These strategies can apply no matter why you’re working remotely—whether your class is partly or fully online, you have to work from home, or you just prefer to work in your own space, working remotely has its own specific challenges. Here are some strategies for managing your time while working from home.

Adjust expectations

If you do not normally work from home, there are going to be differences in how you work. Whether your usual place is an office, a library, a coffee shop, or something else, home will provide different distractions and temptations.

1. Need to navigate your day around family, pets, and household issues
2. Accept that you might need to adjust how you do things
3. Plan for that as you schedule your day.

Set boundaries

Without the mental distinction of “going to work or school,” it can be hard to fully put yourself in that mindset to work when you are at home. To help with this, find ways to set a space aside that is just for work.

1. Find ways to keep your work life from encroaching on your home life
2. Convert a room or part of a room to a home office
3. Use a different browser on your computer so you can distinguish the work-browser and fun-browser in your mind
4. When the time you’ve set aside for work is done, be done with your work.
   1. Leave your home office
   2. Start using your fun-browser

Structure your day

When you aren’t physically going somewhere else to work for a set period of time, it can be hard to structure your work day.

1. Continue to get up and start and end your work at a consistent time
   1. Helps keep you in your work mindset during your work time and your home mindset when you’re done
2. Schedule and take breaks
3. Take a lunch time

Categorize tasks and schedule them accordingly

You should categorize your tasks based on how well they tolerate distractions and interruptions and determine how they might fit into your current schedule.

1. Tasks, like answering emails, can be interrupted with few consequences
   1. If you have siblings or roommates around at a particular time, you might want to schedule distraction-tolerant tasks for those times.
2. Tasks, like meeting with a group, are better off completed with no distractions.
3. If there are times you know you’ll be alone, you can use those times for tasks you shouldn’t be distracted from.

References

Heaslip, E. (n.d.) How to Manage Your Time When You’re Working from Home. U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  https://www.uschamber.com/co/start/strategy/work-from-home-time-management-working-strategies

Rampton, J. (2020, Jan. 24). 24 Time Management Strategies to be More Efficient. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/345092

Rampton, J. (2018, May 1). Manipulate Time With These Powerful 20 Time Management Tips. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2018/05/01/manipulate-time-with-these-powerful-20-time-management-tips/#dd44dd457ab4