Staying productive while working from home (WFH) can be a challenge.
After all, there are too many distractions (like your warm bed, for instance) that pull you away from your daily tasks.
It can be even tougher for a creative whose projects differ from day to day.
Fortunately, we’ve curated a list of productivity hacks specifically for you.
Keep Your Home Office In a Neutral Color
As always, having a dedicated workspace is important as it allows you to focus deeply on your tasks.
Ensure your home office is tucked into a quiet corner at home too. This way, you’ll have fewer chances of getting disturbed and distracted.
Still, one popular advantage of working from home is being able to personalize your home office.
Apart from a form of self-expression, working in a personalized office can boost your mood.
While you can still have pops of color, keeping your home office in a neutral shade makes it less distracting.
This is especially helpful for creatives who make designs in various color palettes all day.
Play Music in the Background
Listen to music while working remotely.
It’s been known that music makes your brain release certain chemicals (dopamine and oxytocin) that help with attention and social bonding.
Thus, boosting your productivity at work.
Yet, the type of music you listen to depends on the type of task at hand.
Ideally, you should be going for songs with 50 to 80 beats per minute (bpm). Instrumental songs are also more advisable as those with lyrics can often be distracting.
Create a Timeline
As a creative, you probably have a thousand things going on at the same time.
So, one of the most effective productivity hacks is figuring out which tasks to prioritize.
It might help if you group your tasks according to the following categories:
- Urgent and important
- Urgent but not important
- Not urgent yet important
- Not urgent and not important
Perform this exercise at the beginning of your shift so you know how to go about your day.
It can also help lessen feelings of being overwhelmed because you know which tasks to complete first.
Don’t Multi-task
In connection with the previous point, avoid multitasking.
While most jobs “require” you to multi-task. It’s rarely productive.
Doing so many things simultaneously slows you down. It also interferes with your momentum.
Thus, it would take you longer to complete your work responsibilities.
So, one of the most effective tips for creatives working from home is to focus on one task at a time. You can also manage your time more effectively through time blocking.
Divide your work day into “time blocks” and dedicate specific tasks to each.
You’ll probably be more productive and efficient.
Stop Overthinking
Most creatives, if not all, tend to be perfectionists.
They often nitpick their work, which can often cause delays in time-sensitive projects.
Further, being a perfectionist can easily lead to overworking. Again, this can have repercussions on your overall health.
As early as now, be more self-aware to curb the habit of perfectionism and overthinking.
We’re not telling you to deliver half-baked results but bear in mind that things don’t have to be perfect to be good – or even great.
Life as a Work-From-Home Creative
While the remote work lifestyle already has its own set of challenges, being a creative adds another layer on top of that.
For instance, most creatives have a schedule for when they prefer to work. (When inspiration strikes, so to speak.)
Still, these productivity hacks are useful to get your work life in order.
On that note, if you’re thinking about exploring your WFH options more, check out Remote Staff’s job listings. It’s regularly updated and has openings in several industries.
Remote Staff has also been in the industry for 16 years (and counting)! The company is currently expanding to North America, so creatives who prefer to work at night are welcome to apply.
If you wish to earn dollars from the comforts of your home, register with us today!
