Whether you’ve been forced to work from home due to a global pandemic, or trying to live the laptop lifestyle you see people living, there are things you can do to prevent those distractions from occurring.

So, here are 8 tips to stay focused whilst working from home:

#1 – When Do You Work Best?

Forcing yourself to work when you really don’t feel like it will kill your productivity. But if you know you’re a great worker in the morning, then that’s when you should get the most important tasks done.

If you work better in the afternoon, then the same applies. Get those most important tasks done in the afternoon.

Once you have decided on the best time to work, write down the tasks you have been or are likely to put off and do those first. Otherwise, they will constantly be in the back of your mind. So get them out of the way and then you can get even more things done in your chosen timeframe.

#2 – Make Lists

And speaking of writing things down, you should be making daily lists of the tasks you need to accomplish. Ideally, do them the night before and list everything you should get done.

Starting each day with a fresh list of tasks will give you more motivation to get them done.

Without a list of tasks, you are more likely to get distracted and waste a lot of hours each day.

#3 – Have A Dedicated Office Space

If you want to work like you’re in an office, then you should have a dedicated place in your home to work. This doesn’t have to be a separate room, it might just be a desk in a corner of a room.

When you sit at the desk, your mind should be focused on work, not on your surroundings. As soon as you sit down, you forget you’re at home and just concentrate on getting those tasks completed that you’ve written down.

#4 – Set Boundaries For Family Members

This will be harder if you’re alone with kids but you should set boundaries on when people can interrupt you. They need to know that when you’re sat at your desk, they need to leave you alone.

Just have a conversation with the family members and tell them how important it is that you’re not distracted. With adults, this shouldn’t be too difficult as you can soon make your feelings clear if they don’t leave you alone.

With kids, you might want to give them a treat if they do leave you alone. Tell them they can have a snack or maybe take them to the park but only if they don’t interrupt you whilst you are working.

#5 – Switch Off All Distractions

When you’re sat at your desk, there should be anything within your control that should distract you.

Turn off your phone, or put it on silent and not where you can see it. Same with any other electronic device that can have notifications popping up.

This is your time to work and you shouldn’t be doing anything else but concentrating on getting those tasks completed.

#6 – Don’t Go Browsing

And the same can be said for going online too. You should only be visiting websites that are related to the work you are doing.

Don’t load Facebook up to see what meals your friends are having or what funny meme is being shared around.

This can lead to minutes of distractions each time and will also allow your mind to wander and totally lose focus.

#7 – Schedule Your Calendar

It’s great to write down daily tasks but you also need to know where you’re heading.

Therefore, having a calendar with all deadlines clearly laid out will help you to plan those daily tasks, so that the deadlines are met.

This will also allow you to keep focused each day because you know what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

#8 – Take Regular Breaks

Staring at a computer screen for long periods is not recommended. Not only can it cause eye strain but you can lose focus too.

If you take regular breaks, it will help you to re-focus on the tasks and give your eyes a rest as well.

Even if it’s a quick walk outside or a drink in another room. Quite often, more can be done with less time sitting at your desk, that’s why breaks are important.

Summary

Hopefully, these 8 tips to stay focused whilst working from home will help you to do just that. The key is to have a clear target of tasks you need to do and to remove any distractions that will stop you from completing those tasks.

But the good news is that there are ways to prioritize your work tasks and we’ll share with you some tips on how to do that below.

#1 – Give Each Task A Priority Level

You might have a long list of tasks that need to be completed but not all of them have the same level of importance.

Therefore, giving each task a level of importance will help you to sort them and also get them completed.

You might want to use labels such as:

Do First – These are the most important tasks that you have to get done first.

Schedule – The tasks that are still important but can be done after the ‘Do First’ tasks.

Delegate – The tasks that don’t have to be done by you personally can be delegated to other people.

Ignore – Some tasks you have written down which seemed important but are no longer as important.

You can use these labels for daily tasks but also for longer-term, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks too. It’s simply a matter of putting things in order and getting the most important ones done first each time.

#2 – Choose 3 Tasks To Get Done Each Day

Either at the end of the previous day or first thing in the morning, you should decide on 3 important tasks that you want to complete that day.

These tasks are the ones where if you do complete them, you can feel proud of yourself because you know that you have been very productive.

3 is a good number because if you set yourself 5-10 tasks, then it can lead to overwhelm and you’re likely to not do those tasks to the best of your abilities. It allows you to focus all your energy on just those 3 things and know that you’re moving in the right direction when you complete them.

#3 – Do The Worst First

Take the worst of those 3 tasks and do it first each day. Don’t even think about it, just decide which one you feel like doing the least and do it first.

By doing this, you can clearly focus on the next 2 tasks and not be dreading doing them.

