UpYourTime blog

Whether you want to focus on one single extremely difficult task all day long or you're just a bit too cold to go to the office, working from home might be the solution for you. Sounds like fun, right? Actually, I shouldn't be any different from working at the office.

Some live under the impression that working from home is this fairy land where they sit in bed all day long, have a cup of tea and magically do all their work with absolutely no problems and with maximum productivity. And it might be the case for some people (who live in a kingdom far-far away where there is no laundry to do, no kids to watch after and no neighbors repairing stuff on the upper floor). But for the rest of us, it takes just as much work to focus as it did if you were in the office.

To help you with that, here a list of things you could do to increase your productivity when working from home:

• Don't do house chores during your work hours. It will prove counterproductive to do reports and laundry at the same time, so keep the administrative work for when you're done working.

• Get organized. Set your agenda at the beginning of the day, or even the day before, that way you won't get that easily distracted.

• Let everyone know that what you are doing is real, actual work. Friends and family might be led into believing that you're not really working since you're staying at home. So, let them know that you don't have the time to talk over the phone for hours or watching after their kids.

• Create a designated work space. And no, your bed doesn't count. Set a working environment where you have everything you need at hand and where you're far enough from the fridge, the bed and the TV. That way you won't need to go look for every item you need while working and you'll take everything more seriously.

• Take brakes. While at home you won't be interrupted by any coworker who just wants to know what's up, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't take a few breaks. They help your productivity and creativity and allow you to go back to work with new and fresh ideas.

• Make sure your computer works. You're probably going to do most of your work from a computer. So, make sure you have all the right softwares, all the needed files, that your internet connection is working and be prepared to solve and tech crises may appear.

That being said, enjoy your day at home. No, we're joking. Have a productive day and tell us how your day at home went.