How To Be Productive Working From Home

Working from home comes with plenty of perks. There is all the money and time you save on commuting, a private kitchen only seconds away (with just the right kind of coffee), and all the comforts of your home life. But that can be where the problems start: When your home doubles as your workplace, you may find yourself fighting against the distractions of your home life and your office life combined.

That doesn’t mean you need to rush back to a dedicated office space full-time, but you can take steps to be more productive in your home office. These are our recommendations for maximising your productivity when you are working at home.

Start early

Yes, working from home means you have the option to sleep in longer, but it doesn’t mean you should. Getting up later means you are not taking advantage of that extra time in your day. You could choose to start work earlier and finish earlier, you could replace your whole commute time with more productive office time, or you could simply stick to the same working schedule you had before.

Even if you don’t start work earlier, you could use that extra time for a good breakfast, exercise, seeing the family, or some household chores. There are benefits to each of them, and by the time you get to your desk, you will have been up and moving for a while so you can hit the keyboard ready to go.

Dedicated space

Establishing a dedicated work space, ideally in its own room, is one of the best ways that you can stay productive working from home. A private workspace means you can make a comfortable working environment to suit you, and furnish it and decorate it to support your productivity.

Simple details, such as the colour of the walls, can make a difference to your mood and concentration. A dedicated space also lets you design your desk around your needs. Little things like having plug sockets in the right place, or a good lamp, USB cables in reach, or a fixed monitor, can all make a huge difference. When you can simply sit down and start working without organising a desk, you will immediately be more productive.

Organisation

Getting your work space properly organised is one of the best things you can do to improve your productivity, no matter if you are in the office or working from home. Set up your dedicated workspace in the way that suits you best. Organise your screens, cables, notebooks and phone so everything is easily within reach and nothing is in your way. If you have resources you constantly need to look up, consider printing them and having them to hand instead of switching between screens, windows and apps to find what you need.

This extends to your computer too. Create a system to keep your work organised. Label folders and filenames effectively. Don’t leave your Downloads folder full of junk.

When trying to be productive from home, you also need to organise your time effectively, so for that you will need a schedule.

Schedule

Setting a regular schedule is important for productivity as it separates ‘work’ and ‘home’ time. This leaves you free to concentrate on the task in front of you without distractions. It also helps you manage expectations of when you will be available to your team, if you have one. This schedule could be based around which days in the week or hours in the day that you work, and on which task. It’s important to schedule your breaks, too.

Regular breaks

You might think that taking regular breaks is the simplest thing on this list. After all, you’re at home with all your comforts, so you can take a break whenever you choose. The reality is that without the buzz and distraction of office life and colleagues, it is easy for time to slip away, and you can spend hours working on a single task and never moving, when in an office you would naturally have stepped away from your desk from time to time.

There are health risks to consider too. The NHS has a dedicated page on the issue so take a break now, make a cup of tea, and when you come back, you can read why sitting down too much is bad for us.

Productivity techniques

Learning some simple productivity techniques can make a big difference to your day. It’s easy to be reactive when phone calls, text messages, emails, and web forms are coming in from call directions. Instead, be proactive by planning your time and using one of these productivity techniques to manage your workday.

Batching

Batching is a productivity strategy that involves grouping similar tasks together and handling them in a dedicated block of time. This could include answering all emails at once, processing invoices in a single session, or scheduling social media posts for the week in one sitting. Multi-tasking might be the ideal, but in practice, human beings work more efficiently at single-tasking.

Reduced Task Switching: Grouping similar tasks minimises the cognitive load associated with shifting between different activities. You can concentrate on one task instead of jumping between different things.
Increased Efficiency: Performing related tasks consecutively can create a workflow momentum as you get into the flow of the work and can rely on muscle memory and habit. Repetition of similar tasks can improve proficiency and lead to higher-quality outcomes.
Time Saving: Batching reduces setup and transition times. Tasks such as opening an application, or organising paperwork happen less often when you are working in a batch, which means more time to get the actual work done.
Enhanced Organisation: Batching tasks means you are planning your time better, and organising your workflow around a productive process. This puts you in control of your work, rather than letting your work control your time.

Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method that involves breaking work into short, focused intervals—traditionally 25 minutes—called “Pomodoros,” followed by brief breaks. After completing four Pomodoros, a longer break is taken.

Pomodoro is Italian for tomato. The technique was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s who used a tomato-shaped timer to experiment with concentrated bursts of work.

Enhanced Focus: Dedicating short bursts of uninterrupted time to a single task means distractions are minimised, allowing for better concentration.
Reduced Mental Fatigue: Regular breaks help prevent burnout and keep the mind fresh, sustaining productivity throughout the day. You know that you are never more than 25 minutes from another break.
Improved Time Management: The technique encourages awareness of how time is spent, promoting better planning and prioritisation of tasks. To be productive, you have to complete tasks in the allotted time.
Increased Motivation: Completing Pomodoros provides a sense of accomplishment, boosting motivation to continue working. Every time you stop, you should have progress of some kind to look back on.

Lists

Lists help compile and organise a range of tasks or ideas to help manage your workload. By gathering and prioritising everything into one place, you can simply work through the items until you are done. You can reorganise and re-prioritise your list every day, so it always reflects your changing priorities.

Better Organisation: Lists provide a clear overview of all tasks and objectives, ideally in priority order, so you have an easy way to track outstanding and completed work.
Motivation: Ticking items off a list can provide a real sense of accomplishment and a visual record of what you have achieved during the day. This makes lists an ideal productivity tool if you’re the type of person who relishes seeing tasks completed.
Memory Aid: Writing tasks down reduces the mental load of remembering everything. Just add every new item to the bottom of your list when you think of it, and you can reprioritise the incomplete tasks the next day.

Clear distractions

Even if you have a dedicated office room in your home, you will still be aware of all the household tasks you have to do. It is easy to forget about them when you are in the office, but when you are working from home, it can be distracting to think that there is washing up or laundry to do. They will only take a few minutes, but they will prey on your mind and keep you from your best work.

You can plan your schedule or breaks around these tasks, and you can add them to your organisation tool too. If you know things like this are a distraction for you, you can plan ahead too, and make sure you have household chores completed the night before.

Find the right office environment for you

Is working from home more productive? That depends on you. With a little planning it certainly can be, but productivity in the workplace can be subjective, and working from home may not be for everyone. We are social creatures by nature, so collaborative working might be a better option for you. For more information, read our articles on what a coworking space is, and the advantages and disadvantages of hybrid working.

If you decide you do need the benefits of a dedicated workspace away from home, Electric Works N7 offers a range of flexible office space in Holloway. Electric Works N7 is the ideal place to set up your flexible or hybrid office space.