Working from home can be fun and has many benefits such as lower commuting costs and having more spare time to spend with your family, exercise, and practice your hobbies.
At the same time, working from home means that they are tempted by common distractions such as attention-seeking children, noisy housemates, watching TV, running errands, and an enticing social media feed.
If you want to be productive while working from home, it is important for you to know how to avoid distractions while working from home.
Here are a few best ways to avoid distractions while working from home so that you stay focused and motivated to get the job done.
1. Set boundaries
When working from home you may find that you, and the people you live with, would benefit from a clear set of boundaries.
Not only will they know when you’re ‘on the clock,’ but you will also have clearly-defined working hours that ensure that your working life does not creep into your non-working world.
You are the person who best knows when you’re most productive, so you need to create boundaries that allow you to thrive in the manner that suits you best.
Here are some practical ways to help you maintain workplace parameters:
- Communicate. Let others in your house know when you’re working and how their behaviors affect your productivity. Set times that they can disturb you, or limit it to a non-distracting format such as text messages.
- Avoid unproductive calls. If you don’t use your telephone for work, set it to ‘do not disturb’ during your busiest or most productive times during the day.
- Update your status. If your company uses project management or collaboration tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Facebook Workplace Groups, you can manage your public status so that your co-workers know whether you are open to communication or would prefer not to be distracted. You can also indicate which method of communication you prefer.
- Understand yourself. Know your triggers for time-wasting behaviors. You may need to take some time to reflect on what stressors are likely to drive you to a non-work…
