6 Effective Working From Home Tips

Duration: 5 minutes

If you’ve never had the opportunity to work from home (WFH), it can appear to be the dream scenario. Endless cups of tea, no sweaty commute, and the ability to plough through your email inbox to the soundtrack of your favourite playlist. With the positives, come the negatives – trying to stay focused can be difficult, and if you’re not careful, you can quickly find yourself falling behind on work or having to do longer hours to compensate. Whether you’re balancing your working environment with the demands of young kids, a clingy partner or talkative flat mates, fret not! OSU is here to help and give you a few tips to make working from home easier and more effective regardless of your settings.

1. Get Dressed

While working from home in your pyjamas may sound like the pinnacle of comfort, is it really the best thing for your career? Will it unlock additional productivity or boost your mental health? The research suggests not. Changing into different clothes before you start work is one of the easiest things you can do to make WFH more effective. If you get into the routine of doing this, “you start to associate the change of clothes with a change in mindset” says business psychologist Charlotte Armitage[1]. This means that you can wear clothes that inspire a feeling of power and confidence like a bad-ass shirt and trousers. Don’t feel like you have to don a suit, if you get the same results from changing into trackies and a jumper, then you do you, but it's definitely worth experimenting and monitoring.

2. Create a Work Space

Just as with your pyjamas, it may be appealing to work from your sofa or comfy bed all day but we don’t recommend you do this. Instead, set up a clear work space with what is available to you, and establish a clear ‘work’ and ‘home’ divide. If you can, keep this space specifically for work and work only[2]. If you work in your bed, where you sleep, you start to make subconscious associations with sleep and work. It’s key to choose a space in your home where association like that can't be made. We suggest, if available, working on a desk or dining table and incorporating some good old Feng Shui[3]. Bring some greenery and light to your workspace and keep it an organised and simple space. If you have a more open plan environment, why not use cabinets or bookshelves to cheaply facilitate subdivision without needing to build new walls.

3. Set Boundaries

Setting some clear boundaries with the other people you live with that are causing distractions/disruptions can help a lot. The other people you live with need to clearly understand what they can and can’t do while you’re working. Politely ask them to respect whatever boundaries you set. This can range from telling your kids to not come into your work space to telling your friends to only show you memes during your lunch break. Another aspect is setting clear boundaries for yourself. You need to be honest and honour these boundaries in order to work effectively. We suggest setting boundaries like: honouring whatever breaks you give yourself or turning off the TV while working on a task. Make sure the boundaries you set are realistic and honourable in order to have maximise effectiveness.

4. Schedule Breaks

While working from home is great, sometimes we can feel guilty for stepping away from the computer. Working from home comes with extra pressure to always be ‘online’ in fear that your boss will think you’re not doing as much work as you should. To overcompensate for this, people end up taking a shorter lunch break, having no mini breaks and working longer than they do in the office[4]. If you want to preserve your sanity and stay focused – you need to take breaks. Real breaks. Away from your laptop breaks.

We suggest you set aside an hour for lunch: make one of our delicious recipes, go for a walk, watch TV, follow our meditation guide. It doesn’t matter as long as it is time spent away from work. Taking a break every few hours for 5 to 15 minutes can help improve productivity[5]. Think of it this way, if you were in the office and needed a break – you’d chat to your colleague, you’d go to the kitchen to make tea or coffee. No-one would question this, so why have you stopped doing this? Obviously don’t abuse this, take a break if you need it and let your team know.

5. Socialise with Colleagues

As humans, we are inherently social[6], so, talk to your team! We can’t stress this point enough, check in with them, ask them how their weekend was, talk to your team like you would in the office. There’s a chance to get creative here, you don’t only have to talk about work with your colleagues. Why not try watching Netflix online together with Netflix Party or install the Bunch app which lets you play games with your team via video chat. Working from home can be somewhat isolating and tedious, so it’s important to stay connected with your colleagues to maintain team bonding, boost spirits and bounce ideas off one another. A problem shared is a problem solved, so if you’re hitting a metaphorical motivational wall, reach out!

6. Establish a Routine

Related to our advice on dressing, our last handy tip is that you should establish a routine that is uniquely tailored to you. Doing this plays a role in signalling the start of a work day and the end of the work day, which helps create a healthier work life balance and divide. For example, In the morning start your work day by trying our short breathing and stretching videos on our Instagram, having our Spiced Apple Cider Vinegar Smoothie for breakfast and changing into comfy clothes by time you start work. At the end of your work day, sign off all work-related platforms, go outside for some air or relax with some OSU Apple Cider Vinegar infused tea while reading your favourite book.

If you’re the type of person that prefers flexibility and newness, we suggest that you allow room for this in whatever routine you set. Doing things like rotating the type of exercise you do, changing the time at which you wake up in the morning and playing around with clothes and breakfast ideas can help keep the routine fresh and different.

Make Working At Home Better With OSU

Overall, there is not a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to working from home, you need to establish what works for you and using our useful tips as a guide will provide great help to you. Remember to keep a positive mindset as this will reduce stress and keep you feeling optimistic. Take ownership of your work at home and make it a fun, creative, productive, healthy and balanced experience. Don't forget to get your own bottle of any of our delicious apple cider vinegars'.

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