How can I start working from home?

10 min readJun 25, 2020

- 15 Tips from an Experienced Professional-

Now that we have a world pandemic on our hands and we have to obey social distancing rules, many of us have found ourselves obligated to work from home, whether we want to or not.

And while for some working from home might sound like the dream, especially for us introverts, it doesn’t come as naturally or as easily as it probably seems.

Many people are used to working in an office setting, and changing that all of a sudden definitely takes some adjustments, especially under the current circumstances when we’re under a lot of stress and maybe our partners are working from home as well, and perhaps we also have kids to take care of.

I have been working almost exclusively from home since the beginning of my career in 2007, and while it definitely has its perks and I wouldn’t change it for the world, it also has its challenges and requires a lot of discipline and planning if you want to get anything done and not feel like a failure at the end of your work day.

So over time, I’ve learned to develop a routine and habits that work for me and make me feel productive.

And let me tell you, once you get into a routine that works for you, you’re golden. You’ll probably need to experiment a lot to find out what that is, since what works for me might not work for you and your particular situation, but oh man, once you get there, you’ll feel like you’re on top of the world and you can conquer anything!

So I would like to share my tips and tricks for working from home. Even though our circumstances and lifestyles might be different, I find there are a few universal rules or strategies that work for most people.

Here is what I found helps most when working from home:

15 Tips To Work from Home

1. Have a dedicated work space

Having a dedicated home office in a separate room is definitely ideal, but if you don’t have that option, try to have a dedicated work space that you associate only with working. That can be either a work desk, a corner in your living room, or a lounge chair that you dedicate only to work time.

I think some sort of a desk or a table is ideal especially if you’re working on a PC or laptop, but if you find you can work on your sofa and be productive, do what works for you. I can’t really do that, at least not for a very long time, since I don’t find it especially comfortable, but who knows, it might work for you.

If your partner is also working from home, and if at all possible, try to work in different rooms, even if that means one of you is working at the dining room table and the other one in the kitchen or a small desk in the bedroom.

If you work separately, you’ll have less chances of getting distracted, especially if one of you is in online or phone call meetings all day.

2. Schedule everything in

And I mean everything. Your morning routine, your breaks, your lunch time, your exercise, your house chores, and of course your work slots. And do it the night before if possible so your whole day is set and you know exactly what you need to do in the morning.

But let’s break them down a little:

Morning routine

I think it’s extremely important to start your day on the right foot in general, but especially when working from home. If you wake up late and waste precious time in the morning, the entire day can snowball into a mess where you get almost nothing accomplished.

If you waste the first part of the day on useless activities, it will be much harder to motivate yourself to work at all.

If you’re not a night owl, that is.

If you’re one of those people that come alive at night time, then maybe this doesn’t apply to you and you can get your downtime in the morning, but for many people having a productive morning usually leads to an equally productive rest of the day.

So try to wake up early, have your breakfast or coffee, take a shower if you’re a morning showerer, and get your mind ready for work. If you haven’t planned your day the night before, now is the time to do that as well.

Exercise

Incorporating exercise into your routine is extremely important for the health of your body, especially when you’re working from home and sitting in a chair all day.

Ideally, you should stay active throughout the day and get up from your chair at least once an hour, but if you are the kind of person that gets glued to their chair once you get into your work mood, try to at least incorporate one form of exercise into your daily routine.

It doesn’t matter what it is, whatever exercise you like, even if it’s just walking (when you’re not quarantined, of course). The important thing is that you move your body and increase your blood flow.

Exercise releases endorphins and makes you happier, not to mention it helps you focus on your work better and increases your productivity, since you’ll have increased blood flow to the brain and you’ll be in a better mood.

If you can’t go outside or at the gym, there are so many cool and free online exercise classes ranging from pilates and yoga to HIIT and weight training. Right now a lot of instructors are doing free group classes as well on platforms like Zoom, which is a great way to connect with other people even if you’re locked inside the house.

Meal time and cooking

When it comes to food, working from home can be a blessing and a curse at the same time.

You get the opportunity to cook all of your meals, which you might not have been able to do if you spent most of your day at the office and commuting. This can save you a lot of money, but it can also be a black hole that swallows all of your time if you’re not careful about it.

