6 Tips To Having Minimal Distractions In Your Home Office

Working from home is increasingly becoming a popular choice for many professionals. Who doesn’t want this? You will beat traffic, you don’t have to commute, you will save gas, save so much time, will be able to spend more time with your family and you don’t have to dress up every morning to go to the office.

Some office cultures are shifting to be more accommodating of remote workers, but there are challenges that need to be resolved for workers to be more productive and not waste precious time. One of the challenges is distraction. If you’re working from home, there will be distractions including kids, household chores, and easy access to TV and other entertainment can prevent you from accomplishing as much as you want to.

The good thing is, these distractions can be easily managed and at the same time boost your productivity while working in your home office. Below are some tips that you can do to minimize distraction while working from home.

1. Tell Your Family

People in the house will surely distract you, so to avoid this, tell them that they need to understand that you will not always be available because you’re working even if you’re staying at home. This applies to your kids and spouse. It’s important to explain to them that you don’t want to be disturbed when you’re absorbed in work, and what you’re doing is important for you and your family. Put a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door if you have a separate home office.

2. Do The House Chores Before Starting With Your “Work”

Prepare everything to do with “home life” before getting to your work tasks. Food, drinks, snack, bathing the kids, feeding the dog or anything that may distract you if you’re in the middle of something. Once everything has been prepared, take your shower, wear your comfy clothes and start working. You will be more focused when you know that everything is taken care of.

3. Play Some Music

Many professionals said that playing music during the workday helped in increasing focus and productivity. Listening to music will get you into the rhythm, help you focus and be in the zone for hours until you finished all your tasks for the day. Plus music lessens stress while you work.

You can also wear headphones while listening to music and tell others that you don’t want to be disturbed. If you’re not into music, you can simply wear them to discourage anyone to disturb you while going through your tasks.

4. Switch Off All Automatic Alerts

Between the notifications that pop up every time on your smartphone screen and the email flag whenever you get an email, these alerts can disrupt your productivity. So, just turn them off to prevent you from being distracted. Anyway, you have your work email up on your computer screen so there’s no need to have on your mobile while working, especially it’s a personal email and not a work-related email.

5. Declutter Your Work Space

A cluttered workspace also means a cluttered mind. All the mess around your workspace will not only make you waste time trying to find something under all the clutter, it will also distract you and take you out of focus when you see all the mess around you. Declutter your office and put everything where it belongs. You will realize that you have more space in your office to move around freely without any stress.

6. Maintain a Schedule

If you can, maintain a schedule as if you’re physically in your company office. This includes getting out of bed, preparing everything and following set hours that includes a designated lunch break. But this one will depend on the individual since working at home will free you from some of these constraints.

Try to adopt new habits to help you control distractions around you and make it clear to everyone that you do not want to be disturbed when you’re working unless it’s an emergency.