With one shutdown behind you and another looming because of the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, you may be looking for ways to keep yourself busy at home. It’s rough for everyone, but when you’re used to getting up and driving to a job every day, working from home can make you feel isolated and off-kilter. It’s almost impossible to recreate a normal workday and space when you’re working in isolation. It’s also hard to be productive when you’re feeling overwhelmed by family obligations and worried about things that are going on in the world around you. In this article, you’ll find a few tips on how to improve your productivity when you work from home and still keep your sanity at the same time.
Improve your air quality and ventilation.
If the air you breathe in your home office is full of pollutants like dust, chemicals, foul odors, or mold, the air quality is going to be bad and can cause unwanted side effects. If you’re having a ton of headaches, battling nausea, fatigue, and even dizziness, then you could be suffering from an air quality issue. Continued exposure to mold and other pollutants, like radon, can even lead to asthma or other respiratory issues. Even some symptoms that feel like they could be caused by allergies may actually be the result of that poor air quality or lack of ventilation in your workspace.
The best way to combat this is by having a reputable HVAC company come out and check your home’s air quality and ventilation system, and then help you get your home to the point where the indoor air you’re breathing is healthy. It’s a proven fact that indoor air quality can promote greater productivity. Think about it, you always feel more productive and eager to get things done when you have been outside or even when you have the window in your home office open, so fresh air can circulate through your home. If you have great indoor air quality all of the time, then it stands to reason you’ll be more productive, right? Contact your local HVAC system repair service to help you make the indoor air in your home better to breathe for you, your family, and any other occupants in your home.
Set up a healthy indoor environment to work in.
When working from home, it’s important to have a dedicated workspace that is free of distractions and worry. While it’s better to have a work environment where you can go in and close the door against the world outside, as long as you have a workspace away from others you should be fine. This helps you slide into the workflow much easier than if you’re curled up on the couch with the TV on and the kids running around. Not only does setting up a dedicated workspace help with your productivity, but it helps you maintain a professional air about working from home also. You can’t exactly be the business professional you want to be in the living room, with your kids doing arts and crafts in the background, can you?
Keep your home office clean by decluttering.
One of the worst things for your productivity is working at a desk or in an office that is crowded and cluttered. The best way to avoid that is by keeping your desk and the area around it clean and free of any clutter. One way to make sure it stays uncluttered during the workweek is by putting things away at the end of the day, then once a week take the time to declutter, vacuum, and dust the office, so you can start fresh bright and early Monday morning.
It’s important to remember that though you do work from home, it’s still important to be productive and on a schedule. The best way to do that is by keeping your office clean and the desk neat so that you don’t feel crowded while you work.
These are just a few tips on how to improve your productivity when you work from home. Times are hard and being productive can be a hard task. These tips will help you get the job done.