At Forge, we know working from home is hard! At first, working from home may seem like a dream come true. But then the distractions of home bombard you- not to mention it’s lonely. That’s exactly why we’ve started Tuesday/Thursday Virtual Happy Hours for Forge members which you can see above! And it may start to feel like your work day never truly ends. With most Forge members now working from home during the pandemic, we asked for their advice on how to be most productive.

Matt’s Tip:

“Uhhh… DONT work from home. My productivity is near zero right now. So many distractions!”

We know a lot of you are forced to work at home right now because of COVID-19 – we just thought Matt’s immediate response was pretty funny! Now let’s get on to the real advice…

Donna’s Tips:

1) Security should be your first consideration. Make certain that you have secured your router with a password, keep your virus protect programs up-to-date. Do not work on an unsecure Wi-Fi network.

2) Carve out a dedicated workspace, preferably with a window and an ergonomic chair, at minimum.

3) Cloud storage for remotely accessing your files. Download the app versions of your productivity programs, which should include a document scanner.

4) Stay in face-to-face contact with customers using tools such as Zoom.

Alex’s Tips:

1. I’m sure this one has been said 100 times, but creating a routine is huge. My wife has created a daily schedule for the kids and I have my morning and evening routine too. Equally important to that routine is to be flexible if you have to stray from it. For example, I wake up with our toddler between 6:30-7 when he comes in our room, make him breakfast, get an Audible story going, eat my breakfast, shower, and get my day started by 9.

2. Determine the times you will be looking at your emails/computer and times you will not. After a certain time I will periodically see emails come across my phone, but I am not reading them or responding to them once I am spending 1-2 hours with the kids before they go to bed. Additionally, don’t let the chores that need to get done around the house distract you or cause you anxiety. When you get out of deep work to just quickly do some laundry you will find it hard to jump back into what you were working on.

3. Definitely have a separate “office” that is ideally not your couch and has most of the things you will need and is somewhat removed from kids/animals if they are going to be distracting.

4. Have your work playlist that works for you. Because I am a highly sensitive person, I find it very distracting to have background music where someone is singing/talking, so I generally have a jazz station as background music.

Autumn’s Tips:

Big things for me are to manage my expectations – this is not business as usual so have grace with myself and others. But also work can still get done – so do what works for you (setting goals, setting timers, keeping a to-do list)

• I moved my to do list to my kitchen chalkboard so that it follows me when I’m tempted by other things.
• Schedule more meetings and make more of an effort to call people because you can’t stumble upon anyone.

Jeff’s Tip:

The first thing that popped into my mind was having a headset for all the Zoom calls. On calls with people who aren’t used to doing videoconferences, I’m noticing that there’s a certain “etiquette” that “newbies” aren’t used to (muting when not talking being the main thing) and – using a headset (as opposed to computer’s built-in mic and speakers) helps with that.

Jami’s Tips:

1. Try to give yourself specific ‘office hours’. It’s easy to keep the laptop open and find yourself working 18 hour days, putting you at risk for exhaustion and burnout. I like to use a pomodoro timer to help me focus on specific tasks and give myself enough brakes to remain mentally sharp
2. Keep a sense of humor. Dogs are going to cry, kids are going to barge in, technology will be overwhelmed and break. Right now, we’re all in this together and laughing together is really critical to keeping us all sane
3. Find ways to socialize and have fun with your teams. I’ve had a blast attending virtual happy hours where we play online games, I’ve hosted Netflix Parties where we all watch and chat through an episode of Tiger King (drinking is suggested!)–find ways to keep everyone connected and having fun. One of my favorite activities was asking everyone to go around and spend 20 seconds ‘selling’ everyone else on the call on why their drink was the best one.
4. Set aside time each day to get away from technology. Whether you’re reading a book, taking a walk, journaling–screen fatigue is real

So what are your productivity recommendations when working from home? Comment and tell us!