10 Ways to Stay Productive While Working from Home

The recent outbreak of the coronavirus has most people staying at home and working from home, which means you might be too! Although remote based jobs are getting more popular lately, a lot of people are quite new to the work-from-home lifestyle. So, if you are also new to working from home due to the coronavirus or you’ve found a remote based job, you will need to make some changes to your routines and habits to stay productive and make working from home a success.

The major things that you need to make sure while working from home are: Building a Healthy Routine, Taking Care of Your Physical and Mental Wellbeing and Staying Connected to Your Team. The MAGIC Bodyfashion team has been working from home, and we can give you some useful tips. Here are 10 Ways to stay productive while working from home:


BUILD A HEALTHY ROUTINE
  Set a schedule and stick to it. One of the benefits of working from home is flexibility, so you could sometimes start earlier or later. However, do not make it a habit and try to stick to regular working hours. It is also easy to work late when you work from home, try to avoid that. Set clear priorities and have clear guidelines for when to work and when to call it a day. This helps to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Create a routine at the start and end of your work hours. For example, wake up at a fixed time in the morning, make coffee, get dressed, apply make-up etc. At the end of the day, sign off on a work messaging app, go for a walk or have a yoga session. Creating a routine like this one will help you get started in the morning and help you look forward to something after work. Keep these routines consistent.
  As mentioned earlier, it is easy to work late while working from home. Don’t forget to take some breaks in between your work hours, just like your breaks at the office. Try to give yourself some time away from the screen. Take your lunch break in its entirety and do not be tempted to work while eating your lunch.
  Set up a dedicated and neat workstation. Not everyone can set up an office at home, but try to create a space at your desk or on your table meant only for work. And then set some ground rules around it. For example, if your children are at home with you, set a rule that they do not disturb you while you are at your work desk.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR PHYSICAL & MENTAL WELLBEING Do not let staying at home become a reason to be lazy. Try to exercise whenever possible. To the extent that it’s allowed and safe to leave your home, go for a walk around the block, while maintaining the social distance guidelines of course. Or go for a jog in the morning, since you don’t have the commuting time while working from home. This applies also for your work at the office, try to get out of the building once a day, to stretch your legs and get some fresh air.
  Not only has our work lifestyle changed, we are also restricted from a lot of our regular activities during the coronavirus outbreak. It is not easy for us to stay away from our friends and family. The best we can do is stay positive during this time and not get impacted by negativity around us. We will all get through this together.
  No matter where you work from, it is important to maintain your health and follow a healthy diet. That’s even easier to do while working from home! Take time to prepare healthy meals, maintain a regular breakfast and lunch schedule and do not skip meals. Make sure to drink plenty of water as well.

STAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR TEAM
  Plan a regular touch base with your team. Arrange meetings to discuss not only work-related things, but also non-work topics. During a time where we have very minimum human contact, keeping in touch with your team is very important.
  Keep your team in the loop about your daily tasks, priority and progress. Do not hesitate to ask for help if your workload is too much, and do not forget to offer help to your teammates as well if you have extra time.
  You might need some extra software and/or programs to collaborate with your team for work, to get access to office files, and to stay in touch with colleagues. Make sure you have access to all the remote tools, co-working tools, shared video and messaging apps.

We can assure you that these tips will help you to stay productive while working from home. Besides these tips, one of MAGIC Bodyfashion’s brand ambassadors, Jessie, collaborated with us to share her work from home tips and schedule; which we want to share with you!
JESSIE'S WORKING FROM HOME TIPS

“There’s no dress code, no travel time, and you can organize your own time. Working from home has its advantages. However still, being productive can be challenging.
Here are some tips on how I stay productive!

Make an efficient schedule
Sleeping in and being lazy in the morning can be a huge temptation. However, I try to get up early so I keep a normal rhythm. I start my workday at 9.00am and always make a simple to-do list for the day. Besides my work tasks I also include my personal planning, because it helps me to keep an overview. Avoid working too long, by for example keeping your normal office hours. It’s fine to play around with your schedules as long as you get everything done. Especially schedule your breaks, this will help you to stay focused until it’s time for lunch!

My schedule looks something like this:
08.15 Get up
09.00 Start working
10.00 Coffee-break
10.30 Work
12.00 Lunch and go for a walk
13.00 Work
16.00 Workout/go for a walk

Pretend as if you’re going to the office 
Keeping structure is very important to successfully work from home. A great tip is to pretend as if you’re going to the office. Wake up around the same time every day, dress up, and put on some makeup. Leave those relaxed sweatpants in your closet. For me personally I link certain outfits to emotions/moods, so it works better to just wear normal clothes. My outfit tip: Pair the comfy MAGIC Dream Bralette Lace with a nice jacket!

Create a comfortable workspace
Working on your laptop from the couch can be pretty tempting. However, it’s not good for your back and won’t make you productive. So, if you have a desk or table make sure its tidied up and make your own comfy workspace!

Don’t get distracted
I am a very neat and organized person when it comes to my apartment, whenever there is a mess, I get distracted (Mess creates stress). So, for me it is extra important to keep my place clean and tidy. Also, you won’t make much progress in your work if your phone is close by. So, it might help if you put your phone away. Instagram can wait!

Get some fresh air and keep your body active 
Go outside! It is relaxing and will help you to get through your day. You can use your flexible schedule to take fitness breaks. I like to go for a walk after lunch because it helps me to be productive again during the second part of my day! Also, I try doing yoga or a 10 minute meditation in the morning to start my day full of energy.

You go girl!
Another advice which really helps me is to reward myself. For example, do a mini spa, read your favorite book, or play a videogame when you finish a project or reach a goal. You can create a list of small things that make you happy and use them when you achieve your goals.

Good luck during quarantine, girls, we can do this! “

Click on the images to shop Jessie's looks.