7 productivity tips to make working from home a total success

Working from home as a freelancer means an endless stream of green ticks off the to-do list, right?

No more contending with Colin in IT who loves to harp on about his weekend home improvements.

No more annoying crisp crunching noises from Sharon at lunch.

It’s just you, your tasks and a fluffy home environment. You’ll probably have more time than ever before. You’ll probably be a wizard, Harry-

-Ok, stop right there daydreamer.

The reality of working from home can be a far cry from what you imagine. It can be a hotbed of procrastination, loneliness and paradise lost. You might find you no longer have any boundaries between downtime and work time because both now take place in your home.

What even are you now, a coffee guzzling task master with no social life?

We’ve been there, done it and got the working from home t-shirt to prove it. So now were going to share 7 working from home productivity tips that can help you cut through the noise. Boost your productivity and make working from home work for you.

1. Thou shalt stay focused

This one is the holy grail of working from home tips for success. The average human checks their smartphone 80 times a day. Between our flagging concentration levels and the constant beep beep of social media notifications, it’s a wonder we get anything done at all.

But you must, reader. You no longer have the soft cushion of employee benefits, you’ve gotta bring the bacon home and rise above the distractions.

If the threat of not making your deadline isn’t enough, try downloading Freedom or the Brain Focus Productivity Timer. These apps help you to curb those unhealthy habits. It’s sort of ironic that there are apps to avoid apps, but trust us they work. Also consider subscribing to an instrumental playlist. There’s something about lift music which really helps you to get a handle on the brain.

2. Thou shalt be a planning and prioritising extraordinaire

There is nothing more overwhelming than a massive to-do list that swells with the sheer weight of its deadline demanding doom. Schedule your work based on delivery timelines. Maintain a to-do list to break your work into bite-size tasks with a reminder set on each task to alert you on the status.

Confused about what to prioritise? Connect with your project manager or client remotely to achieve better clarity on the work schedules that you have planned.

3. Thou shalt have extremely good posture

Maintaining healthy body posture is key to doing good work. Forget lying on your bed in the foetal position, invest in an ergonomic chair and computer desk which will support your back. At the risk of sounding like a nagging parent, crooked limbs are no good to anybody.

Don’t forget to take walks and regular exercise to break up the day. The daily recommendation is 10,000 steps and it really helps to keep brain fog at bay.

4. Thou shalt guard precious work like a protective bird mother

One essential working from home tip for success is to save your work in the cloud and back up your hard drive.

Sometimes, you may have power interruptions at your home that can hamper your work, and there could be a loss of data if you don’t ensure to have good back-up systems. In order to address such kind of issues, it’s best to choose an online productivity tool that saves your work directly to the drive. Sounds boring, but losing a week’s worth of work would be far worse.

5. Thou shalt drink gallons of water

Water is a big deal. No, really. Experts recommend 8 glasses a day. Dehydration can actually have a huge impact on healthy brain function and lead to mood swings and fog. Next time you feel yourself really flagging on the concentration front, try downing a glass of water.

6.  Thou shalt strike the right balance

We touched upon this earlier, but working from home can really blur the lines between rest and routine. While one of the allures of freelancing is the idea that you can rock up to work at 2am should you fancy- heck you can do an all-nighter and sleep all day if you like – the reality is that humans are habitual creatures and need routine to stay sane.

7. Thou shalt set realistic goals

Freelancing gives you the freedom to be your own boss, but sometimes you can find yourself on a hamster wheel of repetition. If you’re furiously trying to stay afloat and not really making progress, it’s time to set some goals. Consider where you’d like to be in 6 months time. Perhaps you’d like to be involved in higher quality projects, perhaps you want to diversify your skills. Either way, take some time out to work on number one.