This post includes a paid for advertisement with LIVI.
Working from home can seem like a dream at first. You don’t have to commute, you can eat at home, you can wear your trackies all day. All of these things are incredible but the reality is you have to be focused and have really good self control. When I first started working from home I would be distracted by washing up, washing clothes, tidying, walking the dog and worst of all scrolling mindlessly through my phone whilst lying in bed in my PJs with my laptop pushed aside. I have finally come to create the perfect working day from home. Working from home is all about saving yourself time to work on developing your business and achieving your dreams so here are my 5 top tips to being productive when you are working from home.
1. PLAN YOUR DAY IN ADVANCE
Each evening before I go to bed I fill a piece of paper with everything that is on mind and everything I have to do. This means that I won’t struggle to sleep because of worries running through my mind all night long. Once I have emptied my brain onto a piece of paper, I write down everything that I have to do and have to achieve the next day. Being freelance means that everyday is different, you may have meetings in town, for me I often have to pop into town for an audition and rush back home to write a blog post, then shoot some content for Instagram before the sun goes down. This post is all about those days when I am working from home all day long. Plan your appointments, meetings and conference calls in advance and block in times for different tasks. If you need to book in a parcel pick up, a conference call or even a doctors appointment. Make sure you block out time for this. I actually often skip going to a doctors because I simply don’t have time to leave the house or spend a long time on the phone trying to get an appointment. Livi allows you to book a doctor’s appointment and see an NHS GP by video, all for free. You can get a video call with a doctor within 10-15 minutes enabling you to schedule the time you want, saving you loads of time on the phone trying to book an appointment and sitting in doctor’s waiting rooms.
2. EXERCISE IN THE MORNING
I love to wake up a little bit earlier each working day and do some exercise. After walking and feeding my dog I either go for a run or go to a bootcamp class. If I go for a run I will pop on a podcast about the world of social media. I find this gives me a great sense of motivation and also inspires a lot of new work ideas. If there are no new podcast episodes to catch up on I will put on some up-tempo music. My current fave, over a year after it was released is The Greatest Showman soundtrack. There’s something about that album that really gees me up for my run. Exercising in the morning allows you to get some fresh air and increase your flow of endorphins making you a generally happier morning person. Go on, give it a try. once you have done it I bet you you will feel nothing but happiness.
3. GET DRESSED
This may seem obvious and simple but it really is necessary to get out of your PJs and into real clothes. I am often guilty of coming back from bootcamp in my dirty clothes and sitting at my desk to “quickly” respond to my emails. Come 3pm I am still sat there typing away as a dirty mess. I have found that I am far more productive if I have a wash as soon as I get back from working out. I wear nice but comfy clothes, I do my make up, my hair and I pop in my contact lenses (glasses make me sleepy).
4. CONQUER THE EMAILS
I personally like to spend my first hour of the working day doing my emails. Along with my diary I reply to every email in my inbox. I read and sign contracts. I RSVP to events and schedule in meetings. The reason I like to do my emails in the morning is that you will hopefully get a response on the same day. I also like to make any phone calls or conference calls in the morning. There’s nothing worse than having an amazing phone meeting in the evening to then be hyped up and excited about a project but not be able to work on it right away with a fresh and excited mind.
5. SCHEDULE IN SOCIAL DISTRACTIONS
Whether you work in the world of social media or not you can fall into a rather unproductive worm hole. If you don’t work in social media but love the social networking platforms then you need to schedule these into your day. If you are an influencer then you may want to schedule in more time. I like to say to myself, empty my email inbox then have 15 minutes on social media, or take photos for a blog post and then have a social media moment. Even though using social media is good for my work I do need to schedule it and limit myself a little bit to make sure I am completing other potentially more important work, like this blog post 🙂
I hope these top tips can help you have a more productive day and help you achieve your dreams quicker. Let me know if you try any of them out. Have you got any more productive working tips you can share with us all?
Thanks. That’s really helpful 😊💕