<ul><li>Get a desk. Try to put it in a less used room of the house with a quality chair.</li><li>Natural light. Be by a window for natural light and fresh air.</li><li>Get up early. Don't work from your bed.</li><li>Exercise. Preferably outside to get you up and into the fresh air. </li><li>Be healthy. Eat well and drink plenty of water.</li><li>Top three tasks. Capture your top three tasks for the day with the most difficult first. </li><li>Prepare your calendar. Know what the day is bringing.</li><li>Take breaks. Do not sit at your desk all day. </li></ul>

How To Work Productively From Home

<img width="1024" height="1024" alt="work from home better" src="https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?fit=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1" srcset="https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?w=1080&amp;ssl=1 1080w, https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?resize=600%2C600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i1.wp.com/spurplanners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/organised-home-office.png?resize=100%2C100&amp;ssl=1 100w">Remote working may have been thrust upon us during the pandemic but for many it will become a more regular way of life. Employers are realising that they don’t need to pay for expensive office space, or certainly not as much of it. Employees are seeing commute time removed and more time with family. All good right?Sort of. Despite some obvious benefits there are challenges with working from home that we need to address. Top of this list is that working from home wellbeing needs to improve. We need to take a more active role in managing remote working and wellbeing so everyone benefits.Many employers are picking up this challenge but we, the workers at home, also need to rise to the challenge. If we don’t we risk being one of the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/coronavirus-covid19-remote-working-office-employees-employers/" dir="ltr">22% who struggle to unplug after work </a>or one of the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/07/08/future-work-good-challenging-unknown/" dir="ltr">54% of parents who have struggled to find a balance</a>. Now is the time to find your working from home wellbeing balance.<div>"Focus on being productive instead of busy."</div><div>Tim Ferriss</div><h2>How do I find my working from home wellbeing balance?</h2>To find your working from home wellbeing balance you need to consider the core elements of your role now you are working from home. You may have muddled through 2020 in the belief you will soon be back in the office. Now you need to be prepared that you may never be back in the office full time. Your makeshift office space at home may become more permanent. So let’s figure out how we turn this into a positive!<h3>Your Home Office</h3>It’s time to move away from the kitchen table or get off the sofa. Having a home office space that is separate from your normal living space is vital to your working from home wellbeing. Consider the following;<UL><LI>Get a desk. Try to put it in a spare or less used room of the house avoiding the kitchen, living room and bedroom.</LI><LI>Set up like a mini office. Have a good quality chair. Set your IT equipment up so wires are not in the way and your keyboard and monitor are positioned correctly. All those Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessments should come in handy now!</LI><LI>Natural light. Try to be by a window so you can get natural light and fresh air. Ideally a window that does not overlook anything you may be distracted by like a busy street.</LI></UL><h3>Your Pre-work Routine</h3>We have already mentioned our article on a morning routine and we recommend you check it out as it has more detail. We will share the basics here though to get you started;<UL><LI>Get up early. The temptation is to lay in bed as you don’t have to commute. That will leave you starting the day feeling sluggish.</LI><LI>Exercise. Preferably outside to get you up and into the fresh air. Start the day by getting the blood pumping and you will feel more energised when you start work.</LI><LI>Be healthy. What you eat early on sets the tone for the day so eat a healthy breakfast and drink plenty of water. That coffee you ‘desperately need’ first thing, guess what, caffeine is less effective when you have just woken up. Save it for mid-morning.</LI></UL><h3>Plan Your Day</h3>You can do this early in your day or last thing in your day for the next day. We prefer to do this in the morning because urgent issues can crop up out of office hours and throw your well planned next day into disarray;<UL><LI>Top three tasks. Capture your top three tasks for the day with the most difficult first. Most people are most productive in the mornings so use this time to complete challenging work.</LI><LI>Prepare for meetings. Review your calendar and write short reminders on each meeting so you know what you want from the meeting and what is required from you. Now you are prepared for every meeting.</LI><LI>Take breaks. Do not sit at your desk all day. We are huge advocates of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique" dir="ltr">Pomodoro</a> technique for managing our time and energy. Take regular breaks away, ideally outside to recharge.</LI></UL><h3>The End Of The Day</h3>This is the part many people are struggling with. How do you switch off? In one sense it’s easy, just turn off your computer like you would at work. In another it’s difficult because your computer is accessible all the time. This is the most subjective part of the day so find what works for you, but consider;<UL><LI>Stop when YOU are ready. That doesn’t mean log off at 11am and treat yourself to a day of Netflix. Equally, don’t feel that because it is 5:01pm that you must log off or face immediate burnout. Some days you will finish a little early for all sorts of reasons. Some days you will finish later. The key is your working from home wellbeing balance and make sure a later night one day does not become habit.</LI><LI>Do have an absolute cut-off. Not to contradict the above but at some point you must call it a night. You need to recharge and you need to spend time with family. Stopping for the evening meal is often considered a natural break point.</LI><LI>Socialise. A nice but still proactive way to end the day and boost your working from home wellbing is to connect with colleagues. Check in on your team and/or colleagues and spend a short time catching up. This may seem frivolous but all those conversations at the coffee machine have gone and need replacing. It also acts as a natural wind-down to your day.</LI></UL>Working from home has many perks but you must work hard to stay productive.Make sure you treat working from home professionally. Avoid the kitchen table or floor and work in a dedicated space.Put in place a routine that works for you and allows you to be at your best.<h2>Implement Now</h2>There are a huge number of articles on all manner of things you can do to increase your working from home wellbeing. Sometimes the array of options can become overwhelming and because you don’t know what to do, you do nothing.We have laid out a total of 12 actions you can take now to create and environment and routine that support you being more effective working from home in the long-term. The quicker you implement them the quicker you can take control of your own working from home wellbeing balance.At <a href="https://spurplanners.com/" dir="ltr">Spurplanners</a> we challenge you to build and use your own routine and then tell us what differences it has made.<h3>Share this:</h3>