Whether it’s a phone call you don’t want to make or a boring task that requires not a lot of thinking but will take hours to do.

Do that one task first and then enjoy completing the other tasks for the rest of the day.

#4 – Schedule Non-Negotiable Tasks

In any kind of work, there will be tasks that have to be completed. These are the non-negotiables that need to be done no matter what.

Therefore, it’s a great idea to actually schedule these in, so that you can fully focus on getting them completed. Otherwise, they might be put off and start building up and the pressure of knowing you have to get them done can cause that overwhelm again.

Schedule a block of time for each one in your calendar and don’t put them off. Don’t allow anyone to interrupt you or try and eat into those time periods.

#5 – Keep Tasks Organized

With so many work tasks to do, it can be tricky to keep track of everything that needs completing.

Therefore, keeping all your tasks in one place can really help with that. You can do this offline, by physically writing everything down if you prefer that way of organizing.

Or you can use one of the popular task apps that you can find online. With these apps, you can list all your tasks and drag and drop them onto the days where they need completing. Many of them are completely free to use too.

#6 – Set Realistic Time Frames

There’s nothing worse than setting daily goals and not completing them, even though you’ve worked really hard all day.

One way to eliminate this from happening is to set deadlines that are realistic. Sure, you would love to get dozens of tasks done each day but you have to know how long each task should take you.

If you have too many tasks on your daily list, you won’t complete them all, will rush the ones you do complete, and feel frustrated at the end of the day.

Therefore, set a realistic time for each task, so that you know roughly how many tasks you can get done within your allotted time frame.

Whatever the reason, you need to make sure that you can be productive, creative, organized, and inspired each and every day to get through those tasks, hit your deadlines, and enjoy your new role as a remote home worker.

And that’s what we can help you with right now. Here are 8 tips for remote working for beginners:

#1 – Make Yourself Known

Now that you’re not going to see your boss and co-workers each day, it’s more important that you use every way to communicate you can. You want to check in regularly, schedule online calls with team members, and make sure people know that you’re still working hard on your job.

Let your manager see the work you have completed and be open to taking on whatever they provide. The last thing you want to do is let everyone forget about you because those people are often the ones that are let go first.

#2 – Have A Reliable Set Up

Now that you’re working remotely, you need to make sure that you can do just that. Having a reliable internet connection and computer should be your top priority.

You need to be able to do video calls if necessary, so will need high-speed internet and a computer capable of streaming video.

The good news is these won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Internet is available and affordable in most countries of the world now and the price of laptops and desktop computers are also very affordable.

If you’re trying to get by using an old computer and struggling to complete your tasks, then it’s time to take your new job seriously and invest in your future.

#3 – Network With Other Remote Workers

Now that you don’t have the morning commute or co-workers to chat to, you want to make sure that the job isn’t a lonely one.

Therefore, it’s a great idea to network with fellow remote workers to share tips and help each other stay connected to the real world.

You can find people in online forums, Facebook groups, and even have group chats where you can all talk together and help each other out.

#4 – Find Your Ideal Workspace

If you’re able to complete all your work from a laptop, then there’s no need to be stuck in one place.

If you’re happy to work from home and have a dedicated place to work from, then great. You can continue to work there each day.

But if you like to broaden your horizons, then you might want to head to your local coffee shop or even look at co-working spaces and shared offices in your local area.

Having a different place to work from can keep you motivated and also expand your mind to new ideas too.

#5 – Work At Your Optimal Times

Each one of us is different. Some people prefer to work in the mornings, whereas others get their best work done in the afternoon.

Whichever type of person you are, that’s when to schedule your work for. You can often get a lot more work done in a shorter period of time when you’re fully focused. Otherwise, you might take longer to do tasks because you get easily distracted.

This also ties in with tip #4, you can choose the best surroundings also. If you can only work in silence, then you can buy some noise-canceling headphones, which means you can still go to the local coffee shop.

By choosing the best surroundings and ideal time to work, you can make sure that you get all your tasks done and even enjoy doing them.

#6 – Treat It Like A Job

And finally, you should treat your new remote job as a real job, because that’s basically what it is.

You need to set boundaries, time frames, goals, and tasks within your new job. When you should be working, then you should be working. When it’s time to log off, then log off.

It can be easy to blend in with your personal home life, with your new work life. And that’s probably not going to help you to keep focus.

Set blocks of time where you are doing your work and others for when you take breaks. Stick to those blocks of time.

You now have the flexibility to schedule your work and personal time, so use it wisely and you’ll become a remote worker that any business would want to hire.

Summary

We hope these 6 tips for remote working for beginners help you to ease into your new position easily. It’s going to take a little while to get used to your new position and the surroundings you choose.

If you hit a bump along the way, just learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s all part of the new and exciting journey you have begun. Enjoy it!