I spent nearly eight months working with my cofounder on several websites, waking up in one room and working in the other. Maintaining focus and productivity was always a constant concern. The faster, and more efficient we could work, the more we could produce and the longer our runway would be.
With that, here are some tidbits about working from home that might be useful pondering.
The right atmosphere is crucial.
For most people, where you work and where you live are separated geographically.
At the office, you probably take some time to clean up the clutter around your desk, or else people might be offended. But when nobody is looking, how many days do you go without cleaning dishes in the sink at home?
Creating an atmosphere that brings out your optimal mojo is, of course, different for everyone. However, there are simple things like natural light, a proper seat, and a good monitor that you should never cheap out on. First, these things directly affect your physical well-being. Second, quality equipment will last much longer, making it more cost effective in the long run.
Separation of Work and Steak
Don't eat at your desk. I can't tell you how many times I accidentally spilled a drink on important papers or my computer. Take your lunch breaks (and if you are a serious work at home person - your breakfast and dinner) as a time to do something else. Separation of your work place, and your steak place, allows you to decompress during lunches and snacks.
Whether you spend that time watching a quick tv show, or reading the news, or checking Facebook, or just sitting quietly somewhere else - it will bring variety to your day and help you work for longer.
Self Motivation
From a social perspective, working from home tends to strip away a valuable aspect of working in an office. While working in an office, you make friends that you don't need to make commitments to outside of work. When working from home, this complimentary social life is gone and work becomes just simply, work.
To work from home without going crazy, you need to have good self-motivation techniques and be outgoing with your centralized coworkers. Understand their difficulties in having to deal with a remote worker, especially if you are in charge of anything, and always be available to them.
Even if I have an infinite list of things to accomplish, I stay motivated by picking three things at a time to work on. This keeps my brain churning, while also providing variety if I need to bounce inbetween tasks to stay motivated.
Don't Lose Sight Of What's Important
Literally. Whatever is most important to you should be placed on your walls. At one point, I had a two posters with goals on them, plus walls that were covered with legal-sized graph paper full of designs, processes, and thoughts. I might even try the paint that you can use as a dry-erase board at some point in the future.
Having yourself surrounded by open space you can write on means that (a) you can see the big picture all the time, and (b) getting up to write on your walls is both entertaining and gets you out of your seat and moving.
Communication!
One fear about working from home is that people will forget about you. This doesn't mean that you should just blast out emails when you feel bored. It does mean that you should seek praise, motivation, and help when you need it.
The reverse is also true. Give people ways to get in touch with you when needed. Cellphone, GChat, Skype, email, whatever. Knowing that they can get in touch with you when shit hits the fan is very important. One time, I worked with a guy who was remote in London who would go on extra long lunch breaks and not provide good communication channel. One day, our production environment had a severe problem that affected clients - and of course - he was the only one who could fix it. We freaked out until he returned from his tea time.
Have a Good Chair
One thing I've noticed is that I spend long stretches of time fully committed to the task at hand when working from home. Much more time than I ever spent at the office with its myriad distractions. As part of my core set of equipment, I originally had a wooden IKEA chair that I thought I could use forever and save some money on.
After some hints at back pain, I invested in a nice, full-length office chair that will last me for a long time to come. Also, all hints of back pain have gone and I could probably live in that thing if I needed to, it's that comfortable.
It's the routine. Not the caffeine.
I love caffeine. I drink mate every morning, or good quality Stumptown coffee, or go for a walk to the corner cafe. It's the coffee that sets me up for productivity, right?
Well. no. No matter how much I enjoy these beverages. It's true that they are just placeholders, forming a ritual, a routine, to set us up for success. What if instead, you do 25 pushups before getting to work. Or meditate for a half hour. I've tried both and the results are remarkably similar (if not more impressive than coffee). The surge of energy and focus jumpstarts my body. You can also do them throughout the day. Ever try to have a big cup of coffee at 5pm? It would keep me up forever. But 25 pushes. That puts me right back into work attack mode.
No matter what it is, simply having a routine - especially in the morning - can help the day start correctly.
Lock Your Fridge
One of the worst temptations when you are are home is a phenomenon called "pecking". Birds do it. And most people do this after work or on the weekends. It's those brief pitstops to the kitchen to have a snack here or there. Individually, these are ideal small portions. Accumulated, they represent a terrible lack of self-control that equals a surplus of calories over time.
There are two ways to deal with this. First, you can just not peck. However, that requires an incredible amount of self-control, that many of us just don't have. Second, you could just fill your kitchen with good foods. Get rid of all candy, snacks with ingredients you can't pronounce, and heavy carb/starch that can reduce your energy levels during digestion and spike your insulin response. What is left is healthy, energy stabilizing foods that you don't have to feel bad about pecking at.
Let Big Brother Help
There are several tools out there to help you measure and quantify your productivity levels. I personally like Toggl and RescueTime. Toggl helps me keep track of hours on individual tasks for billing later on. RescueTime keeps me honest and helps me understand my productivity levels compared to the rest of their users.
It's a game for me to try to increase my RescueTime score every week! Who ever thought productivity could be fun?
Don't go it alone.
My last piece of advice is my least tested. I recently started coworking at a local coworking space three days a week. In addition to a dedicated desk and 40Mb download speeds, these spaces provide a much needed social aspect for work as well as after-work technology events.
So far, I just work with my head down at my desk, but there are people conversing about the latest platform, or latest problem they are having. I'm covered under NDAs galor for my current contract (I think they get my first born too), so I won't likely be talking to people about problems I'm having - but arguing Android vs. iOS is one of my favorite pastimes - and this is a great place to do so - passionately.
----
I'm always looking for interesting ways to increase productivity while working from home. Got any tips?
As a bonus, here is an old Lifehacker article about plants that you can purchase that help your working environment. http://lifehacker.com/5149643/three-plants-that-give-you-better-indoor-air
