Working from home (WFH) is the new normal. It appears that post-pandemic most businesses will offer some sort of flexible working to their employees including working from home. This blog is going to have some working from home tips and tricks plus some way’s your bullet journal can help you thrive at home.
Index
- 5 Working From Home Tips.
- Using Your Bullet Journal to Work From Home.
5 working from home tips.
Dedicate a space to living and a space to working.
This is maybe our most important tip which is why we have put it right at the top! It is easy to blur the lines between work and home life when you work at home. This can leave you feeling trapped because you are in the same space all the time. Make sure to break free from this feeling by dedicating a space to working and space to living. It is a luxury to have a home office so if you don’t do not worry. If you have a spare bedroom try setting up space there to work. Otherwise, you could use the kitchen table or the lounge room. If you use these common areas make sure you can easily pack away your work. Perhaps if your dining table is next to some shelves, put your things on the shelves at night. Out of sight, out of mind as they say!! When working from home if I start to feel stagnant in my work, I move rooms or work outside for the day.
Set goals to meet throughout the day.
Setting micro goals throughout the day that have not come from your manager can help you stay motivated and on the ball. Keeping your motivation and love for your work is important, setting goals is a good way to do this. Here are some example of what my daily goals include:
- Go outside for a 1-hour walk.
- Clear my inbox by 10 am and don’t check again until 4 pm.
- Finish *insert task* by 1pm
- Finish next *insert task* by 5 pm.
Goals will naturally come up for you as your day progresses. I write mine down in my Bullet Journal and tick them off when I complete them. Another thing that I would recommend doing is time-blocking your day to help you stay on track.
Time blocking is when you divide your day into time per task. E.G – 10-11 – Work on admin / 11-1 – Zoom call.
Head outside once a day.
Fresh air can do wonders for your mind. Sitting at your desk all day just is not healthy and being outside is proven to help your mind work in a more productive way. You can work out an ideal length of walk yourself and simply time block it! If you don’t have time for a walk during your working day make sure you head outside at least once, step away from your desk regularly and stretch as often as possible.
One of the best pieces of advice I was that if something is not working for you or you cannot solve a problem, stand up and walk away from your desk. When you come back everything will look brighter and you might even have the brainpower now to solve your issue.
Connect with your co-workers even when you are working for home.
Keep connecting with your co-workers. Being part of a community is important and it stops you from disconnecting from your work. Send regular emails throughout the day, phone whenever possible and arrange teams where you don’t just talk about work. It is really important to stay connected. If you are self-employed or freelance, join some networking communities and plan to work away from home sometimes so you don’t get lonely.
Don’t overwork.
Finally, when you work from home, it is easy to overwork. It seems harmless to keep working after the metaphorical ‘school bell’ rings but actually, you could be doing more harm than good. Overworking can lead to the dreaded burnout which we will all experience at least once in our lives. It is important that you put in place strict boundaries so that you can walk away from your desk at night without guilt. You are only paid for your contracted hours or hours you work and you are not expected to work all hours just because you are at home. Put the laptop down and back away slowly.
Using your bullet journal to work from home.
I hope those work from home tips help you establish a healthy working environment. Now let’s look at how you can use your Bullet Journal to Work From Home. Your Bullet Journal is great at helping you monitor your workload and check on the work that still needs to be completed.
How can my bullet journal help me monitor my workload?
To be your most productive self, it is important to check your bullet journal often. If you are writing your to-do’s daily (which should include your work tasks) make sure to look over them regularly and monitor your workload. Recording what you do every day and how much time each task takes can help you see if you need to but cutting back on your workload so that you can be the best possible person at your job.
Every day in my Bullet Journal I write:
- What I do that day.
- When I have worked my best, morning, noon or night.
- What day’s of the week I work my best.
- What time of the month I work my best.
Daily, I note down if the morning, noon or night was my most productive time.
I write down daily what I do during my working day, I have an idea of when I work my best (e.g morning, afternoon or evening) and when I am looking over my working week, I spend some time looking at my day and seeing what I can restructure so that I am doing the most important tasks when I am at peak productivity.
using my bullet journal to check my to-do’s.
I write what I have to do in my bullet journal. I try my tasks down by limiting space within my bullet journal. Everyone is different but I prefer to have 6-8 to-do’s a day. One task could contain multiple steps but I do not bother writing them down because as I work my way through the task it just flows. At the end of the day I go back over my to-do’s and asses what I have managed to cross off and what I still have to go.
Checking in daily is really important but the real magic happens when I check my to-do’s weekly. It helps me evaluate if I have been productive and if my work-load is to high. If so I might try and cut down a little (if possible) or work through it but remember to say no next time. This helps me prevent burn out which is even more common now we all work from home.
Spreads that can help you ‘work from home’
Take a look at this list I have put together, it is full of spreads that can help you ‘work from home’. Some of them have already been mentioned but I have put them here so that you can save this part of the blog to refer back to next time you are setting up your bullet journal.
- Weekly Log (plan ahead)
- Daily Log (daily organisation)
- Future Log (check in on key dates/zoom calls)
- Brain Dump (for when you just need to empty your thoughts!)
- Habit Tracker (make sure you are getting out enough for exercise, planning breaks from work and drinking enough water)
- Meal Planner (when you are working from home, you need something to look forward to! So plan some exciting plans with your meal planner).
- Affirmations & Gratitude Spreads (start your day by writing down what you are thankful for and write down your daily affirmations so that you start your day well)
- Goal Spreads (write down goals that you would like to achieve in the near future)
- Bucket List Spread. (it is important to look forwards and have something to look forward to…start a bucket list spread and write down things you would like to do)
Do you have any top tips for working from home? Let us know in the comments below.
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Read our blog on staying productive in lockdown here.
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