With the COVID-19 outbreak, a lot of Nigerians are working from home. Working from your comfort zone may not encourage productivity because there will be a lot of distractions especially if you are residing with family and friends. If you’re going to work from home, no matter the duration, these tips will help you be productive.
Make yourself an office
This will be the spot that you do your work. If you don’t have a room that you can turn into a home office, you can set up somewhere quiet and cool. Taking your laptop and settling on the couch in front of the television will present many temptations. You’ll want to make sure that your home office has everything that you need.
Minimize distractions and set limits online
If the bulk of your work is done on a computer, you probably know all too well the distractions of the internet. It’s easy to fall into the trap of Facebook or other sites if you keep it open on one of your browser tabs all day. Allow yourself to check in before you start your work and on breaks only. When it’s work time, close any non-work related tabs and websites. If you keep Facebook open, you will undoubtedly keep flipping back to it to see if there’s anything new posted.
Don’t procrastinate
Look at your to-do list and actually do everything on it. Don’t do 90 percent of it and tell yourself that you’ll just make it up and do it tomorrow. You’ll create a cycle of constantly pushing things off to another day that is very hard to get out of. There will be days when an emergency interrupts your work, as there would be if you were going into the office each day. If you’re already behind it can really put you back further.
Take care of yourself
Make sure you eat a good breakfast so you don’t have to stop working when the hunger pangs kick in and schedule yourself a reasonable lunch break. Some also find it helpful to dress as if they were going to work. It’s not necessary to put on a suit, but something more than sweatpants and a T-shirt might help you feel more on-task. Schedule a lunch date to maintain social connections outside of your home.
Create a to-do list for the tasks you need to accomplish daily
Due to the fact that it is so easy to get off task while working from home, having a checklist of the things you need to get done will help you visualize your progress.
