Tips on how to stay productive when working from home

  • Act as if you’re going into the office. Working from home means getting up early in the morning, getting ready for work and setting up a personal space that you can work from comfortably – as if you’re working in your office. If you’re used to dressing up, try getting dressed even if it is just your top half for video calls. 
  • Focus on productivity, not hours. Let’s admit, the pressure to be hyper-productive at home is real. To cope with the workload, try setting time goals or personal deadlines – where you’ll work on a particular project or complete a task within your own time frame and then take a break. 
  • Stay in contact. Working remotely or working from home does not have to mean working in isolation. Web conferencing applications like Zoom, Google Meet and Messenger Rooms are perfect for daily or weekly meetings with your colleagues when working from home. Keep the team spirit going by scheduling conference calls and meetings as normal, checking in your colleagues to see if they are doing OK or if they need your assistance.
  • Take a break. Try doing the Pomodoro technique – working in bite size chunks of 25 minutes followed by standing up and walking around for 5 minutes, preferably in sunlight and fresh air, to recharge. Listen to your favorite songs on Spotify or play a soothing background music on your speaker to help you focus. When you are productive and happy, you can enjoy and appreciate the perks of working from home better.
  • Always exercise. If you’re used to daily commute, then why not try a little walk around your block or perhaps watch an online yoga class? Limited outdoor exercise such as walking, jogging, biking with safety protocols are allowed in areas under General Community Quarantine (GCQ) given that physical distancing will be observed.