A lot more people are working from home nowadays. If you are running your business from home, it is absolutely crucial that you do think about productivity. You need to make sure that you are taking steps to ensure that you stay efficient and effective. Let’s look at some of the issues you can encounter here.
RSI
When you are working from home, you could develop an issue with RSI. RSI is a condition which causes pain in the upper limbs. This could be around your wrists, lower arms or upper arms. It can make typing or writing both painful and difficult. Your fingers may feel stiff when you have this condition and you could find that you get shooting pains up your arms. Tremors, tingling or numbness are also all possibilities. As such, it is important to be aware of the danger here.
A repetitive strain injury is usually caused by typing in the wrong position for long periods. Poor posture and a terrible typing technique can both lead to RSI being more likely. Take a look at this video to discover the right way to type so that you can avoid RSI completely.
You also need to self regulate through the working day and ensure that you do take breaks between work. Five minutes each hour should be enough. You may also want to consider investing in a sit standing desk. This will allow you to change your position throughout the working day and ensure that your muscles and joints do not become stiff. This is particularly important because researchers suggest that sitting for long periods in the same position can be just as damaging to your health as smoking.
Personal Distractions
When you are running your business, you need to make sure that you do not get distracted. Time is money in business after all so you must be productive in your home office area. Distractions can occur in a variety of forms. For instance, if you don’t make it clear to your family and friends that you are following a typical business day, they are going to ask you to complete tasks. They wouldn’t do this if you were working from an office, but because you are at home, they think you have more spare time. It is important to be clear with them that you are still running a company and that you are still working within business hours.
Of course, distractions can also be caused by your own actions. For instance, it is possible that you do waste a lot of time on sites that you should not be frequenting during a working day. It is easy to go on a click trail when you should be chasing up leads before realizing that you have accidentally wasted hours. To avoid this, consider blocking sites that you wouldn’t typically access through the workday. Depending on your business model, this could include social media sites. However, these could also be essential for running your business and marketing your company.
Of course, distractions can be more serious while WFH (working from home). If for instance, you are suffering from depression then you will find you struggle with motivation to work at all through the day. To cope with this, you may want to think about using a solution like Luxury Rehab. They will help ensure that you improve your health and recovery. It is important you do think about your wellbeing when running your business. Ultimately, if you are not healthy than your business model won’t be either.
Poor Technology
You may also want to think about investing in new tech for your business. It is true to say that every year fresh technology enters the market, some of which is sure to help boost your business and your productivity levels. Modern tech loads faster has fewer faults and is less likely to malfunction, resulting in downtime. We recommend you reinvest in new tech for your home company at least every two years. Or, alternatively, as much as your budget will allow.
Terrible Connections
Do make sure that you think how the connectivity levels in your business. It is worth noting that productivity can take a serious hit if delays are present in your connections. Ultimately you need to quickly be able to contact and send information to customers and clients. Obviously, you will need a strong internet connection, but you can go further than this for even greater performance and invest in a cloud server. A cloud server will ensure that you can access the information instantly and so can your clients. It is a great option to ensure you do impress your customers and clients.
The Wrong Environment
Lately, you need to make sure that you are operating in the right environment to remain productive. While it might be true that working from home can be freeing, it is true to say that it is easier to be productive with an office set up. For this reason, you may want to consider alternating between your home and something like a hot desk. At the very least, avoid working from your bed or even the sofa, because chances are it will adversely impact your productivity. You need to walk the fine line between being comfortable and being focused / motivated.