How to Stay Focused on your Goals While Working from Home

“Hey! You are now working from home; you can work anytime you want. Complete the household chores first.”

Isn’t that relatable? And we all have been hearing its different versions for the past one year. Isn’t it?

But, is WFH our choice? Did we deliberately decide to work from home to enjoy its benefits?

NO!!! It was thrusted upon us, and you know the reason!

Continued for long, its consequences include:

• Losing focus on work
• Unhealthy eating habits
• Lack of physical exercise

Today, in this post, we’ll talk about how to stay focused on your goals while working from home.

Yet, many of us don’t even know that we cannot focus on work and keep on building frustration inside, which leads to many other problems.

So, let’s first see the signs that tell you cannot focus on a task.

Signs of losing focus while working from home

You are losing your concentration if:

• You take more than the usual time to complete a particular task
• You read same emails over and over, but get nothing
• You move in and out of Zoom meetings/task at hand
• Cannot complete scheduled tasks in a day

Now that you know the signs of loss of concentration, what’s the quick fix? Read on!

How to Stay Focused on a Task while Working from Home

1. Create a home office/dedicated workspace

First things first, the majority do not have a dedicated workspace in the house. And that’s the no.1 reason we lose focus.

However, it’s not our mistake. Because homes were never meant for office work as they have been since past 1 year.

So now, it has become compulsory to create a dedicated workspace at home. And I swear, you need little to do that.

A medium-sized table and a comfy chair suffice for the purpose. Just make this space separate from your living room, otherwise bed would be your major distraction and you’ll feel lazing out there! (specially in winters)

If you don’t have a separate room to make a dedicated workspace, choose a room where there’ll be least disturbance to build the same.

2. Make a to-do list according to your most productive hours

Foremost thing that comes in handy to complete all scheduled tasks of the day is your ‘To-do list’. It serves as a daily reminder of your tasks. However, the catch is ‘How to prepare one’.

You can just jot down the tasks you need to do as a list or there’s a better option.

I always prepare my to-do list in order of priority. That means tasks of higher priority find the top place in my list, and those of low priority at the bottom.

Also, being a morning person, I keep high priority tasks for daytime and low priority tasks for late evening.

So, figure out when you are at your best or most productive, and prepare your to-do list accordingly. Schedule the tasks that take most of your focus during that time.

Last but not the least, prepare your to-do list for the next day right before you end the work for the day. This way, you can begin your next day with focus, as you’ve already identified your tasks and goals for the day.

3. Plan your lunch the night before

Who’s there with me on this? Raise your hands!

I like to plan even my household chores, like cooking meals in advance. For this reason, I plan the breakfast and lunch for the day on previous night, so that I can make some advanced preparations and not devote much time to it the next day.

This leaves me with ample time for my work and also keeps me focused.

4. Create a schedule for household chores

As said before, I plan my household chores as well. In fact, I prepare a to-do list for the same. This way, I know my responsibilities at both ends, and can plan out the schedule accordingly.

5. Dress for success

WFH gives us a chance to stay relaxed and complete our tasks. No wonder many take this relaxation so seriously that they won’t even take a bath or dress properly while sitting at the desk for work.

I feel the opposite. Bathing and dressing appropriately for work keep you in routine, work mindset, and focused. Though you don’t need to dress in formals, but still appropriate for work.

This also makes a positive impression during your virtual meetings on Zoom or Skype.

6. Tidy up the workspace, but don’t be obsessed with it

Now, there are two extremes.

One who doesn’t keep their workplace tidy at all! Everything is disorganized, which also adds on to a lack of focus.

The other extreme are the ones so obsessed with the tidiness that their work gets compromised in keeping the place organized. I admit of being in this capacity, unless I realized its consequences.

So keep your workplace tidy up to the limit it doesn’t pose a hindrance to your concentration and work speed.

7. Limit media consumption/social media

Watching YouTube videos or just scrolling through our social media is a favorite pastime for all, but what it does to your ability to focus?

It kills your time adding no productivity to the schedule. So, avoid using YouTube or social media amid your working hours.

To make it easy, turn off push notifications on your mobile and keep it out of sight while working on your desk.

8. Block time wasting sites

Social media is not the sole culprit in wasting our time (unless you are promoting your business on social media). Other sites like news sites and anything else do the same.

So, block such sites on your laptop and mobile to help you stay focused on work.

9. Take scheduled breaks often

Breaks give you mental rest, time to rejuvenate yourself, and improve your power of concentration. So, take such breaks after every few hours of work at the desk.

And break should be like a break.

Avoid playing games on mobile/scrolling social media during breaks. Instead, go for a walk, read a book, call up a friend or complete a household chore during the break to get its real benefits.

10. Don’t graze all day

Chips, Nachos, Fun Flips, and other fast-food help kill those short hunger pangs, but grazing all day makes you lazy, affects your concentration, and adds to your weight.

11. Avoid multi-tasking or keeping multiple tabs open on laptop

Multi-tasking or keeping multiple tabs open at a time divides your attention and takes longer to finish a task.

Thus, focus on one task at a time, even if it seems boring, so that by giving it your undivided attention, you get to finish the task faster.

If you struggle to focus, get up and move around in the room/house for a few minutes, which helps to clear your mind and reset your focus.

12. Manage interruptions

Notifications on your phone are the biggest source of interruption. So, turn off anything that isn’t relevant to work and mute all unnecessary notifications to help you stay focused.

Also, share your work schedule with your family and kids so they know when you’re occupied and when you’re free.

13. Avoid procrastination

It’s more tempting to procrastinate at home because there are more distractions. It’s easy to put off things for later part of the day or earlier the next day because we aren’t bound by office hours while working from home.

However, this can cause stress because if something unexpected happens – internet goes down, you fall ill, or a family member gets ill, you’ll have to push yourself to meet the deadline or miss it. This can have grave consequences for your business.

Read further: 7 Business Trends that will Influence the Future

14. Automate as much as you can

Technology makes a great time-saviour and administrative assistant. Scheduling your social media posts, sending LinkedIn messages, setting up customer billing, etc. are certain tasks that you can automate and save time.

Read further: How to Take Care of the Self during WFH?

Bonus Tip on How to Stay Focused and Use Time Wisely

Here’s a bonus tip from a leading Personal Transformation Coach and Founder of Smart Minds Coaching, Annecha Smart-Fullerton:

Wrapping up on how to stay focused and productive at work

Unfortunately, sometimes we work more hours at home than we do in the office.

Therefore, it’s easier for the workday to stretch both earlier and later. However, this can have a negative impact on our focus, since there’s less urgency to buckle down and work.

Remedy the issue by following the above tips on how to stay focused on your goals while working from home.

Do you have any more tips to add to the list? Comment below!