Working from home can be extremely challenging, as so many people found out during the pandemic. It’s easy to get distracted and hard to feel like you’re really working.

When we first started working from home in 2016, we struggled to stick to a schedule. We were working 7 days a week and still felt like we were behind on our work. It was so easy to get distracted for half the day and only end up working for a handful of hours every day. 

It took a couple of years before we felt like our schedule was manageable and left enough time for us to live our lives without the stress of work hanging over us.

Everyone has to work through these growing pains on their own. Discipline, motivation, consistency, and habits need to be formed. But, we have a couple of pro tips that may help make the transition easier. 

1. Make a Schedule and Stick to it

After you leave your traditional job and get to wake up at home and work on your own schedule, it can be tempting to sleep in, take leisurely walks, and cook big breakfasts. And while all of those joys can fit into your new work from home life, it’s important to create a schedule for yourself so that you don’t end up panicking and having to work late nights and weekends. 

Set up a plan for when you will get up, what time you’ll start work, eat lunch, etc. This will help you to structure your day and time. It will allow you to get your work done and also make time for all the other parts of your life. 

2. Set up a Place to Work (away from distractions)

This can be challenging if you don’t have a dedicated space in your house for an office. If you plan to work from home indefinitely, we recommend creating a living situation that allows for a separate office space. Having an office has been key to our work-from-home success and we even chose our current house because of the extra room that we could use as an office. 

Many of our work-from-home clients are using empty corners of the guest room or part of the living room for their office space. Sometimes this is all that you have available and you have to make it work, but it can be extremely distracting to have other things going on in the room where you’re working. 

Our advice: if you’re going to work from home permanently, make sure that you have a dedicated office. 

3. Don’t Have Unreasonable Expectations for Yourself

This is especially important for entrepreneurs that are hustling to get their business up and off the ground. It can sound romantic and exciting to set lofty goals where you leave it all on the table for your business, but in reality most people are setting themselves up for failure. 

Set timelines and expectations that you can meet without planning to work day and night to make your dream happen. You’re more likely to reach your goals if you create a consistent practice of working hard.

4. Get Dressed

This one should go without saying, but getting dressed every day helps you to feel like a professional person who can take on your business and task list. A lot of working from home successfully is mindset and this can help with that. 

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that leggings didn’t count as getting dressed in our house, but as long as it’s not what you slept in, it counts! 

5. Connect with Other People

There are some people who feel isolated and lonely when they are working alone in their house everyday. And there are others who like it and enjoy the solitude. Regardless of the type of person you are, you will benefit from connecting professionally with other people. 

You can join a mastermind group, meet up with other people to work together one day a month, go to networking events, or hire a VA to bounce ideas off of and pass off some of the work you don’t like to do. Whatever it is, we highly recommending finding connections. It not only helps cultivate a sense of community, but also provides a sounding board for your business ideas. 

We’re on Instagram and LinkedIn, so connect with us if you want to bounce ideas around!