Do you struggle to stay productive while working from home? You’re not alone. It’s a problem a lot of us face.

The last couple of years has opened up the world of remote work. It’s created more flexibility for many different lifestyles, but it can come with its drawbacks. It can be challenging to maintain a productive work environment in the comfort of your own home. But don’t worry, there are ways to increase productivity while working from home.

Working From Home? Here’s How To Boost Your Productivity

One person may have different reasons or causes for lack of productivity, but the truth is sometimes it’s easy to fall into the work-from-home lull. Whether it’s distractions, or your mind is on other things you need to get done in the day, or you’re tired of being stuck inside all day, or there are just other things you feel you’d rather be doing.

It comes down to making sure you’re in the right mindset and you’re focused on the tasks at hand.

Below we’ve gathered a few tips, tricks, and hacks to help you to increase productivity while working from home. Maybe one of our suggestions could be key in helping you fight through your lull at home!

13 Ways to Stay Focused and to Increase Your Productivity While Working From Home

Take consistent breaks

If you’re not doing this already, you should be. It can be hard to stick to but stretch those discipline skills and treat your brain right! You may set a timer to go off once an hour, and the suggested time for a break is around five to fifteen minutes at a time. This break can look like anything: a short reading break, listening to an audiobook or podcast, doing some smaller chores around the house, blasting some tunes and having a dance party, or having a dance party while doing chores!

Stretch

Do a five-minute full-body stretch periodically throughout the day. Set a timer if you must. You will feel more energized and focused. Not only will your body feel less stiff from sitting, but your brain will feel more re-engaged as well.

Stop cramming

If you’re studying for a test, or you need to learn something for work for the meeting tomorrow or in a couple of hours, do yourself a favour and don’t cram all that information in at once. Our brains digest information more accurately slowly over time. Plan and make sure you give your brain a break. Your future self will thank you.

Set boundaries

This is another thing that if you’re not doing it, you need to get on it now. It’s a huge booster for your mindset and will increase productivity while working from home. Set boundaries for everything. Set them for family, friends, and pets. If you’re using this time to study, your education is an investment in yourself. You deserve it. If you’re working, your effort in the job and what you get paid is your investment in your family.

Dress for the part

It can be tempting to dress in pj’s or (not) wear the par-for-the-course pants, and you’ll be surprised with how much your mindset changes when you’re dressed for the part. If you’re dressed for work (or even just dressed in casual clothing), you may automatically feel more productive at work and ready to take on the tasks ahead.

Interact with other humans

If you have fur babies, remember the key here is humans. It’s almost too easy to shut yourself off from everyone while working from home. Humans are social creatures, and your brain craves it. On your breaks, send a quick call or text or shout out to someone who’s living with you.

Have a definitive finish time

Set this very important boundary for yourself so you don’t go crazy from overworking yourself. If you hear a familiar work notification, ignore it after hours. You must have time for other things in your life. Balance is key.

Have a separate workstation

Make sure it’s in a different space or a different room than where most of the activity happens in your house, and keep it that way. Personalize it as you please but do it with purpose. Your mindset should be about focus and work in this space.

Have a morning routine

This can and will look different for everybody. Have some tea, stretch, shower, exercise, meditate, breathe, do whatever makes you feel good and productive or motivated about the day.

Set all your devices to ‘do not disturb’ during your work time

Minimize distractions as much as you can during your focus time. Feel free to check your devices on your allotted breaks, but once your time is up, that device goes back on do not disturb, and don’t touch it.

Plan and prepare

Plan out your tasks for each day. Tackle the biggest ones right away and leave the smaller, or less important ones, until later in the day. We tend to be able to focus better in the mornings, so getting the bigger tasks done first and the smaller ones later as our attention span naturally fades is key for being productive at home.

Write everything down

Write down tasks for the day, the time they’re due, everything. Don’t use an app. Physically writing things down works better for your brain, and it’s a physical reminder of what you need to do. It’s good to check out of the digital world sometimes. There’s also satisfaction in checking things off lists!

Treat yourself

We all deserve a reward here and there, and it can be an excellent motivator. It doesn’t have to be big. Grab yourself a coffee or tea or something sweet! Just don’t do it frequently, or the reward will feel less like a reward soon enough.

Feeling any more productive?

If you’re still feeling the lull after trying some of these suggestions to increase productivity while working from home, that’s okay; getting that motivation and discipline can be a task itself. It does come down to knowing how you work as a person and using the tools available to improve on that.

On the opposite hand, did any of our ideas to increase productivity while working from home work for you? Did you discover a different way that helps to increase your productivity while working from home?

Follow CanScribe on Facebook and let us know what worked for you, what didn’t work, or if you discovered a new way to increase your productivity while working from home. You can also take a minute and comment below!