Are you looking for some tips to be more productive while working from home? Whether you’re new to remote work or have been doing it for a while, staying focused at home can be a real challenge—especially when you’re sharing your space with family, kids, or roommates. The home environment isn’t always set up for productivity, but there are ways to make it work.

I’ve been working from home as an online entrepreneur since 2004, and over the years, I’ve picked up some golden tips for staying productive. These ideas aren’t in any special order—just choose the ones that fit your lifestyle. And if you have any favorite tips of your own, I’d love to hear them in the comments below!

Here are 10 Tips to Be Productive Working From Home:

Tip #1:  Create a Designated Workspace

Your workspace doesn’t have to be fancy. It can be a desk in your bedroom or a guest room. Preferably, use a room with a door you can close when needed. A designated work area will establish a visible separation between work and home life.

Tip #2:  Find a Webinar Resource to Replace Face-to-face Interaction.

Face-to-face meetings aren’t happening anytime soon. Fortunately, technology makes it easy to hold virtual meetings. Read my recent blog post on 3 Simple Tools to Run Online Webinars. In addition, you can also use FaceTime, Skype, or Google Hangouts (with the video feature) for online meetings.

Tip #3:  Plan and Set Goals for Each Day

It’s even more important than ever now to plan your day. You’ve just added a hundred possible distractions to your work environment. If you’re not intentional, you’ll find yourself pulled away by family, housework, or other things. Plan your day, and stick to it.

There are lots of different tools for planning your day. I like Google Calendar because I can use it on my desktop or on my phone. It helps me stay focused on what I need to accomplish during the day. For more details on how to use Google Calendar to plan your year, check out this article. 

Similarly, outline important business tasks you want to accomplish each day. Some people keep a running to-do list. Others write down their top three tasks for the next day the night before. If you know what you want to get done that day, you can hit the ground running first thing in the morning.

Tip #4:  Set up the Rules of Engagement in Your House

Your new work environment may be a bit noisier than the office. Set rules in your household on when other family members can talk to you while you’re working. Noise-canceling headphones are a great option if you find your home noisy.

My husband and I are business partners, working from home.  One thing we’ve found that works well for us is that we don’t schedule lunch together. We have a planned dinner time together. But not having lunch together makes it easier for us to schedule and plan our day. Sometimes, it works out that we eat together, but it’s not set in stone. There’s no pressure to match our lunchtimes, and the workday flows better for each of us.  

Tip #5:  Schedule Your Breaks

When you work from home, you have all this flexible time. However, I’ve found that setting a schedule gives structure to my day and makes it easy for me to be more productive. For example, I set a specific time that I’m going to eat lunch. I pick up a specific time that I’m going to take a break. Sometimes, I may set a specific time when I am going to take a break and watch my favorite TV show.

Tip #6:  Get Up and Move Your Body

Research has shown that frequent breaks throughout the day help productivity. Take breaks away from your computer and try to do some kind of physical activity. Take a walk, do some stretches, do some housework, or go outside and soak up your daily dose of Vitamin D.

Tip #7:  Stay Hydrated

Have you ever sat down at the computer in the morning? The next thing you know, three hours have passed. You’re starting to feel rotten because you haven’t eaten anything or had any water to drink. It’s not a great start for a productive day. Keep a water bottle handy so you can stay hydrated. You’ll feel better and think clearly.

I fill four water bottles with water the night before and keep them at my desk. That way, I can monitor how much water I have consumed.

Tip #8:  Schedule Social Time

Don’t keep Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media page open unless you need it for work. It’s too tempting to get sucked down a rabbit hole and lose precious work time. Instead, build social time into your breaks. If you miss the personal interaction of an office, plan to call or text a friend during one of your breaks. 

Tip #9:  Use a Password Manager

I use LastPass.com to keep track of my passwords so I don’t have to remember them. LastPass will automatically populate my username and password on any site where I have to log in. It’s easy to use on your laptop or phone. LastPass is free to use, and you can use it for personal or business accounts.  If you have difficulty remembering passwords, check out my article on LastPass and other password managers.   

Tip #10: Watch my ‘Productivity Tips’ Webinar

Tired of wasting time on repetitive tasks and feeling unproductive? A few simple changes can help you stay organized, work faster, and get more done online. In my free training, I’ll show you how to save and organize bookmarks, speed up your WordPress workflow, use multiple browsers more effectively, and search smarter.

Watch the training here: https://websitecreationclass.com/tipswebinar

Share your tips for working from home in the Comments below. We’re in this together!

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