Working from home is a great way to save money and time. You can set your own schedule and work when you want, which makes it easier to take care of yourself and your family. But there are still some challenges: How to stay productive when you’re not in an office? How to get things done if the kids are running around like crazy? What if there’s a power outage or an internet problem? 

Luckily, working from home doesn’t literally mean you have to work from just your home. You can work from anywhere: in coffee shops, in coworking spaces, in a friend’s house, in a hotel, or even at the beach. Here are some tips on how to stay productive and work effectively when you’re not feeling the vibes at home.

What changing your environment can do

Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. Working in the same environment for too long can cause a decline in productivity, especially if there are plenty of distractions at home or you suddenly need to be surrounded by other people and ambient sound. Step outside to walk around and find your next office for the day!

Determine what kind of work day you’ll be having

Before deciding where to work for the day, what kind of work day will it be? Is it going to be a day full of meetings, or a day where you can plow through your to-do list without interruptions? If it’s the first, you’ll have to consider working in a place where it’s relatively quiet and has good lighting. Think more coworking space versus a cafe where ambient sounds can be picked up by your microphone. If you can’t think of a place quiet enough to hold video calls, use or invest in a headset that drowns out background noise.

If you have to do a presentation or lead the meeting however, it’s best to do it at your home office and only work outside once it’s finished.

Communicate with your teammates

Make sure to let your teammates know if your working outside will affect their means of communicating with you throughout the day. For example, if you’d rather they didn’t call you constantly because it will drain your laptop battery or interrupt your productivity streak, tell them to just send you a chat or email or if you’d prefer to return their messages only once you’ve completed your prioritized tasks first.

It’s important to let your team know this especially if they’ve gotten used to contacting you in a specific way when you’re just working from home. That way they don’t wonder why you’re suddenly hard to get a hold of or have to chase you down for something important.

Bring friends along

Miss working with a group of people like in an office? If some of your teammates live in the same city as you, invite them for a day of working together in a cafe or coworking space. If none of them do, invite friends who are also working from home. Not only is this a good way to connect with your teammates (which is important for liking and being good at your job) or catch up with your friends, it’s also helpful for keeping yourself accountable and productive. Being around other people who are trying to finish their tasks is motivating and you can even all agree to put your phones together and make up a rule to not check them until work, or at least one task, is done.

Leave distractions behind

If you’re stepping out to work and your family knows where you’ll be, and your colleagues can reach you through messaging apps on your laptop, why not leave your phone at home for a few hours? This completely eliminates distractions, the most common of which is constantly checking social media, and forces you to focus solely on your tasks so you might finish them faster. In fact, you might even finish earlier and have more time to relax and spend time with family when you get home or to kick back and wind down with your favorite hobby whether that’s reading, watching a show or movie, or playing video games.

Step out of the house ready and prepared

Just like how you prepare for the day at home with all your essential gadgets and your to-do lists, make sure you’re also prepared for when you take those things to a coffee shop or coworking space. If the cafe you’ll be working at doesn’t have outlets for plugging devices, make sure your batteries are fully charged or bring a power bank for your phone. If you like working while listening to music you choose, don’t forget to bring your earphones. If you have sticky notes with important reminders of your tasks or deadlines stuck to the wall of your home office, take a quick photo with your phone so you can peruse through it. If you have a favorite snack the cafe doesn’t serve, bring it with you, but make sure you also order something. If you drink a lot of water at home, bring your own water bottle so you don’t have to keep asking for a refill or ordering bottled water which can disturb you from work mode.

Work from anywhere with us

With all of this in mind, you can now be productive from anywhere. The only thing left is to find that perfect remote job! Remote Workmate has a list of career opportunities for Filipino remote workers with clients from the US, UK, and Australia.

And once the client hires you, we stay with you to help with onboarding and management between you and your client. We do three-to-six-month evaluations to make sure the working relationship remains strong and successful. Remote Workmate also handles HR and payroll services so you don’t have to worry about them!

Ready to jumpstart your career?