Post the global pandemic, social distancing has completely changed the notion of a “work environment.” Seeing that remote work, is here to stay — learning how to work from home as productively as possible outside the traditional office space is now a necessity.
And while working from home does have its perks and it does allow for more flexibility in organizing your time, it also comes with one significant caveat — distractions. With our family members and housemates all adapting to the new reality of a combined living and working space, the boundaries of acceptable behavior are becoming blurrier by the day.
In such a hectic environment, we lack many of the usual office structures that have kept us “on time” before. As a result, we must all adapt our productivity to work-from-home situations to ensure an uninterrupted workflow. Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do to reduce remote work distractions — and we’ll present the main ones right here.
Top Distraction for Remote Workers
Top Challenges for Remote Workers
For countless knowledge workers, the shift to remote work hasn’t quite felt like the new “normal” yet. Whether you’re planning to return to the office or working remotely to work long-term, finding ways to stay focused is key.
We have discussed some tried-and-tested tips to help you steer clear of distractions. These focus on strategies for managing distractions in a traditional office setting. Because ultimately, true productivity isn’t about where you work – it’s about how you work.
Cluttered Rooms: While a bit of clutter might spark creativity, a messy workspace can seriously disrupt your focus and ability to process information, leading to increased anxiety and stress in the long run. To combat this, make a conscious effort to keep your workspace clean and organized by decluttering, organizing essential items, and utilizing digital storage options like the Cloud to reduce physical paperwork.
Clean your workspace every week. Setting aside time, such as a Friday afternoon, for a cleaning session can help you mentally transition out of work mode and start the weekend with a fresh and orderly workspace.
Meal time: Although eating in the office can bring a sense of relaxation and well-being, it’s important to be careful. Studies have shown that eating while working can increase errors by up to 50% and triple study time.
However, taking a quick break for a snack can go a long way in reducing stress throughout the workday.
Therefore, to be efficient and effective, do not eat at your table. But hunger can make it difficult to concentrate on tasks and lead to poor food choices like junk food. Stock up on healthy options like fruits and nuts to reduce appetite and increase focus.
Family: Working from home presents challenges when family members, such as children or a working spouse, become distractions. Even when your children typically attend school, unforeseen circumstances can arise, requiring them to stay home. Similarly, a spouse who usually commutes to work may inadvertently disrupt your work routine.
The presence of active children, loud conversations, background noise from the television, or sibling conflicts can create a chaotic environment that hampers your ability to concentrate. Furthermore, a working spouse may seek your attention for both urgent matters and casual conversations, diverting your focus from your tasks and impacting your productivity. It’s essential to establish boundaries and communicate effectively to balance work responsibilities with family dynamics in a home office setting.
Noise: Handling disruptions like loud noises while working from home requires a personal approach. Whether it’s the sounds of construction or noisy neighbors, they can mess up your focus. Deal with each problem separately. If it’s your neighbors making noise, have a friendly chat with them. Tell them you work from home and ask nicely if they can keep it down.
If it’s construction noise, make sure they’re working within allowed hours. If they are and you still can’t concentrate, you might need to change your work schedule, move your workspace, or get good headphones to block out the noise.
Visitors: If you’re expecting a delivery, leave a note telling the delivery person where to leave the package to avoid disruptions during your work meetings or calls.
Tell your friends or neighbors not to visit unexpectedly during your work hours. Make it clear that you’re busy working and let them know your schedule. If you’re really busy, just don’t answer the door, set boundaries to ensure you can focus on your tasks without interruptions.
Pets: Our furry friends can bring joy, but they sometimes interrupt our work. Ever noticed how your dog starts barking just when you’re on a call? It’s a common occurrence. While having pets as colleagues is lovely, it’s wise to keep them away during important meetings.
Ensure your dog stays active and entertained elsewhere during work hours. For cats, they might not be distracted much, unless they choose your keyboard as a nap spot! Providing separate spaces for your pets while you work can help maintain focus and productivity.