The methods needed to maintain your working from home wellbeing. How to stop developing bad habits and stay productive.

remotework

Remote Work

career

Career

Remote working may have been thrust upon us during the pandemic but for many it will become a more regular way of life. Employers are realising that they don’t need to pay for expensive office space, or certainly not as much of it. Employees are seeing commute time removed and more time with family. All good right?

Sort of. Despite some obvious benefits there are challenges with working from home that we need to address. Top of this list is that working from home wellbeing needs to improve. We need to take a more active role in managing remote working and wellbeing so everyone benefits.

Many employers are picking up this challenge but we, the workers at home, also need to rise to the challenge. If we don’t we risk being one of the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/coronavirus-covid19-remote-working-office-employees-employers/">22% who struggle to unplug after work </a>or one of the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/07/08/future-work-good-challenging-unknown/">54% of parents who have struggled to find a balance </a>. Now is the time to find your working from home wellbeing balance.

How do I find my working from home wellbeing balance?

To find your working from home wellbeing balance you need to consider the core elements of your role now you are working from home. You may have muddled through 2020 in the belief you will soon be back in the office. Now you need to be prepared that you may never be back in the office full time. Your makeshift office space at home may become more permanent. So let’s figure out how we turn this into a positive!

It’s time to move away from the kitchen table or get off the sofa. Having a home office space that is separate from your normal living space is vital to your working from home wellbeing. Consider the following;

<ul><li>Get a desk. Try to put it in a spare or less used room of the house avoiding the kitchen, living room and bedroom. </li><li>Set up like a mini office. Have a good quality chair. Set your IT equipment up so wires are not in the way and your keyboard and monitor are positioned correctly. All those Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessments should come in handy now! </li><li>Natural light. Try to be by a window so you can get natural light and fresh air. Ideally a window that does not overlook anything you may be distracted by like a busy street. </li> </ul>

We have already mentioned our article on a morning routine and we recommend you check it out as it has more detail. We will share the basics here though to get you started;

<ul><li>Get up early. The temptation is to lay in bed as you don’t have to commute. That will leave you starting the day feeling sluggish. </li><li>Exercise. Preferably outside to get you up and into the fresh air. Start the day by getting the blood pumping and you will feel more energised when you start work. </li><li>Be healthy. What you eat early on sets the tone for the day so eat a healthy breakfast and drink plenty of water. That coffee you ‘desperately need’ first thing, guess what, caffeine is less effective when you have just woken up. Save it for mid-morning. </li> </ul>

You can do this early in your day or last thing in your day for the next day. We prefer to do this in the morning because urgent issues can crop up out of office hours and throw your well planned next day into disarray;

<ul><li>Top three tasks. Capture your top three tasks for the day with the most difficult first. Most people are most productive in the mornings so use this time to complete challenging work. </li><li>Prepare for meetings. Review your calendar and write short reminders on each meeting so you know what you want from the meeting and what is required from you. Now you are prepared for every meeting. </li><li>Take breaks. Do not sit at your desk all day. We are huge advocates of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique">Pomodoro </a>technique for managing our time and energy. Take regular breaks away, ideally outside to recharge. </li> </ul>

This is the part many people are struggling with. How do you switch off? In one sense it’s easy, just turn off your computer like you would at work. In another it’s difficult because your computer is accessible all the time. This is the most subjective part of the day so find what works for you, but consider;

<ul><li>Stop when YOU are ready. That doesn’t mean log off at 11am and treat yourself to a day of Netflix. Equally, don’t feel that because it is 5:01pm that you must log off or face immediate burnout. Some days you will finish a little early for all sorts of reasons. Some days you will finish later. The key is your working from home wellbeing balance and make sure a later night one day does not become habit. </li><li>Do have an absolute cut-off. Not to contradict the above but at some point you must call it a night. You need to recharge and you need to spend time with family. Stopping for the evening meal is often considered a natural break point. </li><li>Socialise. A nice but still proactive way to end the day and boost your working from home wellbing is to connect with colleagues. Check in on your team and/or colleagues and spend a short time catching up. This may seem frivolous but all those conversations at the coffee machine have gone and need replacing. It also acts as a natural wind-down to your day. </li> </ul>

Working from home has many perks but you must work hard to stay productive.

Make sure you treat working from home professionally. Avoid the kitchen table or floor and work in a dedicated space.

Put in place a routine that works for you and allows you to be at your best.

There are a huge number of articles on all manner of things you can do to increase your working from home wellbeing. Sometimes the array of options can become overwhelming and because you don’t know what to do, you do nothing.

We have laid out a total of 12 actions you can take now to create and environment and routine that support you being more effective working from home in the long-term. The quicker you implement them the quicker you can take control of your own working from home wellbeing balance.

At <a href="https://spurplanners.com/">Spurplanners </a>we challenge you to build and use your own routine and then tell us what differences it has made.

Working From Home Wellbeing - Spur Planners

How To Work Productively From Home

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