5 bad habits of work from home that one must avoid
8 years ago Shalini B
Working from home is surely a perk that an entrepreneur gets. WFH brings in a great amount of flexibility but this flexibility, if not managed properly can turn into a big disadvantage in terms of the quality of work and the deliverables. There can also be quite a lot of disturbances while working at home which can cause a great deal of distraction to the work flow.
Usually people tend to set to a particular pattern of work while working from home. For instance, some people tend to sit in a secluded area of the house while working at home to avoid distractions while some people tend to fix work from home hours in times when they know there won’t be any distractions.
While it is good to have a separate plan while you choose to work from home, there are some habits that flow in unintentionally while you are at home, like watching your favourite show or attending unnecessary calls which would not have happened if you were in your office. Listed below are 4 bad habits that one must be aware of while WFH –
1) Working in an unproductive place
If you choose to sit in your drawing room to work, it might prove to be the most unproductive place because usually this is the place where most of the distractions happens. Guests at home? Kids playing? Day to day conversations at home?  Usually, these kind of activities are all directed to the drawing room. So, this place could be quite unproductive on days when you choose to work from home.
When you are on a WFH, make sure you choose to sit in a place that has least disturbances  and is away from the distractions of daily home activities. However, you are not restricted to that area the entire day. Take breaks and spend time with your family as well, but not at the cost of deliverables.
2) Multitasking
Lot of times when we are at home, we are tempted to complete the other day to day household routines simultaneously while working. Multitasking and mixing mundane activities like taking care of pending bills, co-ordinating some work at home etc. with your work activities will hamper the quality of both as you will not be able give full justice to any of the tasks.
The best way to manage this is to set priorities and work accordingly. Though you are working from home, imagine you are in the office  and work accordingly. Your daily routine should not be hampered while you are working from out of office.
3) Commit to something extra
Your spouse might call in and want you to pick up the kid from school since you are working from home. People usually tend to commit to so many extra mundane activities while working from home that they end up losing out on the working hours.
While you cannot avoid personal commitments while at home, all you can do is, set up a schedule for the day and organise accordingly before committing to anything extra.
4) Take work from home casually
“Oh since I have to work from home, I shall get up a little late, have a heavy breakfast and then sit to work.†Come out of this habit. To be able to concentrate on work while at home, get dressed as if going to the office, get up on the same time you would if you would be going to office. Your attitude will have a great effect on your work speed and quality. If you get into the mood of a holiday since you are not going to office, there are chances that you might not feel like working and this will affect your work flow and deliverables.
5) 5 minutes of TV won’t effect my work productivity
The TV can be the biggest distraction while working from home. We often fail to realise how 5 minutes can become 5 hours and we will be totally lost in the idiot box.
Avoid these habits while you choose to work from home, and you will observe that your productivity even while at home is almost the same if you would be in your office. Choosing to working from home surely gets in more flexibility. At the same time, it’s important to stay focused and not take advantage of the privilege. The best way to stay focused it to set boundaries to help drive success.
