7 Tips to Staying Productive While Working From Anywhere

So you’ve made the decision to work from home or on the go. Whether that be an opportunity to work on a new business project of yours, or maybe you’re just fortunate enough to enjoy the ability to work where you want due to your career—working from anywhere is an incredible experience.

But that doesn’t mean it’s as easy and fun as everyone thinks.

It takes a lot of discipline to be able to work from anywhere. With constant distractions, chores, and simply getting caught up in daily requirements, it can be hard to stay focused and productive.

Working from home will look different for everyone, so the most important part is understanding what works for you may not work for someone else.

But with the help of these tips and tricks, you’ll have a much better grasp on working from anywhere—and how to do it comfortably and productively.

7.Keep Your Workspace and Personal Space Separate

I’ve been in this situation before. It’s a vicious cycle. Blending your workspace with your personal space is not a good way to stay productive.

Sure, the idea of watching Netflix while working is great if you have some downtime—but it actually decreases your productivity tremendously. And, when these two worlds start to blend into one—it can be difficult to allocate time to one or the other.

Worst of all, it’s hard to “leave something at work” if you’ve had a rough day. I once tried working from my bedroom when I was working from home, and after a long day—not being able to “leave work” was a terrible feeling.

Sound familiar? You’ve probably had to deal with one of those things at some point while working from home.

Here’s what you can do though: make a distinct boundary (either physically, or mentally) between your work space and personal enjoyment space. Whether that be formed around allocating specific time slots in your day to working hours or even keeping any distractions out of arm’s length—either thing should help.

It may be difficult at first to remove yourself from situations that may arise at home—but it’s well worth it. If you have the opportunity, try taking a spare bedroom and turn it into your office rather than working from your couch.

Consider this: look into purchasing a room divider if your workspace isn’t a separate room from where you should be spending your personal time.

6. Try Organizing Your Clutter to Save Time

You’ve determined that you’re one of those people who just loves clutter. But have you considered trying to organize it?

Think of it like this—you have a lot of stuff. Books, notes, notebooks, pencils, pens—they’re all over the place. Even your desktop on your computer is cluttered with old screenshots, word documents and more.

You do know where everything is (most of the time)—but it’s just not a very pleasant working environment for you, or even for those around you at home.

However, what about those things that you can never find? Do you know how much time you’re wasting looking for that darn document when you could be working on your business?

Here are a few steps to take if you think it’s time to declutter.

1. Do a paper purge. Find any receipts, notes, papers—whatever you have laying around and consider even just throwing them in a box.
2. Find a home for your pens, pencils and whatever tools you have on your desk.
3. Do a daily desktop backup. Save the important files in the cloud to clean up your desktop, but still have access to your important files in the future.
4. Throw stuff out. If you have old bottles of Mountain Dew on your desk, or traces of coffee grinds everywhere—just throw it out.

Consider this: have fun with your clutter and use a shredder to get rid of documents you no longer need.

5. Get Dressed for Success

It can be tempting to spend your day sitting around in your pajamas, drinking coffee, and eating junk food—but that’s not healthy for your mind or body.

Take some time to wake up early and actually get dressed. Dress as if you were heading to a meeting, or if you were working in an office.

It really does put you in a different mindset for your day.

An experiment by the team at A Life of Productivity found the following when looking into what sort of attire meant a higher level of productivity:

• Clothes are symbolic, and hugely affect how you feel about yourself. People have the tendency to surround themselves with objects that solidify the way they feel about themselves. Clothes are definitely no exception to that rule.
• The more time you put in your appearance, the more you’re motivated to ‘get out there’. This is particularly helpful when interacting with more people will make you more productive, like at a networking event or a party.
• You can compartmentalize your work life by changing your clothes when you get home. This helps you separate your work and home lives, particularly as more and more businesses adopt casual dress codes.

Of course if you feel more successful in your pajamas, by all means work in your pajamas.

4. Invest in Your Home Office Technology

You might get up a few times for a stretch, but you may find yourself sitting down at your desk for hours on end once you get into a groove. Being mobile is a standard in today’s workforce.

That’s why it’s important to invest in technology for your office. You can’t afford to have your productivity by poor technology performance.

If you can, try and get the latest generation of laptops with Windows 10 and Office 365. With Windows 10 and Office 365, you will have the power of collaboration at the tips of your fingers while being flexible in any environment you choose to work in.

Consider this: just do a quick search on a laptop brand you like and see what people are saying about its mobility performance.

3.  Consider Working from a Co-Working Space

Some days working from home just doesn’t feel right. It’s good to take a break from your home office and get outside.

Luckily, you have the freedom to work where you want.

Consider working from a library, coffee shop or even rent a co-working space to work from for a day or two. It will help you reevaluate your efforts, and will give your mind a break from life at home.

Plus, if you do end up working in an official co-working space (something besides a coffee shop or library) —chances are you’ll sit beside someone who’s able to help you out, and vice versa.

2. Meal Prep in Advance for the Week Ahead

Usually if you’re working from home, you’ll have to take time out of your work day to cook for yourself. Or, if you’re lucky—you might have someone working from home with you that can help with cooking.

To avoid spending too much time in the kitchen when you should be working, try doing some advance mealprep on Sunday evening. The idea here is to cook something in large quantities, throw them in tupperware and just eat it throughout the week so you don’t waste time cooking during working hours.

Bodybuilders and athletes have been doing this for years. So why shouldn’t entrepreneurs?

Consider this: take a look at this guide from DailyBurn that includes some meal prep ideas.

1. Most Importantly, Know When to Stop Working

Working long, late hours may seem noble when hearing about entrepreneurs who worked hours on end to achieve their goal—but, part of what you often don’t hear is that they do take time for themselves.

They know when to turn off. They know when to unplug.

It’s important to know that it’s okay for you to take a break. It’s okay for you to watch T.V. for a few hours. It’s okay to do what you want, when you want when you feel as though you deserve it.

So go ahead, binge watch that new favorite Netflix show. Go for a run or a walk. Whatever you’d like!

Just make sure it’s after you’ve done your work for the day.

Conclusion

Now that we’ve taken a look at seven ways to work from home while staying productive, it’s important that you actually put these into practice. If you’re interested in becoming mobile, be wary of the security threats you may face if you work on public WI-FI. It may take some time to adjust to these different ways of working, but it really does pay off in the long run.

Let us know in the comments below if these work for you, or if you have any other tips for readers!