6 Ways to Find Focus While Working from Home - Millennial Nextdoor
You are thrown into working from home. It’s everything you’ve ever dreamed of! Or, is it?
Maybe you’ve always wanted to work from home or wondered what it was like. Now, that you’re doing it. You find it hard to focus, stay balanced, be productive and actually work!
When I first started working from home, it was an exciting feeling. I was working for myself so making my own schedule, making the rules, having snacks and coffee at my desk, these were just some of the perks I got to enjoy.
If you’re finding yourself starting to hate working from home or just can’t focus on your stuff, keep reading for these 6 productivity hacks to help you become focused again.
1 6 Ways to Find Focus While Working from Home
1.1 1. Batch Work
1.2 2. Wear Work Clothes
1.4 4. Prioritize Your Tasks
1.6 6. Be Comfortable
Batching involves working in small batches of time. You turn off all distractions and just work, work, work. Distractions can include:
Snacks and coffee (yes, these are included)
Really anything that can take your mind away from working. It can be tough. Even now as I write this, I’m half-arguing with my 7-year old to go play in his room, with YouTube on TV muted in the background. This isn’t my batch time, just to let you know but these are some distractions that people cope with at home.
Even your pets can be distracting. My cats have their cuddle time the same time everyday and that’s usually in the morning and late at night. So, when I’m diving into writing a piece for a client and they crawl onto my lap and force me to pet them, however cute, that is distracting.
Turn everything off. Lock yourself in a room and batch work. This will make you hyper focus.
How long is a batch?
You determine this but, I’d aim for at least 20 minutes.
You can do something like, work 20-30 minutes, take a 5-10 minute break. Rinse and repeat.
This might sound silly but if you’re in more formal wear (and not pajamas), it helps you be more productive. Try this and you’ll see what I mean. This even includes wearing shoes in your house.
Take some time and organize your work station. This means cleaning up your desk, making sure everything has a place and just making it so easy for you to work.
My husband is working from home this week and he has his coffee station at his desk plus an essential oil diffuser, to give him energy. You want to think about how you work and put everything where you need it to be.
No hunting for a pen when you have to jot a note down. Know where your cell phone is when you get a work text so you can get to it quickly. Just organize the heck out of your space.
When you’ve got a lot to do, it can feel overwhelming. To cope with this, prioritize your stuff.
Make a list of what’s most important, what deadlines are approaching and assign time to each task. It’s great if you can finish one thing at a time, instead of just doing a little work on a bit of this and a bit of that. Knocking out one task fully and calling it done will give you an amazing feeling and make you feel like you accomplished something for the day.
This is a to-do list and it helps you stay on top of your day. This includes adding breaks and lunch to this list too! These things are important.
There’s so much to do in a day, you don’t want to forget.
Before I started doing lists, I used to keep everything I needed to do in my head.
I’d remember them occasionally and make a mental note to get started on a task for the day or during the week and NEVER would. This resulted in projects and tasks getting started late, hustling to meet deadlines and just working in a totally disorganized way.
Now, I do lists in my cell phone and I use an organizer to keep me on track.
Nothing is worse than being uncomfortable when you work. I recently talked to my sister who told me she does her work from home on her couch smh. While that sounds dreamy and it might be kind of comfortable, that feeling does not last, trust me.
Not to mention, when you are off work, you sit on your couch and you think about work.
You need not only a dedicated space to work, like your office but you also need to make it comfortable. You can do this with an ergonomic chair, pillows to support your back, a great desk, and in other ways.
Your want your work environment to be structured but comfortable at the same time.
My sis eventually moved to her work desk which I recommended to her and she loves that she made that change.
There you go, 6 ways to find focus while working from home. I hope you found these tips helpful. Share your thoughts below in comments.