If you’ve ever found yourself sitting in your home office on your phone, distracted and losing precious work hours, you know that remote work is not always conducive to productivity. Unfortunately, working in an isolated, home environment can sometimes lead to distraction and low levels of efficiency. This, in turn, can become frustrating to both you and your boss or other team members! Thankfully, even if you feel you’ve spent too much time scrolling through the news or learning how to add virtual background in teams and not enough time billing client work, you can work on improving your daily focus by adopting some new remote work strategies. Here are five ideas to make your home office your most productive and distraction-free workspace.
Improve Your Work Space
The environment you work in can have a major impact on how well you’re able to stay on task and avoid getting distracted. If your current remote workspace is crowded, disorganized, cluttered, or simply not isolated enough from the rest of the house, you might find that improving that space can help you feel more focused and motivated. To test this theory, you may want to:
- Close the door or set up an artificial barrier, such as a room divider, to create the feeling of a separate space if you don’t have a dedicated home office room
- Let in natural light by opening up the blinds when possible, or install better lighting to create a more professional feel
- Add touches of your company’s branding, such as branded immersive view zoom backgrounds, throughout your workspace to make it feel more like a true office space
- Equip the room with basic professional supplies and tools that you need to perform at your best, whether that’s a notepad, a calculator, or something else
Remove Unnecessary Technology
Although your company likely requires that your home office include some key pieces of company technology, such as a zoom office background with logo, there may be other pieces of technology cluttering your home office that you don’t need. Too much technology in one space can be a prime breeding ground for distractions. Avoid keeping the following in your home office:
- TV sets
- Radios
- Alarm clocks
- A personal smart phone
- A personal laptop
- A mini fridge
Finally, there are five rules of thumb for avoiding remote workday distractions that can help keep you grounded. You should:
- Set up a structured to-do list at the start of the day and focus on each task at a time, avoiding multitasking whenever possible;
- Clean out any non-work-related personal belongings from your home office to clear clutter and minimize potential distractions;
- Turn off your personal phone or mute notifications such as social media pings or news blasts;
- Make room for a break to stretch your legs and refill your coffee at least once every couple of hours to prevent distraction and burnout;
- Remind your family and friends of your remote work hours to prevent constant or unexpected interruptions during the workday.
When your house doubles as your office, it can feel difficult, if not near impossible, to stay away from all distractions during the workday. Keep this list handy to get started.