How to be more productive when remote working

According to the office of national statistics around 24% of people now are remote working at least one day during the week. More and more jobs are now home-based. This is ideal for some people but for others, the idea of working from home seems unmotivating and isolating. In this blog, we offer you advice on how to stay motivated and productive whilst working remotely.

1) Keeping your relaxation space and home office space separate

Having the ability to work from home enables you to create a working environment suited to your needs. This could include being able to have your favourite mug for your cup of tea without fear of it going missing or being able to put some music on in the background to break the silence. However, one of the quickest ways to become unmotivated is allowing your workspace to interfere with your relaxation zone… and vice versa! Although the concept of working from your sofa sounds appealing, you will find it hard to adjust from your working day to relaxing in the evening or on the weekends. To promote a healthy work-life balance, you need to ensure that you have a dedicated space in your home for completing your work. If you have the space for an office, that’s great! But if not, even just a desk that is dedicated to your work, can help create a sense of separation.

2) Meal prep and lunchtime

Meal prepping for lunchtime when working from home can make a big difference and is very easy to leave as an afterthought. It’s easy to slip out of normal routine if you snack throughout the day rather than dedicating yourself to a set meal time. It’s important you set those boundaries with yourself to ensure you are taking a decent break even though you’re working from home. People can easily fall into the habit of overworking themselves when they don’t have the structure and routine of the office they are used to. Also, if you prep your lunch in advance, you will be less likely to snack throughout the day as you know you have a delicious meal to look forward to. You also won’t waste as much time working out what to have if you have pre-prepared your food!

3) Get ready for the day

As the financial services sector is regarded as a professional industry, it is commonplace for Financial Advisors and Mortgage Advisors to be seen in smart business attire. The flexibility working from home provides is being able to dress how you want (unless you are using video conferencing, you might want to change out of your pyjamas first!). If you’re looking to get the most out of home working, get ready for work even if that doesn’t entail dressing as smart as usual, getting up and ready will really help keep routine. If you take the time in the morning to get dressed and make yourself presentable, you will be in a much better state of mind to focus on each task and the day ahead!

4) Breaks and deadlines

Sometimes it’s easy to become complacent when working from home, as you don’t have co-workers around you for collaboration and motivation. It’s important to set deadlines for yourself and create regular to-do lists. You should complete these to-do lists in order of priority (always start your day with a task you enjoy the least!). If you’re completing a task, set yourself a specific time frame of how long you would like to spend on that task. For example, if you’re a Mortgage Advisor and you’re posting your testimonials or reviews on LinkedIn, set yourself 15 minutes to do this. Otherwise, you may find that you spend 2 hours scrolling through your feed and being unproductive! At the end of the 15 minutes, close the web page and move on to something else. In contrast, those who are prone to overworking need to ensure to give themselves breaks otherwise you could experience burnout. Even if it’s as simple as getting out of your chair and walking around the room, these little breaks could really help you to stop overworking yourself. As most of us work from a screen at a desk, this is also vital for maintaining both our physical and mental health. Breaks and deadlines help reinforce structure and balance to a remote workers routine, helping them stay motivated and productive.

5) Keeping social and maintaining relationships

One of the most talked about consequences to the average homeworker is the feeling of being isolated through the lack of social interaction an office environment can provide. However, this is less common for Financial Advisors and Mortgage Advisors who are regularly out seeing clients or constantly on the phone to clients and enjoy the ongoing relationships that can be built. It still can feel lonely not having in-person interactions, so you need to ensure you are taking time for yourself to spend with your family and friends as much as you feel is necessary for your mental health. Maintaining the relationships you have built within your career and outside of it will help you stay motivated and therefore, productive due to the positive effect it will have on your mental health.

Conclusion: How to be more productive when remote working

If you apply all the tips stated in this blog you should be able to start feeling more motivated and productive even though you aren’t in the office. To recap the points we covered were

Keeping your relaxation space and home office space separate
Meal-prep and lunchtimes
Get ready for the day
Breaks and deadlines
Keep social and maintain relationships

If you are looking for a new remote-based job in the financial services industry, check out our website. We have dozens of remote and home-based roles that could be the next step in your career. Alternatively, if you are a remote worker and do not enjoy it, we also have many offices based financial service jobs that could be right for you!

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