work from home

The power of consistency

Now, this is something that can be applied to many areas of life - and admittedly, some people are better at it than others. There are people who like keeping all kinds of habits, and some that like their life to be very spontaneous. However, let’s be honest with ourselves here: most workplaces already urge you to build a sense of consistency. Even in companies with flexible working hours, what it usually comes down to is that people work best if they find a consistent timeframe for when they are going to work.

There are many reasons why that is so, but one of the important ones is that you train your brain better if you’re consistent at something. Anything. If you train yourself to eat every day at 8 AM, you’ll eventually always actually be hungry at 8 AM. Same goes for productivity.

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If you try to keep a consistent schedule, it will be easier for you to be productive during those hours. The more consistent you are, the better. In my case, I work every day from 8 AM till 13 PM, with a small brunch break midway. I do that every day, even on the weekends, because it suits me to be done with work that early in the day. Of course, occasional days off and vacation days won’t ruin the habit, but because of this high day-to-day consistency, my brain already hops into a “work-mode” every morning.

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"If you train yourself to eat every day at 8 AM, you'll eventually always be hungry at 8 AM. Same goes for productivity."

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Consistency plays a role not only when it comes to time, but also space. If you can reserve a corner of your apartment where you will only work, and never do anything else, that corner will slowly turn into a place where your brain will immediately jump into a productive state.

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This may be luxury to some, I know. Of course, the more isolated you can make this space, the better - so having a separate room as an office works best. However, you can achieve the same effect with a particular desk area, as long as you can make sure it’s only being used for work. Work with what you have.

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The "amazing" equipment

If you’re able to utilize WFH for your (non)freelancing business, you usually need only a few things: a computer, a place to put it, a place for you to sit. Some jobs may require you to have some shelf space or similar, but in most cases, furniture like that isn’t exactly necessary. Meaning: you don’t need it straight away and they don’t influence your productivity.

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However, those few necessary things really do influence your productivity. One of my biggest recommendations is to invest in a good chair. Mind it, not necessarily a pricey chair - good one means it has good back support and it’s comfortable for long sitting sessions. There are plenty of decent chairs out there for decent price ranges. And, investing in such a chair will likely save you from lots of worries that come from uncomfortable seating arrangements - and therefore allow you to focus on your work.

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If you had only a little bit of money to invest in your home office decor, chair is where I would spend it. I’ve spent almost a year working from a nice-looking-dining-room leather chair, and I finally gave in when I realized I kept interrupting my workflow due to back pains, or leg pains, or just feeling like I can’t sit anymore.

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The next two things on the list - computer and a place to put it - may be more pricey and you may also have limited choice in the matter of what you have to work with. For example, if a company you’ve worked for already provided you with a PC, or if you have limited apartment space to work from. With that in mind, if it’s at all possible, I’d suggest this:

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• Get a PC that works fast.

For many jobs it doesn’t have to be expensive, but if you have a 3 year old laptop that takes 15 minutes to open and you need to constantly back up your data because memory is almost full - note that this greatly influences your lack of productivity.

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• Get a desk that allows you to work while sitting AND standing.

Many of those adjustable desks now exist on the market and aren’t expensive at all. This allows you to stretch your legs when needed, while you can continue working. It is really good for your health to be able to work while standing, and ultimately, affects your productivity in a good way.

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"If you can reserve a corner of your apartment where you will only work, and never do anything else, that corner will slowly turn into a place where your brain immediately jumps into a productive state."

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Time management tool Aka - the planner.

Honestly, for this step you can use anything from post-its, paper planners or notebooks, all the way to fancy modern online platforms that allow you to track your progress and time. It ultimately doesn’t matter - what matters is, that you track how much you’ve done and how much time you’ve spent doing it. And, maybe more importantly, just pick one method and stick to it.

I’ve been one of those people who tend to lose hours looking into new tools, better looking planners and what not. Ultimately, it does not matter what you chose. Just start with something and stick with it. Eventually, you’ll get a good sense of what works well for you within the chosen method, and if there is something that doesn’t work for you. When you know that, then you can maybe look for another time management solution. However, before you spend your time trying out many different things, just commit to one at first.

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Why is having such a tool important?

Working from home comes with living from home - I know, shocking. It can be difficult to manage your entire life in one apartment. That means that a lot of your attention may be spent on things that aren’t work related. Keeping track of your work tasks will help you - hopefully - plan some real life things as well as work things. You’ll also be able to more efficiently see where your time goes, and perhaps make some changes to your billing process (if you’re a freelancer).  

Knowing how much work you’ve done will likely help you mentally as well. Sometimes, when we’re managing many small tasks in a short time, we end up with a feeling that we haven’t done much at all. While, in reality, we have done many things and should probably feel good about it.

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Feel free to share if you have any good methods that help you stay on top of your work-from-home needs!