A Guide to Working From Home

Everyone’s work style is different but moving your office into your home brings a whole new challenge to staying motivated and productive all day long. While some factors, like interrupting family members and loud construction across the street, cannot be changed, you can decide how you’ll respond to them. Follow our guide to learn how to work from home with minimal distractions and optimized focus.

Motivation

“I can’t stay motivated at home because my living room doesn’t feel like an office.”

If you’re struggling to maintain your motivation while adjusting to working from home, you’re not alone. In today’s busy culture, every day can seem filled to the brim with duties and obligations. If you’re feeling pulled in multiple directions, it may take all your mental energy just to sit down and log on in the morning. Here are a few tips:

• Don’t beat yourself up. No one is immune to the fight with motivation and working from home tends to accentuate that. If you’re afraid of your productivity dropping and burnout moving in for good, remind yourself that you’re not the only employee working from home right now. Consider reaching out to a trusted coworker or friend who’s also working remotely to start a conversation.
• Everyone is different, so ask yourself what works for you. Throughout your workday, what keeps you motivated? For some, a healthy reward system may work, or maybe a time management technique to keep you moving along.
• Your energy can only go so far, both mentally and physically. Consider preparing what you can ahead of time, like meals and outfits, or anything that takes an extra boost of energy out of you that could be saved for your focused workday. If you can prepare some things the night before when there’s no rush and less pressure, you may find yourself with more motivation to stay on top of your workload the next day.

Pro tip: Stay on track with a creative online time management tool. Check out our list to see which one might help you succeed.

Activity

“I keep getting tired during the day because I’m not used to working in my home.”

A vital part of working from home well is staying alert, active, and awake. If you’re battling fatigue or a stubborn dose of lethargy, it’s probably because you’re not used to making your home your workspace. We have a few suggestions for how to stay physically and mentally active during your work hours:

• Mindset matters. It’s essential to work on crafting a mindset and attitude that serve you and your workday well. Fill any free time you may have with activities that are calming so that you’re not overwhelming your brain too much. Recognize where your mind is focusing on the negative and intentionally shift it to notice positive things and reflect with gratitude on them.
• Get up and move! Without exercise, it will be much more difficult to stay upbeat and alert at your desk all day. Even if it’s just a few laps a day, make sure you’re moving your body in a way that works for you. When sitting down, remind yourself to retain good posture throughout the day and breathe deeply.
• Natural light is a game changer. If possible, position your workstation near a window where you can receive some natural light throughout the day, even if it’s cold or cloudy. This will help you feel more awake through the day and less claustrophobic about staying at home.
• Develop a few healthy habits to set yourself up for success. These might include staying hydrated, taking regular breaks for a walk or a meal, or keeping your phone on the other side of the room.

Workspace

“I can’t separate my work and personal life because I’ve always kept work at the office, and now it’s at home.”

When you’re working from home, it can feel easy to let your work and personal lives blend together. The lines where one begins and the other ends start to get muddy, which can cause extra stress on you, your family, and your coworkers. Every home’s setup is different but consider implementing one of our tips for separating your workspace from the rest of the home.

• Designate a room for your home office. Refer to it as your “office” and do your best to associate it only with your 9-5 job. This will help you retain discipline and stay on task throughout the day.
• Don’t bring other kinds of work into your home office. If possible, send notes to the teacher to a different printer and type up your personal blog post in a separate room. This will help you feel as if you’re actually going to work when you step into your office at the beginning of the day and leaving it behind when you step out.
• If you have to work in a common space, find other ways to separate it from the rest of your home. Tidy up the room before clocking in for the day, designate a specific place to sit every time you work, and organize your workstation in a way that is calming and keeps you focused.

Focus

“There’s no way to stay focused when I’m receiving constant interruptions from every direction.”

Without adequate focus, productivity at work is virtually impossible. Working remotely is an extra difficult factor because there is no accountability from your coworkers. It can feel much more difficult to stay focused when you’re at home in the atmosphere of your personal life. We hope our tips work for you!

• Develop a system for boundaries. If your main interruption comes from your family, set up a system that your kids can easily recognize and grow used to. For instance, if you are working on something that requires your full focus and a period of uninterrupted time, maybe closing your door or hanging a “do not disturb” sign could communicate that. If you’re doing something that calls for less isolated focus, the door can stay open. Whatever system you come up with, make sure your kids are fully aware of when it’s okay to bother you and when it’s not, unless there’s an emergency.
• Set rules for your phone or other interrupting technology. Even if it’s not the draw toward social media or texting with a friend that’s distracting you, our technology is disruptive. Simply having your phone in view can alter the amount of focus you give a task. When you’re working, set your phone to “do not disturb” mode, or adjust the settings so that only specific calls or notifications can alert you.
• If your house and everything that needs to get done is pulling apart your focus, try facing a direction of the room where you won’t be able to see most of the room. If you notice the bookshelves need to be dusted, don’t face your bookshelves. If you have a clear view into the kitchen and the dinner that needs to be prepped or the dishes that need to be washed, readjust your workstation.
• Stick with a schedule that works for you. If your workplace is flexible with your daily schedule, try experimenting with your hours. If you know you’re an early bird or night owl, or you know you work best with small, intermittent breaks, then you can already start tailoring your schedule to your specific needs.

Connection

“How can I work from home well when my internet can’t keep up with my zoom meetings and research.”

We all know the familiar frustration that sets in when zoom meetings lag, and important memos get disrupted by a poor internet connection. Slow internet can bring down our attitude, cut productivity short, and completely snap us out of a zone of focus. The good news is, we have a solution!

• Connect better over seamless video calls. With Kosciusko Connect’s fast fiber, choppy Wi-Fi will no longer be welcome in your home’s devices. Arrive at that brainstorming session or quarterly update meeting on time and stay present and connected for the whole call.
• Dig deeper into research without browser buffering. When you leave slow internet behind, your online research will reach new depths. Whether you’re researching a competing brand, compiling resources for a presentation, or looking up the best guide for working from home, Kosciusko Connect’s fast fiber has got you covered.
• Communicate safely without fear of network security threats. Kosciusko Connect’s Guardian tool blocks threats to your network and gives you access to in-depth parental controls. With Guardian, you’ll never have to worry about internet intruders, or what your kids are finding online while you’re hard at work. Learn more about Guardian by calling us at 574-269-0327.

We’ve given you the advice and tools to develop new healthy habits and learn what routine works for you when working from home. Did we miss anything? Let us know what helps YOU work from home well on our social media: @KosciuskoConnect.

Check out our fast fiber internet to transform your remote work experience.