Juggling home schooling with working from home had a rocky start for many people. But as the weeks rolled by, home office workers devised strategies that helped them stay productive. Here are some suggestions for how to stay focused when working from home.
Work with Your Kids
The advice about working from home that everyone has heard repeatedly is to minimize distractions. However, children aren’t distractions—they’re some of the most important humans in your life. You’ll never be able to focus if you aren’t satisfied that your children are safe, clean, fed, and (reasonably) happy. Yet simultaneously working an eight-hour day while educating and feeding your kids is nearly impossible. Sit down on the weekend and make a block schedule for the coming week that includes playtime, naptime, mealtimes, and chores. Situate your workspace so that you can see and/or hear your kids while you work. Use headphones to play music that motivates you, but not so loudly that you can’t hear your children. Plan time for them to join you at the dining room table and work on school assignments, summer reading, or non-messy art projects.
Upgrade Technology
Set your computer to install updates at night to avoid annoying interruptions and slowdowns during your workday. With a houseful of people staying home together, your Internet connection can get a workout—invest in a new router that provides two separate networks on separate channels to spread out the available bandwidth. Wired connections are faster than wireless Internet, so if possible, use the most recent generation of Ethernet cables available to connect to your router, leaving the wireless to the rest of the household.
Swear Off Social Media
Even if you’re a salaried rather than an hourly employee, set yourself up to complete your daily workload within an eight-hour time frame. That means saving the social media update for before or after—not during—your workday. Let nonessential phone calls go through to voicemail, and set a time each day to return calls. Schedule check-ins with your team and supervisors and break times for yourself and your kids, banning screens to get the most quality out of a 15-minute break or lunch hour.
Don’t Treat the Kitchen Like the Break Room
Pack a lunch and snacks the night before, just as if you were commuting to the office. That way, you won’t lose productive time snooping around for snacks or quality lunch time with your kids preparing the meal instead of eating together.
Staying focused while you’re working from home is now a necessary skill for career success and productivity. Each family will have its own way of coping with being cooped up. Find your groove, make your schedule, and set appropriate boundaries so that everyone knows when the workday starts and ends.