How to manage distractions when working remotely?
Knowing how not to get distracted while working remotely is important because you can stay focused for longer periods. When you stay concentrated on your work, you can end your day feeling productive and happy with what you accomplished. While working from home, it’s common to feel tempted by household chores or unrelated tasks. Implementing strategies to stay focused can lead to improved work habits and overall productivity.
1. Establish a Clear Schedule
To minimize distractions while working from home, it’s essential to establish a clear schedule for your tasks. Break down your workday into structured time slots to increase your efficiency.
However, scheduling goes beyond just work-related tasks. To create a distraction-free work-from-home routine, it’s crucial to plan your social interactions, both within your household and in the virtual workplace.
Schedule regular check-ins with managers and colleagues into your schedule, along with short breaks to connect with family or housemates. By incorporating these planned interactions, you’ll reduce unexpected interruptions and stay more focused on your work tasks.
2. Avoid Multitasking
Multitasking is a vital skill. It’s an essential part of any remote developer’s job, and can not be avoided. But when you’re spending most of your days at home, there are tons of chores and fun activities that distract you away from your work.
You’ve got phones and tablets that are constantly buzzing with notifications, a pile of dishes waiting since this morning, and the deceptively comfy prospect of binging a TV show — it’s all there all the time.
Especially when it comes to house chores, you may feel like some of them require your urgent attention — and you start juggling your home chores and work tasks at the same time. This is a surefire recipe for lower productivity, and you need to avoid it like the (recently quite literal) plague.
Not all of these activities are as important as you may have convinced yourself that they are. Most of those distractions are just you being confused about your priorities. During work hours, you need to prioritize even the most menial work task above anything else in your home — in 99% of cases, you can finish all of that later anyway.
3. Set Boundaries
In an office setting, external factors like team meetings help structure our day and keep us focused. But when transitioning to remote work, these cues disappear, requiring us to establish clear boundaries to combat distractions and maintain productivity.
Remember what works for you in an office setting and replicate it in your home workspace.
Build boundaries that align with your work style and support your productivity.
Know what works best for you. For example – if you’re most productive in the morning, prioritize your toughest tasks during this time to capitalize on your peak performance hours. By setting and maintaining these boundaries, you can optimize your remote work experience and achieve greater productivity.
4. Limit the use of Mobiles
Let’s be honest, we all use phones and social media a little more than required these days.
Moreover, if you work in the technology industry, it becomes more difficult as you are practically working on these devices. It’s easy to reach for your phone and get distracted.
This makes things more difficult when working from home. Since there are no coworkers, or bosses nearby there’s nothing to stop you from spending too much time on your phone or computer.
So try disconnecting. Turn off those notifications and prevent the urge to check your phone constantly. You can use the tools on your website to block relevant websites. It’s a small change that can help you focus on your work when working from home.
5. Physical health
Even if you work hard to stay calm and avoid distractions, you will encounter problems. This is a reality we all face; Sometimes it seems hard to focus no matter what you do.
Working remotely often blurs the difference between work and your personal life. This makes managing both difficult. So take care of yourself and listen to your body to know when to rest.
Remember, you can take some time from work to complete it. Doing this will make the time you spend working more productive for everyone involved. So when you feel stuck, don’t hesitate to take a break and recharge; Your productivity will thank you.
Concluding Words:
In conclusion, working from home has its pros and cons, especially when it comes to distractions. Whether it’s noise, intruders, or annoying animals, they can disrupt our workday. However, we can manage these distractions with smart moves such as setting boundaries, setting up a high office, and managing our time well.
Remember, it is possible to accept distractions but don’t let them cause you to lose focus when working. Discuss your work schedule and needs, you can enlist their support to create peace of mind.
The key is to remain flexible and open-minded, cope with distractions, and make the most of your work-from-home setup while enjoying your time at home.
Also Read: Pros and Cons of Remote Work
