If you have found yourself suddenly working from home, these tips can help you find more business success in your new surroundings.
If you have found yourself suddenly working from home, when it isn’t something you did before, don’t worry. There may well be lots of people in the same position, and it is possible to adapt, when you need to.
However, as a new situation, we understand that it can be tricky to adjust. To help you, we have some great tips to help you work from home comfortably, until you’re able to work from an office again:
Lay Down Some Ground Rules
Rules are really important when you try and work from home. Rules for your family and rules for yourself. They need to know that:
- When you are working they can’t disturb you
- They need to be quiet near the space you’re working
It is also important that family and friends who don’t live with you know not to get in touch when you’re working too.
When it comes to rules for yourself, you will want to get into a routine and be disciplined. Don’t be too hard on yourself of course, but if you can, sticking to a routine and working when you planned to will help you feel more normal overall.
Create A Professional Space
It can be a table, a spare room, a garage, a shed, a sofa – whatever you have available. If you can dedicate a space to your work though it will benefit you.
Ideally it will be separate from your relaxation space. If it can’t be, try to make the area feel different when you work in it. Maybe you wear your work clothes or, perhaps you put full lighting on. Maybe you don’t put the TV on.
Whatever it takes to make a ‘different’ working area, do it. If you need to find somewhere to store spare room furniture whilst you use it as an office, consider a cheap self storage unit.
Self storage can help you quickly make space in your home for an emergency office. It is affordable and flexible, so as soon as you need your things back and you’re back at the office, you can get them and close your contract.
Utilise Technology
Technology like video conferencing apps, project management software and calendar apps can make working from home much easier. Try to find the best systems and get everyone from your office on board. It will be much easier to collaborate if everyone is on board.
Agile Working Works
Agile working is all about being flexible and solving problems quickly. Following this at home is a great idea because you will likely have to problem solve. If the task suits the sofa, work on the sofa. If you would work better after spending a couple of hours cleaning, do that. Be flexible. What matters is the results, not how you get those results.
Take Care Of Yourself
When things are stressful in the world or your personal life, work is difficult. This is no more true than when you’re having to work from home and you hadn’t planned to. You must take care of yourself and recognise that your work may be affected.
You might struggle to focus, you might find you aren’t as productive as usual. Take a walk, take a bath, spend an hour with the kids playing, and forgetting everything that stresses you out. You must prioritise you, in order to then produce great work.
Working from home unexpectedly is very tricky, but perfectly doable if you are kind to yourself, and firm at the same time.
Remember, you will be back in the office soon. In the meantime, do your best, it’s all you can do and it is good enough.