4 Tips for People Working from Home
Many people find it frustrating to “waste” a lot of time in transportation as they go to work, especially if they spend more than 30 minutes on the way (let alone those who spend more than an hour!) Every day they tend to think that it would be better if they work from home. They imagine that life would be much easier if they wake up as usual, make themselves a cup of coffee, sit on the cozy couch, open their laptops, and start working in their pajamas! (Yes pajamas, for no clients or colleagues are going to see them anyway). It seems even more tempting for women as they won’t need to spend time wearing makeup or their veils on (for those who do), or even dress up, all the more tempting for mothers who would save the transportation time and do the cooking instead. In addition, they won’t have to make their children spend an extra hour in the nursery, or they won’t have to rush to pick them up from school, or from the school bus.
That would definitely be awesome! And life would be much easier as people would feel much less stressed than they normally do going to work on daily basis. The good news is that all this is true. Yes, you will be less stressed spending less time in the street with the horns, the traffic jam, and traffic fumes. And surely for not having to rush in the morning to sign in time, or to catch up with something at the end of the day either to have lunch with your family, or pick your children from school. Add to it, that you can add a little bit to your sleep, if you stayed up late the night before. Sigh! But if you have the opportunity or the will to work from home, you need to be well aware of the following measures:
-
Avoid distractions:
Now that you don’t have your boss on top of your head, or no encouraging (or threatening!) work environment, you need to know that avoiding distractions is one of the most important rules to maintain your productivity, or even increase it. If you work from home, you have to turn off all kinds of distracting gadgets like the television, and make it clear to your family members that no one is allowed to interrupt you or ask you questions or favors while you are working. Because if you are working from home, it doesn’t mean that you are available whenever they need you (unless it is something very urgent of course). It would be better if you work in your room and lock it, if you have nagging or young siblings.
If you prefer to work at a café or somewhere outdoors, you should not tell your friends to stop and have a little chat or anything of the sort, or else the place where you work will turn into a gathering place for your friends!
Either ways you must turn off all kinds of social media websites or applications –it would be better to switch off your mobile data, work from the laptop without opening Facebook and similar sites.
-
Set your working hours & daily schedule:
If your job is an hourly based one, then setting your working hours won’t pose a problem for you. The only thing you need to do is to be well aware of your working hours (either morning hours, or shifts, or even divided into sessions). Schedule your day according to your settled working hours. For example, if you work in shifts you should make sure to finish your meals and run your errands before the time starts, or if you work in sessions you should divide your meals, outings, running your errands before, in between, or after your work sessions depending on the things you should do and the time between each session.
If it is a task based job, then it will be your job to set your working hours and your daily schedule according to it. You have to be strict with yourself concerning those hours. Either you set them day to day depending on the tasks or once and for all. This will mean that you have to divide your meals according to your set working hours, and finish your other tasks or outings either before or after your working hours (not in between so as not to lose focus or get out of the mood unless it’s something urgent or that won’t take more than 15 minutes).
-
Choose your zone:
If you will be working somewhere at home, it would be better if you have a desk to work on, or you can use the dining room table if you will be alone or at least “left alone”, or a table in the balcony if you are living in a quiet neighborhood. You are thinking of the couch? I would say you can use it so little if your back aches or something. The bed? It’s completely forbidden. Before you start either working at home or outdoors you need to set everything at hand: your materials, your music playlist, your laptop charger, your snack – better a healthy one of course – if you like to crunch something while working. Anything else you might need must also be prepared so as not to leave your nook every now and then.
If you are working outdoors try to choose the less visited and quiet cafés even if they don’t serve the best pasta in town, so that you don’t lose your focus.
-
Take care of your psychological state
Actually the way your work affects your mood and psychological state is the most important of all. Because as much as we all yearn for decreasing the amount of stress in our lives as much as we are not ready to sacrifice other things in return. Like the feeling of achievement, socializing while sharing your working hours with some human company, going out and killing boredom. That’s why you need to be very careful when you choose to work from home to take the measures to ensure: your productivity, your scope for socializing, and maintaining your health. Concerning the productivity, we have spoken about setting your work hours and avoiding distractions and so on. As for socializing: if you work from home, it would be nice to work for one or two days per week somewhere outdoors so as to change the scenery and avoid boredom. You could also share your working hours and place with colleagues or friends working like you on one condition that you commit yourselves to not interrupting each other. Try to exercise also to compensate for the effort you used to exert going to work or back home every day and to boost your energy. So if you work at home, try to exercise between the sessions. If you go to a café ,try to go walking if the place is not that far.
Now, there are very few companies that allow their employees to work from home for one or two days per week. Hence, they work in the office for a maximum of three or four days. I believe this is one of the best advantages a company could offer its employees. Thus reducing the stress they are subjected to and offering a healthy work environment for almost half of the week!
By: Sara Mahmoud
Edited By: Salma Hanno
Photography: Mahmoud Mansi
Art: Ala’a Mohasseb