Thousands of people are likely to work from home for the first time this week due to an outbreak of coronavirus. For some, it is just like any other day.
About 557 million people are working from home, and the program has now become popular.
So if you have not isolated yourself, and you have been told to work outside the workplace, how can you remain effective and maintain your hard work?
1. Wear clothes
For some people, the fact that you are wearing pajamas all day is something that pushes the desire to work from home. But bathing and dressing will not only stimulate your mind but also psychologically will motivate you to prepare to start working.
Depending on the nature of your work, some people find that wearing formal work clothes at home helps, especially if they want to make professional video calls.
Wearing decent attire when working in the office at home raises the urge to leave home, changing the appearance by changing work clothes helps to make the brain understand that workday is over.
2. Setting boundaries
If you are employed by a company, obviously you have set several hours to work, and it is important to consider that if you are working from home. Be prepared to start your day at the same time as you arrive at your office or workplace and end your day at the same time as your workplace.
The blogger, Em Sheldon, and freelance writer say he follows the same schedule even working at home. He advises '' get enough sleep to get enough sleep for waking up the next day.
"I also do this exercise which means I have to get up and go," he says. "Once you do something over and over again, it becomes a habit, so the first week can be challenging but eventually it becomes part of your routine."
At the end of the working day, it is best to turn off your computer and remove the paper and other items. Space allows you, set aside a specific area, separate in your home where you can set up a desk similar to your work area.
If there are other people at home, finding a place that is not easily disturbed is important, as noted by Professor Robert Kelly in 2017. He was interviewed directly by the BBC, explaining how his children were entering the room he was working on.
3. Get out and walk (if you have not been quarantined)
Working from home does not mean that you lock yourself in the house all day, it is not wrong to leave the house at least once a day.
So put on your shoes, get out and enjoy the fresh air. This situation will help give you new ideas or other ways to deal with something that has been bothering you.
Matthew Knight, the founder of Leapers, a group that helps self-employed people and temporary contract workers, says getting out the first thing helps him feel like it's time to work.
“There’s a mental issue for everyone that makes you feel like you’re working,” he says. "I'm going to leave home and move around and I feel like I'm at work right now. Find ways to put yourself in those boundaries otherwise, it becomes hard to get used to."
If you can’t go outside, you can even bring an office environment to your home.
“I really like being around people, so I use voice to help create the environment,” says Gillian Roche-Saunders, whose entire consulting company works outside the office.
He uses a program that produces background sounds such as a train or a conversation in a coffee shop.
4. Receive a call
If you work from home, you will likely be alone, so you will not be disturbed by your co-workers' conversations or other office noise.
When you are at work, it is possible to have a conversation with your colleagues but if you work from home, you will spend the whole day without talking to anyone in a situation that can be like isolation.
Take the time to receive a call and have a conversation, rather than relying on email or instant messaging.
'' More people hide in e-mails than to pick up the phone and talk to colleagues, '' says Hugo Mortimer-Harvey who has been working from Spain as a public relations consultant since 2018.
"When you spend all day working on your own, calling people and having conversations can inspire you and do your job better than a series of e-mails."
5. Rest several times
It is good to have a routine when you work from home to rest, not to cling to work in a row.
And do not freeze your computer all day long. It’s important to take a little break to remove your eyes from the computer screen and get up from your chair and walk around as little as you would in the office.
Research has also shown that short breaks throughout the day are more beneficial than long periods of rest.
Ellie Wilson is the co-founder of Virtalent, with more than 50 employees working from home.
"It's important to get up and stretch, to walk even out, and to relax with your computer," he explains.
"Drowning at work without rest means that the level of success decreases, you become more tired and less motivated and able to finish what you are working on."
