If you are working from home it is important to stop doing certain things so you can be as productive, and happy as possible.

Before the pandemic, remote working was becoming the norm for many businesses, with the self employed working this way for many years previous. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, 9 out of 10 businesses have adapted to hybrid working, so working from home is set to stay for a huge amount of us.

Despite your best efforts, the likelihood is that you are probably still getting working from home a little wrong. There are some easy mistakes to make, that you can continue to do without anybody to tell you not to. Until today that is. We’re going to upgrade your working from home situation by telling you to stop doing these 5 things right now:
1. Working From The Bed/ Sofas

Oh, how it is tempting to stay snuggled up in the squashiest locations in your house when you work. The problem with doing this, is, well actually there are many including:

• Being distracted by other people
• Being distracted by entertainment temptations, like the TV
• Getting all kinds of aches from being in a slouched position all day
• Struggling to separate work/ home life when work stops
• Lower productivity

It’s time to pop your spare room stuff into cheap self storage and make yourself a dedicated workspace.

2. Trying To Be Too Beautiful With Your Space

It is so easy to fill our work area with items we think make it more beautiful and functional. Several million houseplants dangling in your face, more pens than somebody who never writes notes could ever need, so many inspirational quotes it’s like you have really loud, annoying workmates whenever you read your walls. No wonder you can’t get any work done! Remove those distractions and keep it minimal. As soon as you have stripped it back, you’ll have some physical and mental space reclaimed to apply to your work.

3. Being Lounge Larry

It is a perk that you don’t have to get up and into formal workwear or uniform everyday when you work from home. However, being lounge Larry does not a productive home worker make. It can reduce your ability to separate your work life from your personal life. It can also be a real fright when you get an unexpected video call from a client or your boss.

Try to get your day off to a great start by getting out of your pyjamas or loungewear, and into something a little more suitable. It doesn’t have to be a suit, but it should let your brain know it’s time to work. You can then look forward to your loungewear later, when work is done!

4. Working All Of The Time

It is really tempting to work all hours at home, because you can.

Working all hours doesn’t always mean you are more productive when you do work. There’s a theory that any amount of time we assign to a task, is the time it takes to do that task. If you give yourself four hours, you will fill those four hours with the task. Give yourself an hour, and the same task takes an hour.

Instead of working more hours as a freelancer, try working smarter instead. This helps avoid burnout, and may even boost your productivity. As an employee, stick to a schedule to help manage the expectations of your managers, and to help you maintain work/ life balance.

5. Being Inactive

Being inactive is so easy when you work from home in your comfy clothes, on your comfy furniture and you really don’t need to leave the house. This is a problem because it makes you less likely to move, to be social, to be exposed to nature – all the good stuff you need for mental and physical health.

As hard as it is, you have to force yourself to be more active. A walk around the block at lunch, a wander around the garden in your breaks. Maybe even a run in the park with friends every other morning. Being active, keeps you in great shape for the benefit of your work life and personal life.

It’s Time To Thrive And Level-Up As A Home Worker

If you can change the five bad working from home habits above, you will see a change in your productivity, happiness, health and overall work/ life balance. It might be hard to make a change, but soon enough you’ll wonder how you ever worked differently before.