Today’s productivity hack is perfect for you if you often work from home, are self employed, a student or generally can work from anywhere with your laptop!
Along with my personal goals, I like to set some specific business goals. One of which is to work AWAY from home regularly.
As much as I love the convenience of my desk being right next door to my bedroom, it sure does leave me a little stir crazy some weeks. I’m at my laptop working at home 80% of the time. Unless I force myself to leave the house and plan things on my day off, I can easily go days without fresh air.
It’s not healthy, and it definitely isn’t conducive to creativity or productivity.If you write a lot, or run a business online, or generally need to have fresh ideas and think on your feet constantly, being stuck within the same 4 walls day in, day out can stifle the creative vibes.
I know when I’ve been at home too much, I feel sluggish; I can’t brainstorm as well, my mood is lower, I end up procrastinating and I’m no way near as productive.
So picking my backpack up and hauling my ass to a library, a coffee shop, even my boyfriend’s house is sometimes the pleasant and welcome change to my environment I need. It really helps me focus more, re-energises me and breaks up the working week.
The perfect remote working spots are cheap, have good WiFi and within walking distance in my opinion too.
A 10-30 minute walk will really get you in a positive state of mind and ready to work. Particularly if you have a good chunk of writing to do, getting out the house for even just a couple of hours can be the key to getting your head down and bringing your A game. No knocks on the door from the postman. No pets running round your feet wanting to be fed. No family/flat mates coming in every hour asking you for things. Just you, your laptop and your phone (which is hopefully on silent!).
This blogpost is somewhat me keeping myself accountable too – as I’m trying to work away from home at least once a fortnight in 2017 – preferably once a week. For you, it might be once a week, or once every couple of days, but find the balance that works for you. I find scheduling it in my calendar at the beginning of the week a great way to make sure that time is blocked off and I don’t have any meetings/calls/other work to do around that time.
If I know what day I’m away I can also make sure any prep work I need for that work is done – for me it might be filming videos to be edited, taking photos for blogposts that I want to write, brainstorming ideas, or downloading journal prompts and worksheets to fill out. Preparing in advance is the key to making sure that time is as productive as possible. And if you’re like me and sometimes struggle with the noise of public places – Try a library. I’m writing this from my local library and it’s so nice, just the right amount of conversation/background energy without being at all loud. Or, listen to instrumental music like Classical, Electronic, whatever you’re into. That really helps me get in the zone and blocks out my surroundings.
I hope this post has inspired you to work away from home more often – if anything, it’s just way more fun. If you’re lucky enough to be able to work from anywhere with an internet connection, why not take full advantage of that?! If you want more open, honest discussions about things like this – along with mindset, positivity, health, self care, and generally living your best life and feeling awesome – then sign up for my weekly letters! It’s completely free and will land in your inbox every Monday morning – the perfect boost of positivity to start off your week!
Love, Kat x
