The traditional workspace has significantly transformed after the pandemic, with many companies embracing the hybrid or fully remote model. Working remotely increases productivity, helps maintain work-life balance, and saves time.
No wonder 98% of workers say they want to work remotely, at least some of the time. But working from home has its challenges, too. It can lead to burnout, make it hard to connect with coworkers, and even impact your boundaries.
That is why we have compiled the best work-from-home hacks in this blog. These hacks will help you overcome challenges while working remotely and ensure you make the most of your time.
14 Clever Work-From-Home Hacks for Peak Productivity
- The Challenges of Working From Home
- Work-from-Home Hacks to Boost Productivity Remotely
- 1. Designate a workspace
- 2. Optimize your workspace
- 3. Make a routine
- 4. Take regular breaks
- 5. Use a productivity tool
- 6. Block off focus time
- 7. Create a work-life balance
- 8. Dress for success
- 9. Eat healthy meals
- 10. Make a plan B
- 11. Change your space occasionally
- 12. Connect with your colleagues
- 13. Avoid procrastination and distractions
- 14. Reward yourself after a productive week
- Your Path to Productivity in the Remote World
- FAQs
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe Challenges of Working From Home
Before discussing the best work-from-home hacks to help you stay productive, let us quickly examine some common challenges associated with WFH. 🏠
Burnout
According to a Forbes Advisor survey report, 69% of remote workers reported feeling burned out from digital communication tools. The constant barrage of Slack notifications, emails, Zoom calls, and phone calls can impact work-life balance and cause mental fatigue while remote working.
Difficulty in setting boundaries
Separating work life from personal life becomes challenging when you work from home, as there is no physical separation between workspace and personal living space. Many remote workers also overwork and feel pressured to be constantly accessible due to a lack of routine and defined working hours.
Lack of connection with coworkers
The lack of face-to-face interactions makes it challenging to connect with your coworkers. In the long term, this often leads to feelings of isolation, loneliness, and poor mental health, as remote workers miss out on the social aspects of an office environment.
More distractions
The home can sometimes be a busy place with many distractions. You may have other family members working alongside you, friends and family may drop by, and there might be chores and children to care for. This can affect your productivity and prevent you from concentrating on work.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWork-from-Home Hacks to Boost Productivity Remotely
Here are the best work-from-home hacks to boost your productivity and overcome these challenges:
1. Designate a workspace
Working from your sofa or bed sounds appealing. But remember that they are enemies of your productivity, as your mind associates them with relaxation and fun. You need a separate workspace to create a physical boundary between work and home.
Make a dedicated workspace that gets you into a work-oriented mindset, whether a spare room or a small corner in your living room. Here are some tips for your home office:
- Set up your workspace next to a window that will give you fresh air and sunlight☀️
- Keep your workspace away from the kitchen, living area, or a window facing a busy street if you are easily distracted
- Work with what you have. If you don’t have a spare room, set up a work chair and desk in a corner of your room
- Get ergonomic furniture (including ergonomic keyboards) for your home office if you get uncomfortable after sitting for long periods
- Opt for a standing desk if you frequently need a change of pace
2. Optimize your workspace
You already have a designated workspace. Great! But does it truly work for you? It is crucial to create a workspace conducive to work and productivity. The first way to do this is to keep it clean and clutter-free. You can also do the following to optimize it further:
- Add some greenery to your space with air-filtering plants that increase oxygen production🪴
- Keep a big bottle of water nearby so you remember to drink water regularly
- Brighten it up with your favorites. Add an art piece, a splash of paint, or anything that energizes you
- Keep a music player and a dry-erase board wall if needed
3. Make a routine
One significant benefit of working from home is the flexibility to set your working hours and work whenever you want. However, this benefit can quickly become challenging if you cannot establish a consistent routine. A good routine is the key to making your day productive.
Set your working hours and use a work schedule app to make your daily schedule. Having a schedule gives you predictability while ensuring your day is well-structured.
Start with a morning ritual that marks the beginning of your work day. It can be making coffee or even a quick walk. To end the day, review everything you’ve achieved and schedule the next day.
And lastly, don’t forget to get a full night’s sleep. A well-rested brain helps you stay focused and have a happier day.
4. Take regular breaks
Working from home means you spend most of your time sitting at your desk and working. However, sitting all day is terrible for your body and your productivity.
This makes it crucial to take regular breaks. Stretch your body, do some yoga, walk, rest your eyes, water your plants, and disconnect from work. Even a 10-minute break allows you to rejuvenate your mind. You could also take a brief nap during the day to boost your energy if needed.