The secret is planning, planning, planning. The way I see it you have four major options:

Meal prep once or twice a week and have all your meals ready for the week. This is amazing if you’re crunched for time and you don’t mind eating similar meals for a few days in a row.
Batch cook all of your meals. Save some leftovers in the fridge and put the surplus in the freezer. This is kind of similar with meal prepping, but you only eat the same food for a day or two so you don’t get bored and then you have the frozen leftovers for when you’re really busy or you feel like eating that food again.
Cook only once a day. If you don’t like to have your work day interrupted by cooking, cook only at dinner time and make an extra portion for lunch the second day. You can also incorporate batch cooking into this: make a large batch in the evening, save a portion for next day and freeze the rest.
Plan some quick meals for lunchtime. If you get really bored of the same food and you like having something fresh every day, try to schedule in some easy-to-cook meals at lunchtime. That way, you’ll get a nice break in the middle of the day, but you won’t waste too much time or get so exhausted by cooking that you completely lose your stamina for the rest of the day.

Also, keep your lunches light, so that they give you a physical and mental boost, and not put you into a food coma in the middle of the day.

I’m sure there are other ways to go about this, and I still have things to learn at this chapter myself, but whatever you do, don’t leave it up in the air.

You will get hungry every day, and if you don’t have a plan you will end up grazing all day long, which is not ideal, or end up ordering takeout because you don’t have time, which will cost you a lot of money.

House chores

Love them or hate them, they need to be done.

And working from home gives you the advantage of being able to do house chores during the day and not let them all pile up at the end of a tiring work day or at the weekend.

But if you don’t plan for them, they will end up distracting you all day and you won’t get any work done.

Somehow, there’s always something to do around the house, and going to the office gives you a chance to get away from all that, but when you’re at home it’s very easy to get distracted by the pile of dishes in the sink, clothes that need to be folded, or toilets that need to be cleaned.

But don’t let it control you. Instead, take advantage of the fact that you’re at home and plan all your house chores around your work schedule.

The dishes can wait until later in the day, but if you need to put in a load of laundry, use the washing time as a challenge to get an important task ticked off your to-do list.

And, if you want to, use your scheduled breaks to do house chores. But don’t get into something time-consuming when you know you only have a ten-minute break. Choose a small task and time yourself so you don’t go over that time or let one task spill over into the next.

You’d be amazed how many things you can get done in just ten minutes if you take it on as a challenge. Check out this video from WheezyWaiter:

It works for more than house chores. You can take on any task for ten minutes. Usually beginning something is the hardest, so you’ll most likely find out you want to keep on going once you begin.

But don’t do that with house chores however, unless it’s during your time off work or the weekend. Then, by all means, have at it.

3. Establish your working hours

Just like you need to schedule everything in, you also need to decide when you start working, but also when you switch off.

Now that might not look the same every day, but it’s very important to set a clear work schedule, so that you don’t let your work life bleed into your personal life.

It’s very easy to do that when you’re working from home.

4. Set boundaries for yourself and other people

Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you should get constantly interrupted.

If your mom or friend calls you during your work schedule, politely let them know that you’re working and you need to keep it short. You can schedule a conversation for later if need be.

Also, if you have other people living or working in the house, let them know if you don’t want to get interrupted and ask them what their preferences are as well. Some people enjoy some idle chit-chat during their work day as a way to take a break and it’s great to have an open conversation about it instead of building up frustration.

5. Structure your day the same way as in the office

If you’re used to working in an office, don’t allow working from home become an excuse for slacking off and waking up late.

Instead, set your day into chunks of time similar to what you’re used to at the office. Wake up at the same time, get dressed, drink your coffee or tea and get to work just like you normally would.

It’s hard enough to stay disciplined on your own without a team around you to push and motivate you, don’t make it harder on yourself by completely ruining your work schedule as well.

6. Change out of your pj’s

A lot of people say to get dressed as if you were going to the office even if you’re working from home.

I don’t necessarily agree you should put on a suit and uncomfortable shoes to feel more productive.

At least that’s definitely not for me. I’m a creature of comfort and one of the most important bonuses of working from home is not having to wear shoes. Shoes are the bane of my existence.

But I also don’t like feeling like a slug.

I think the most important thing is to slip into something that makes you feel good about yourself. Even if that’s a nice sweatshirt or a t-shirt and a comfy pair of jeans.

Just don’t stay in your pj’s.

It’s important to differentiate between rest time and work time in order to get in the right mindset.

So put on something that makes you feel a bit more put together, fix your hair a little, do your skincare routine, put on a nice watch and maybe some jewelry and a little make-up if you feel like it.

It really doesn’t need to be extra, it’s the little details that make you feel like you’re making an effort that are making all the difference.

But if a formal suit and shirt work for you, by all means, go for it!