The two things that the entire world is doing in 2020 are staying at home and working from home. While the former one is no rocket science, the latter one has its highs and lows.
Everyone knows telecommuting today, and one can do so by using this simple guide to login into your arris router. According to Wikipedia, telecommuting, also known as work from home, is a work arrangement in which employees do not commute or travel to a central place of employment; instead, they provide their services from their place of residence.
While telecommuting is new for others, IT professionals have been doing this for a long time. IT professionals usually maintain the software of a company’s IT infrastructure. This can generally be done without being present at the workplace.
Though IT professionals are not new to working from home, yet they also face issues.
Why Is Work From Home Tough?
- There is often no clear boundary between your working hours and no-working hours.
- Laziness will take control of your body when you are near your comfy bed. Hence, it gets tough to be productive.
- Often there is a problem in creating a proper workspace at home.
- You are bound to live and work in the same place. So, there is no change of scenery, and this becomes humdrum.
- The kids are at home, too, in this pandemic. So it is challenging to stay focused.
- Constant use of laptops for virtual meetings and video conferences causes your eyes to be stressed.
Tips To Make Work From Home Easy For IT Professionals
Here are some pointers to make your telecommuting easy, effective and efficient
1. Establish Precise Working Hours
At the office, we all have a proper 9-5 or 10-6 schedule. It helps us to give enough time to our professional and personal lives. This line of demarcation is blurred while working from home. You either lose track of time, stretch your working hours all day, or extend your no working hours, and postpone your deadlines. Neither of them is favorable.
You should ask your superior and understand your working schedule and try to stick to it. Another way to do this is by creating a daily to-do list with a proper mix of personal and professional goals. Your personal goals can be as easy as watching a movie or cooking a meal or meditating.
2. Don’t Miss Your Morning Routine.
To stay productive, it is essential to feel energetic. This energy can only come when you complete your simple morning habits before starting with your Zoom meetings or other work. It is natural to feel lethargic and to skip a bath or feel overwhelmed and skip breakfast. Overcome these feelings, get dressed, have a healthy breakfast, and lo! You’re ready to conquer the day!
3. Create Your Own Working Space
The primary purpose of working in an office is that it creates a proper work focused environment to make their workers efficient. The office provides all the necessary tools and resources needed to perform jobs smoothly. It is challenging to create the same ambiance at home, but we can create a similar atmosphere in your room. I cannot stress the importance of this workspace enough. This workspace will eliminate so many of your telecommuting problems.
Firstly, choose a corner of your house which is away from all distractions or preferably your computer desk. Collect all the vital stationery that you might require like pens, calculators, notepads, etc. and arrange them at your office. Inform your family members not to intrude in your working space during your working hours. Additionally, keep a jug of water at your desk so that you stay hydrated. Think of this working space as your home cubicle, and you will be more efficient than ever.
4. Take Frequent Breaks
Working for long hours without any intermissions will increase stress and drowsiness. Taking breaks is not only recreational but essential too. It refreshes your mind, replenishes your brain cells, and improves your creativity.
At a physical office, we do not have many options for a recreational break other than going to the canteen. While telecommuting, there are so many ways to take a break, such as making a power nap, watching television for 10-15 minutes after completing a tiresome assignment or reading a few pages of your favorite novel.
Also, don’t forget to end the break!
5. Ensure Proper Internet Connection
An essential aspect of working from home includes attending video calls and video meetings. It is often interrupted if you have a weak internet connection. To avoid this, keep your working space near the Wi-fi router, or attend calls from that place of your house, which has a strong network for using mobile data. You might miss out on some crucial instructions if your superior’s voice keeps cracking in the video call!
6. Avoid Distractions
It is one thing to take breaks between work and another thing to work between breaks. The former will make you productive, and the latter will make you lazy. To be as efficient as possible, avoid any likely distractions as much as possible. This is hard when you are at home. Again, choosing your workspace comes into the picture.
7. Don’t Forget To Take Care Of Your Body.
When we work from an office, we commute from our residence to the workplace, which makes us exercise unknowingly. At home, we forget to take care of this aspect. We are sitting in our chair half the time and on our bed the other time, which in turn makes our body rigid and causes body pain in the long run. One can form simple activities to do, to keep your body in motion.
Do a 10-minute workout, or walk around your room while talking on the call or perform yoga every morning, to keep your muscles active.
Conclusion
In these tough times, let’s not make our job tough. With too many wrong and stressful things already present in the world, your work from home shouldn’t become part of it. Keep it simple and organized. Also, don’t forget that you have a life outside of your job too.