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With the government initiating the Movement Control Order, many companies are implementing work from home policies amid the spread of COVID-19. Though you might be looking forward to not commuting through traffic and staying in your pajamas, it’s difficult and distracting to work effectively at home. It is important to ensure you can still be efficient at your job even when working from home. Here are a few ways to keep yourself productive throughout the day.

Keep A Dedicated Space For Work

Where you work matters. Working from home can blur the lines between personal and professional. It is crucial to have a separate space for work to mentally help disconnect work with the comforts of being home. Though having a separate office is ideal, it isn’t entirely necessary. A separate workspace doesn’t have to be a dedicated office with closed doors, simply an allocated area that you can leave behind at the end of the day is enough. It should be somewhere that prepares you mentally to switch on your work mode. It can be a separate office area, or just a small desk set up in a corner of a room. Just make sure it would be in a place you don’t go to relax.

Have A Schedule

Adapting to the change of environment may throw you off your game, after all, “out of sight, out of mind.” Have a routine and stick to it. Follow your usual working hours, change out of your pajamas, decide what work you have to complete at the end of the day and actually finish it. Set reachable goals for yourself just as you would in the office. Never neglect your daily rituals or else it’s a fast track to procrastination.

Communicate Regularly with Team Members

The key to working from home is to have clear and frequent communication with your boss and your team members. Losing the luxury of bumping into colleagues makes you lose those drive-by connections. Write and speak much more than what your natural practice would be. Have video chats for meetings, keep regular updates on your progression. Have really clear-set expectations for communications.

Take Breaks

Just as you don’t work eight hours straight at work, you don’t do the same at home. You have coffee breaks and lunch breaks. Just because you’re not in the office, doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to take the same breathers. Hitting pause and having a short rest can boost your productivity. Taking breaks will not rid you of your effectiveness. “Stepping away for breaks are part of productivity; they actually make you smarter and give you perspective and answers” according to Julie Morgenstern, a productivity consultant and author of “Organizing from the Inside Out.

It may be challenging to adapt to the major change in light of the current situation. Workers could struggle with loneliness, time management, and overall communication with team members. While this can all be tough, finding a strategy that works can help you make it through.