How To Be More Organized When Working From Home

Nowadays our world is becoming more and more digital. There are many new exciting careers that allow you to work from anywhere. Such work is popular with millennials for it allows for a carefree lifestyle.

If you’re looking for some insight into how to stay organized when working from home, or would like some advice on how to work most effectively as a remote professional, keep reading for a few tips and tricks on how to stay organized when working from home.

Having a dedicated remote office space is critical to your success. Working from home presents us with many distractions. To avoid nuisances and interruptions, identify a workspace that comes with the least potential for noise.

No matter what your living arrangement is, there is a space that can work for you. If a separate home office is not feasible, work out of a nook or corner of your bedroom. Find what is best for your style, and stick to your spot.

Once you have identified an area that fits your needs, embrace ergonomics in your workstation setup. Make sure you have a chair that helps you maintain proper posture, and keep your monitors at eye level. Simple best practices for your workspace layout can improve your experience.

Make staying organized when working from home a top priority. Traits of some of the most highly successful people are being meticulous and organized.

This is especially relevant when it comes to keeping a minimal and streamlined workspace. Clutter in your work area can cause confusion and is a risk for error.

You don’t want to lose or misplace a critical document or correspondence. To help stay on top of keeping everything tidy and maintaining a clean home office, utilize a variety of storage bins to help keep all your work related items in the right place.

When everything is neatly tucked away, it will make it easy to find exactly what you are looking for.

A calendar is a crucial planning tool. Using a calendar is essential in project management. Balancing multiple initiatives and deadlines can be intimidating.

That is why you must stay proactive. Be diligent about deadlines and set milestones for yourself during the project life cycle to help you reach your goals. Laying the groundwork for your initiative will help you stay on top of your game.

Seeing the dates on paper keeps you grounded and you will be able to cruise through your tasks and prevent major bumps along the way.

There are also calendar apps that may suit your needs as well. Whatever tool works for you, use it to your advantage.

Effective communication is essential. When you are working from home it is easy to feel as if you are flying solo.

You are not surrounded by your peers and superiors. Your team members can’t walk past your desk and see the hard work you are putting into your duties. They also cannot read your mind. That is why you must communicate consistently. Keep your team members updated.

This helps not only you, but your co-workers as well. It may be able to prevent misunderstandings, errors, or even unnecessary work. Make sure that you remain transparent and keep the communication flowing.

Be your own best advocate and ensure that you are voicing all of your ideas, thoughts, and concerns to others. Open dialogue will help you feel less isolated while working remotely, and can help to boost your morale.

It is important that you factor breaks into your day. Taking a breather can help to keep you alert and combat the monotony of long stretches of intense work.

The Pomodoro Technique is a good rule of thumb for striking a balance. This time management principle calls for every 25 minute work period to be punctuated by a five minute resting period.

This allows you to stay deeply focused on the task at hand, while building in essential moments to take a break. To put the Pomodoro Technique into practice, use a timer; you can even use the built in one on your computer for convenience. When the timer goes off, get up and stretch your legs.

Walk around your home and let the dog out. A change of scenery will do you good. It is healthy to look off in the distance after doing so much close up computer work. This five minute break can help to drastically improve your performance.

It is important to remember that even when working from home you can get burned out. Take advantage of scheduled breaks to prevent exhaustion and stay as productive as possible.

Finding a happy medium between work and your personal life can be especially challenging when working from home. When we leave a job site we are normally closing the door on our responsibilities for the day and unwinding.

However, when working remotely it can be hard to create a separation and distance ourselves from our careers when the work day is done.

In order to maintain a healthy balance stick to regular working hours. It is easy to work overtime and the next thing you know you have worked unnecessarily.

You don’t want to run yourself ragged. Power off all of your work related devices when your normal working hours are over. This will prevent you from answering emails and being stressed when you should be relaxing.

You want to make sure you are still spending quality time with your loved ones, and just be mindless and watch our favorite binge worthy Netflix Series.

Remote work is both challenging and rewarding, and staying organized when working from home will definitely take some time getting used to.

Although, you can become a champion work from a home professional. All you have to do is remember your best practices and stay dedicated. There are always new strategies to try to help you have the best possible experience.

This article originally appeared on the See Girl Work blog.