Physical activity is one of the best work-from-home hacks that prevents burnout, sharpens your focus, and does wonders for productivity. Therefore, make regular breaks a permanent part of your schedule. And if you need reminders, use a remote work tool to set up reminders for taking frequent breaks.
5. Use a productivity tool
One of the best work-from-home hacks is using a work-from-home tool for organizing and managing your workday. Utilize organization apps, communication services, task management systems, and productivity templates.
Many remote collaboration tools allow teams to work independently and, at the same time, stay well-connected. However, if using different apps for different purposes seems tiring, consider using an all-in-one productivity tool like ClickUp. Here’s how to use ClickUp for remote teams to transform your work-from-home experience:
- Work smoothly with Docs: Create, organize, and share project documents with ClickUp Docs, the home for all your documents and other work in ClickUp. Add pages and sub-pages, format and style them as you wish, set permissions to control access, and add collaborators. You can also convert frequently-used Docs into templates. Add files, and link your docs to workflows
- Leverage the power of AI: ClickUp Brain is the ultimate AI assistant. Ask questions about your work anywhere in ClickUp, automate tasks and progress updates, quickly create a variety of content, and more
- Brainstorm collectively: Collaborate remotely with your team to brainstorm new ideas using ClickUp Whiteboards and mind maps. This helps include everybody in ideation, irrespective of location
- Stay on the same page: Remote doesn’t have to mean not aligned. Teams use ClickUp Goals to set and track team and individual goals and create accountability. Team leads can use the Remote Work Plan Template to monitor the project progress of remote workers anywhere and set expectations and roles
- Get organized: Keep all your work streamlined with ClickUp Tasks; create tasks and subtasks from your goals, docs, and comments and track them using a variety of customizable views
- Visualize progress: Track your and your team’s progress and review pending tasks—all in a single glance with customizable and shareable ClickUp Dashboards
- Reduce context-switching: Integrate ClickUp with 1000+ apps, including Zoom, Slack, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Loom, so you don’t have to keep toggling between screens
- Save time: Access a vast library of pre-built productivity and project management templates to get started quickly
6. Block off focus time
Time blocking is one of our favorite work-from-home hacks. Research has proved that giving your full attention to a specific task gets the best results. Therefore, block off time in your calendar to focus on work that requires energy and concentration. Make this a permanent part of your schedule, like breaks.
You can do so much once you devote uninterrupted time to a specific task. Therefore, ensure there are no interruptions, not even for a message. For better time blocking, use ClickUp’s Time Blocking Template.
The template lets you keep track of your meetings, block off focus time, understand task dependencies, and prevent overscheduling. You can also allocate time for rest and recharge using it.
7. Create a work-life balance
Achieving a work-life balance can become challenging when your workspace is your home. However, it is essential to set some rules and boundaries. Here are the things to do:
- Set fixed work hours, for example, 9 am to 5 pm or 10 am to 6 pm. Stop working when your workday is over
- Create your daily schedule using the Calendar View in ClickUp and set recurring reminders with Reminders
- Communicate your working hours with your family and ask them not to disturb you during that period
- If you have kids living with you, try planning your work around their schedules
- Communicate with your team members when you’re not available for a chat. The simplest way to do this is to set your status as ‘busy’ on the team communication tool or turn off notifications for that duration
- Maintain these boundaries in your free time as well. Don’t answer work-related notifications or messages outside of your working hours unless there really is an emergency
- Be flexible. While creating a routine is crucial, be flexible enough to change it when the need arises
💡 Featured: Chris Cunningham, our Head of Social Marketing, has an interesting take on work-life balance
8. Dress for success
One of the best things about working from home is that it allows you to work in your pajamas. However, what if we told you it’s also the worst thing for your productivity?
Working in your pajamas or from your bed or sofa is a big no. This is because your brain associates these things with relaxation and sleep. So, dress for success, even if you have zero virtual meetings scheduled.
Make this a part of your routine. Dressing in work clothes and completing your morning ritual becomes a cue that your workday has begun. And at the end of the work day, change back into your comfy pajamas and relax.
This also helps you clock out mentally from work. Again, this doesn’t mean you must wear work clothes daily. Give yourself a break whenever it feels necessary.
9. Eat healthy meals
Remote work often leads to skipping lunch since you don’t have your office friends reminding you it’s lunchtime or because you’ve eaten unhealthy snacks throughout the day while working.
