Use tips to stay focused while working from home
Like many of us, Jan Schrieber was recently asked to move from the office to home, per her employer, a Southern California life insurance company.
With two teens at home, a dog eager for attention and a full slate of daily duties as a graphic designer that include web designing, creating corporate videos and recording podcasts, Schrieber’s day is busy.
So how does she remain focused while working at home?
For starters, she charts out the day the night before, with what she calls a “good old-fashioned pen and paper to-do list,” with one for work, the other for family and home life.
And with that, she’s ready to start the work day the next morning. She follows the Calendar app on her MacBook Pro to stay focused, turns off notifications, and closes her personal computer and phone to avoid distractions.
For the calendar, “I create events for everything from meeting to taking the dog for a walk and having lunch,” says Schrieber.
She’s luckier than most in that she has a private, dedicated workspace to call her own, free from family distractions.
But for some people, that could be tempting. No boss looking over your shoulder, plenty of time to sneak in endless Facebook posts, TV watching, music listening, snacking and other things that potentially take away from the job.
The key to remaining focused while working at home? Acting like you’re at the office, says Laura Stack, an author of eight business books who runs TheProductivityPro website.
“Create rules for yourself,” she says. “It’s easy to get lazy and sit in front of the computer in your robe.” Stack’s suggestion: “If this is going to be your home office, treat it as such. Dress for work.”
And go one step beyond. Since we’re all going to be asked to participate in online video meetings, look like you belong in a professional, office atmosphere. Stack says she’s seen way too many employees who haven’t bothered tidying up at home, and will have such eyesores as “beds with underwear” and other things you wouldn’t want the boss to see visible in the video window.
“Take the time to clean up,” she says.
Stack bought a divider from Amazon so she could block out portions of her bedroom, and identify only a portion as her work space.
Other suggestions:
Turn off notifications that can become distractions
“You don’t need to have the email and instant message pop up every minute,” says Josh Zerkel, the head of global community for Asana, which helps enterprises with team collaboration tools. “You can check it once an hour. Checking it every time takes you away from what you’re working on. Turning off the notification can help you focus right away.”
Don’t think about household chores
The vacuuming and dishes can wait until after 5 p.m.
If you’re not on a set schedule, set one up
Ask your employer what
they expect from you? Is it an 8-4 or 9-5 schedule? Work your shift accordingly, and if you work for yourself, stick to a set routine, otherwise, you could end up working nonstop. That’s one of the pitfalls of working at home, Stack says. “The office is always there.”
Find ways to have some form of human contact
You won’t be conversing at the water cooler or lunch room with fellow co-workers, and that may make you feel a little lonely. So pick up the phone and initiate conversations. Have video chats. Use tools like Microsoft Teams or Slack to keep up. It’s OK.
Finally, Alex Kruglov and wife Alia are living the nightmare scenario many parents have been facing. They have three kids, ages 11, 7 and 2, yet he has to find time to run his business, the tech startup Pop.in, while she puts in a full day as a manager for a Los Angeles fintech firm.
Their solution? They alternate childcare hours and end up as “poor professionals and poor parents,” he quips. Staying on focus is hard, he says, but the good thing about working at home is having flexible hours. They work all hours, putting in “14-16 hour days” trying to cram it all in.
School may or not start up in the fall for the kids. “I can’t wait for everyone to leave the house,” he says.