#WorkTheNewWay: 5 Best Practices for Working from Home

To aid you in overcoming this latest challenge to your productivity, we’ve conferred with our team of flexible, co-working commandos here at Garage and compiled 5 best practices for you to pack in your arsenal as you embark on the conquest of working from home. 

1. Dress to Kill

Athletes wear their uniforms going into a race or a game. When they put on that jersey, it switches them into the mindset of competing. In that same logic, if you work in your pajamas, you will have the productivity of someone getting ready to go to sleep. To trick your mind into thinking that you are going to work as normal, put on your typical work outfit and go through your daily routines, which many can testify as conducive to productivity. It all starts with dressing right, putting on the proper work attire so you not only look the part but feel and act the part.

2. Early Bird Gets the Worm 

The late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant wakes up at 4 am to workout and critically acclaimed international best-selling author Haruki Murakami rises at 4 am to write. Not saying that we should all rise at 4 am, but there is clearly merit in starting your day early. The morning hours tend to be quieter and more conducive to work - especially when you have to get things done solo. Morning is the time to do it. 

3. Stay Online for work, Offline for Socials

Socials are fun and engaging, but they are also outright distracting when you are trying to get into your flow, particularly in the relaxed environment of your home office/bedroom. Some go as far as deleting Instagram from their phones, others simply switch on airplane mode to go off-air. A good rule of thumb is to simply keep it out of sight - have your phone facing down instead of up can do the trick already. It’s refreshing to not have to be bothered by endless WhatsApp notifications and Twitter buzzes of the latest trending when the most important happening is the task at hand.

4. Lo-Fi Beats, Hi-Fi Productivity

Music can really get your creative juices flowing. Proliferate writers from the likes of Shakespeare and Murakami have high regard for music because it’s the essential ingredient to get their creative juices flowing. Not just any music however can help you focus and get work done. The latest hit on Billboard 100 will likely have your head-bobbing and dancing on your chairs instead of keeping you locked into your seat to finish your tasks.  Music with little or no lyrics has been shown to increase focus and productivity from scientific research. A study on open office spaces found that human speech was the least conducive to productivity, while continuous background sounds actually boosted work performance. Make music the soundtrack to your productive day of working from home to get you into the flow. Check out our Lo-Fi Beats, Hi-Fi Productivity playlist on Spotify for a start. 

5. Fake it till you Make it

Schedule online meetings with tools like Zoom and assign a dedicated workspace (that is not your bed ideally) to position yourself in as if you are working as per usual - remember working from home means that it is business as usual and not business as casual. Being intentional about your workday will help you get into the right frame of mind and derive the most out of it. 

Work from home does not mean you are stuck at home. Be free to give yourself a change of scene as you see fit for added stimulation to get cooking for your next great piece of work. The advent of technology and connectivity means that we are no longer bound by physical or even geographical limitations in our daily work. Whether you are a pro at working remote or new to the game, these 5 tips could come in handy as you navigate your way through the world’s biggest work-from-home experiment.