I've transitioned to working from home for my job, and I'm feeling like... It has made less productive. Wondering what others do to break the cycle and engross themselves in their work?
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Tips for working from home and being productive?
- Thread starter Deleted member 18944
- Start date
OP
OP
I've got a desk with my dock, ultrawide and both laptops. Both as in work laptop and gaming laptop.
You have a gaming laptop connected to your workspace? Terrible idea. I actually have two different accounts on my home desktop. When I want to work I login into one where all the gaming apps are blocked so I cannot even think of that.
I've done it for a decade. Having a dedicated office space at home is essential, but I also hot-desk at a coworking space a few days a month just to keep my social skills up. Self-discipline comes with time, but loneliness creeps up on you and can get quite insidious quite quickly.
Other than that, I've come to accept that there are times I just need to put headphones on and ignore the outside world - even if that outside world is your house. It's all too easy to get distracted by Amazon deliveries, emptying the washing machine etc. That's one area I've had to be really forceful with myself about.
Other than that, I've come to accept that there are times I just need to put headphones on and ignore the outside world - even if that outside world is your house. It's all too easy to get distracted by Amazon deliveries, emptying the washing machine etc. That's one area I've had to be really forceful with myself about.
OP
OP
The gaming laptop isn't turned on nor looked at!
Noted.
- Have a distraction-free, dedicated work space. For me, I usually end up sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop; I have a desk, but that desk also contains my gaming desktop and other gaming distractions, so it's usually a no-go for my concentration.
- Similar to above, avoid setting up shop on a comfy couch, or worse, bed.
- Dress similarly to how you would in the office. You don't have to suit up necessarily, but sitting around in gym shorts doesn't make you feel like you're working.
- Consider leaving home all together if the above aren't helping and you're able. Coffee shops are an obvious choice, but there's also tons of dedicated co-working spaces now (though they're not free usually).
- Check in with coworkers; I'd recommend actually calling folks, but anything is better than nothing. When you check in with your coworkers in makes you feel like you're actually working.
- Afford yourself regular breaks. Give yourself 5 minutes at the top of the hour (or whatever increments you want; just make sure it's regular) to dick around on Era or whatever. It gives you peace of mind that you'll be able to get to whatever mind-wandering you've got going on later; just be sure to try your best to only dick around during the dedicated break time or else it's not going to be effective.
If you can
1. make a dedicated office space, which helps you mentally flip the switch when you sit down. In this case, move the gaming laptop away. Keep only the work laptop, maybe even clean it up of any distractions, unrelated files and apps and turn Wi-Fi off on it should intenet not be needed to do the job.
2. establish a routine and habit. This will take weeks to months to figure out. If you find yourself drifting off at certain times, put in breaks and allow yourself to do something else for a bit, but - impotantly - don't do it in the office space you made. Get up, ideally into a different room or take a walk outside. Never allow yourself to do anything unrelated to the job at the "office". If you can't concentate, get up immediately and leave until you can focus again.
3. measure your success in hours or tasks but not both or you'll beat yourself up before you reach the breakthrough. This varies by personality but I found I do better when I set myself concrete goals for the work day. I can start as late as I want, take breaks as often as I want, and finish as early as long as the task I set myself for the day is done. Some do well sticking to a hard schedule of working specific hours at regular times each day and if you go that way it's important that to start with you consider it a good day when you just manage to stick to the schedule. I ask myself what would I need to get done today to consider it a productive day, and if I achieve that I feel accomplished, and anything done on top of that is extra gravy. This approach also allows you to slowly increase what you demand of yourself over time as you get comfortable with working alone, without giving you that feeling that you're constantly failing in those early getting-used-to-it days.
1. make a dedicated office space, which helps you mentally flip the switch when you sit down. In this case, move the gaming laptop away. Keep only the work laptop, maybe even clean it up of any distractions, unrelated files and apps and turn Wi-Fi off on it should intenet not be needed to do the job.
2. establish a routine and habit. This will take weeks to months to figure out. If you find yourself drifting off at certain times, put in breaks and allow yourself to do something else for a bit, but - impotantly - don't do it in the office space you made. Get up, ideally into a different room or take a walk outside. Never allow yourself to do anything unrelated to the job at the "office". If you can't concentate, get up immediately and leave until you can focus again.
3. measure your success in hours or tasks but not both or you'll beat yourself up before you reach the breakthrough. This varies by personality but I found I do better when I set myself concrete goals for the work day. I can start as late as I want, take breaks as often as I want, and finish as early as long as the task I set myself for the day is done. Some do well sticking to a hard schedule of working specific hours at regular times each day and if you go that way it's important that to start with you consider it a good day when you just manage to stick to the schedule. I ask myself what would I need to get done today to consider it a productive day, and if I achieve that I feel accomplished, and anything done on top of that is extra gravy. This approach also allows you to slowly increase what you demand of yourself over time as you get comfortable with working alone, without giving you that feeling that you're constantly failing in those early getting-used-to-it days.
OP
OP
I think a lot of it is just the perception that you are doing less work. There are some times when I have nothing to do at my job for a few minutes. When I went into an office it was fine but when those lulls happen now I feel like I'm slacking off because I'm just sitting in my house.
Dedicated work space is absolutely required.
I work from home sometimes and it's way too easy to wander off and take care of some little thing or check in on another part of the house.
I work from home sometimes and it's way too easy to wander off and take care of some little thing or check in on another part of the house.
Disciplining yourself to a dedicated workspace and work hours also needs to extend to other members of the family. The spouse, kids, and pets need to respect the work environment too. A lockable home office is often the only way to teach everybody that work means work. No exceptions. That can be really hard with kids and pets who constantly want attention. It needs to be just like you were away from home at an office where you are unavailable.
- Get out of your house before you start working
- Start the day by planning what you'll achieve today
- Set a designated work zone and stick to it
- Set a schedule for your work hours and get a routine
- Install StayFocusd and block websites
- Use a pommodoro timer
- Take breaks
- Get out of the house after you are done working
Source: Me. I've been a remote soft engineer for 7+ years now
- Start the day by planning what you'll achieve today
- Set a designated work zone and stick to it
- Set a schedule for your work hours and get a routine
- Install StayFocusd and block websites
- Use a pommodoro timer
- Take breaks
- Get out of the house after you are done working
Source: Me. I've been a remote soft engineer for 7+ years now