How to avoid procrastination when working from home

Are you guilty of slacking off while working from home? The problem with working in your living space is that there are so many distractions, such as the television or your family, which can tears you away from your work. This can be detrimental to your progress, especially if you own your own business, as the more hours you put in, the more successful your business will become. To ensure you stay productive while working from home, you should take a look at these top tips, which will make you feel focused and ready to work.

Create a home office

If your current home office is in your living room or even your bed, you need to make a change immediately, as these areas do no favours for your productivity.  This is because you associate these rooms with relaxation. Therefore if working there, you will feel like unwinding rather than getting stuck into your work, which will cost you time and money.

The best way to motivate yourself is to create a workspace in your home, which will allow you to lock yourself away and concentrate on your weekly tasks. When designing your home office, you should try to make it as minimalist as possible and remove any home comforts. For inspiration, you should take a look at the properties available through RW Invest, which feature sleek and professional home office spaces with simple decor that allows young professional tenants to get on with their work. Aside from the decor, you should make sure that you have everything you need in your office, such as your laptop and charger, as well as some snacks and water, which should be placed next to you so you’re not tempted to venture anywhere else and get distracted. 

Keep your workspace tidy

Once you’ve designed the perfect home office, you need to make sure you maintain it, so it stays organised and tidy. This is especially important if you have a lot of paperwork, which tends to get misplaced if it’s not organised properly. You should consider investing in a filing cabinet to keep your paperwork in order, or an even better option would be to go to paperless, an electronic option that’s not only good for organisation purposes but also great for the planet.

Giving your desk a weekly clean and declutter will allow your concentration levels to increase rapidly. Removing the clutter will allow you to clear both your space and mind to focus more and complete high-quality work. While things like carpets and rugs don’t need to be cleaned as often, it’s important that they are deep cleaned every once in a while to remove any dirt, grime, or even allergens that have got caught in the fibers. You can either do this job yourself, or hire someone like this Peoria rug cleaning service to do it for you so that you can be sure that the end result will be just what you were hoping for.

Stay focused with productivity technology

While some people find it easy to focus, procrastinators will try almost anything to avoid doing what they need to. This is especially hard if you’re working from a laptop, as you can find distractions like YouTube and Facebook, which can actually cause you to lose track of time without even realising. If you can relate to this and find it extremely hard to concentrate at times, you should consider looking at productivity apps like Toggl, which can help you track time and money while completing online tasks.

RescueTime is also beneficial in creating the perfect work/life balance, which many people struggle to cope with. This software works by running in the background of your computer to generate reports on how long you have spent on certain websites and applications, whether they are work related or not.