Instead, schedule a lunch break to recalibrate yourself and take a breather from work. Eat healthy meals that will keep you energized. For those random hunger pangs, keep a healthy snack (fruits, nuts, hummus, Greek yogurt, etc.) at hand. And don’t forget to keep yourself hydrated. 🥤
10. Make a plan B
Working from home efficiently requires a reliance on technology. Unfortunately, technology and tools can be unreliable with sudden outages, WiFi hiccups, etc. Therefore, make a plan B for when you inevitably face this.
Here are possible steps to include in this backup plan:
- Prepare a plan of action for what you’ll do in each likely scenario
- If a power outage is expected, prepare for emergency backup for your tech and internet connectivity
- Get a mobile data plan in case of WiFi issues
- Have a backup computer or tablet ready in case something happens to your usual machine
- Use online services and tools to backup your data and ensure you don’t lose your documents or files in an outage
- Identify a few co-working spaces or cafes you can work out of in case you are unable to work at your home for any reason
11. Change your space occasionally
Change your workspace from time to time to break the monotony. Go to a local coffee shop, find a coworking space, or visit the library. You can also work alongside your friend or in a park. The choice is yours!
Changing your work setting does wonders for your creativity and focus. It also improves your mood and lets you communicate with people outside your family.
12. Connect with your colleagues
Working from home limits your interaction with coworkers, often leading to isolation and loneliness. Therefore, it is crucial to stay connected with your coworkers and friends. Many companies today encourage this to keep their remote workers happy and engaged.
Keep some time aside on your calendar for personal interactions with your team. Participate in online team-building activities and go on virtual coffee breaks. Share stories, experiences, personal anecdotes, and random stuff to connect with others. You can use virtual collaboration tools like ClickUp to connect with your colleagues in real time.
Meet with your team on a video call (you can start Zoom calls from ClickUp) for a coffee break, play fun games, and send messages using ClickUp Chat.
You can also communicate asynchronously in Docs, files, and tasks with comments and @ mentions.
13. Avoid procrastination and distractions
Procrastination becomes incredibly easy in the comfort of your home, especially because you have many distractions. Here are some things to do to avoid getting distracted:
- Break down the tasks that seem overwhelming into small, manageable parts
- Minimize distractions like television and social media. If you have the habit of replying to texts within minutes, turn on your phone’s focus mode
- You can also use Focus mode while working in Docs in ClickUp to keep distractions at bay
- Inform your family members or flatmates about your working hours
- Use music to drown out the background noise
- Use noise-canceling headphones to stay focused if music is not your jam
- Set specific times to check your emails and texts
- Use apps like Forest or BlockSite to keep away from distracting websites
14. Reward yourself after a productive week
Human beings thrive on appreciation and reinforcement. Therefore, reward yourself with something you like after a successful and productive week. Visit your favorite place, get together with your friends, or do whatever you enjoy.
This will reinforce and motivate you to work hard next week. It will also help recharge your batteries and enhance social interaction.
Here’s your list of work-from-home hacks, summarized:
- Set up a dedicated workspace
- Optimize it for productivity
- Establish a consistent routine
- Include breaks to recharge
- Use tools to organize yourself better
- Time blocking helps
- Create boundaries between work and personal life
- Dress up
- Eat well and hydrate
- Have a backup plan for tech glitches
- Try different work settings
- Connect with colleagues
- Minimize distractions
- Reward and motivate yourself
Summarize this article for me pleaseYour Path to Productivity in the Remote World
Working from home is a trend that seems to be growing stronger worldwide. Employees love its many benefits, including saving time and money, better work-life balance, and more. It has its fair share of challenges, which can be tackled smartly.
The work-from-home hacks explored in this article will help you get more out of your workday. Designating a workspace, making a routine, focusing on your health, setting boundaries, and connecting with your coworkers can make working from home more fun and productive.
A work management tool like ClickUp can be your ideal partner. Sign up for free today and make your remote work day more productive.
Summarize this article for me pleaseFAQs
What’s your best personal remote work hack?
Taking regular breaks is one of the best remote work hacks. It gives your brain some time to relax and rejuvenate. You can also use this time to move your body and change your position.
How can I pass the time working from home?
It is best to make a schedule while working from home. A schedule helps you structure your day, gives predictability, and prevents you from missing crucial tasks and work.
How can I make work from home enjoyable?
Make your work-from-home experience enjoyable by caring for your body, getting some sunshine, and adding plants and fun decor to your workspace. You can also make a ‘time to work’ playlist and schedule time for activities you like, such as going for a walk.
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