How to stay motivated when working from home

It is needless to say that COVID-19 has impacted all of our daily lives. We’re not going to the office anymore, schools, daycare and bars are closed. Most of our time is now spent at home. While in some cases this could be stressful, it is also an opportunity to create or upgrade your work from home routine.

At Triggre we are not unfamiliar with working from home. So, when this all came down we were not completely unprepared and our team members already had a work from home routine set up. But this definitely doesn’t go for every company across the world and in that case this situation can enforce a highly intense and abrupt change. We have gathered some tips to keep you motivated at your home office!

Schedule some free time in between your meetings

In crisis times like these, work can get really hectic, especially if you are working for a bigger company or have teams worldwide. There will be endless meetings, phone calls with clients and daily updates about the corona situation. This is all necessary, but it’s important to make sure that you are not stuck in meetings for every minute of your day.

You will burn yourself out within a few hours by not moving enough, constantly watching your screen and having to take in all the information digitally. Instead, make sure that you always have a short break in between meetings to grab a snack, get some coffee or walk around the house.

Get some fresh air and daylight during a daily walk

Working from home usually means that you will be inside, behind your computer for a whole day. This is different than what you’re used to. Normally you commute to work, run around the office to talk to people or take a walk with colleagues during lunch break.

Adopt this into your work from home routine as well. Step away from your computer and go outside for a bit. Take a short walk around the block to get some fresh air and daylight, which will increase the level of serotine and vitamin D in your body. Run up and down the stairs a few times to get your blood flowing – you will feel more energized immediately!

Stretch daily and use a comfortable chair

At the office, a lot of activity will take place in ‘real life’. Joking with colleagues, face-to-face meetings or a chat at the coffee corner. When you work from home, almost all work-related activity will take place digitally and thus you will be sitting down, looking at your screen for a big part of your day.

That’s why it is very important to have a nice, comfortable chair at home that takes care of your body posture while being focused on work. If you do so, your body will feel much better at the end of the day. Stretching every now and then helps as well. Take 5 minutes to do some exercises and you will be working from home comfortably for the whole time!

Use a time management technique

Because ‘home’ and ‘office’ are no longer separated, it might get harder to be a 100% focused on one thing at the time. What really helps, is using a time management technique. We are a big fan of the pomodoro technique, a technique created by Francesco Cirillo in the 80’s. When he noticed that he wasn’t getting anything done, he came up with a strategy.

He got a timer from the kitchen, that happened to look like a tomato, and set the alarm for 25 minutes. Just enough time to complete a task and when the timer rang, he took a short break, before starting his next 25 minutes. To get inspired about this technique, check out his website.

We have also gathered some other insights on working from home. Eco-Age wrote a blog post for managers and supervisors about how to keep your team motivated while working remotely. TIME wrote down four very important things to keep in mind while working from home and Harvard Business Review shares some insights on how to leave your work at the door, when you’re not leaving your house.

Create your own work from home routine with all these things in mind and you’re on your way to success. Good luck!

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