How To Get Your Work-From-Home Routine Back After Christmas

If you're anything like me, getting distracted by butterflies, sunshine, and endless conversations on the internet can lead to hours of unproductivity. Last year, I managed to 4x my productivity across two months while working from home, but I must admit that the holidays messed with my mojo. Getting back into that sweet work-from-home rhythm has proven challenging. So, I made some adjustments to my work-day to get focused and avoid distraction.

1. Eat the Big Ugly Frog First

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."

- Stephen Covey

In 2021, after reading Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog , I created a very simple morning routine:

1. Wake up
2. Have breakfast and coffee
3. Work

In his book, Brian Tracy talks about prioritizing the tasks that will have the biggest impact toward reaching your goal. So, if you want to exercise every day, you'd do that first thing in the morning. I do that with work. By prioritizing billable tasks first thing in the morning, I get more work done and reach deadlines early on.

Once my biggest writing tasks are done for the day, I turn my focus to other things like exercise, chores, and self-care.

This way, if I get distracted while tidying up, I know my most important tasks are done and dusted.

2. Track Time

"Tracking is a simple exercise. It works because it brings moment-to-moment awareness to the actions you take in the area of your life you want to improve"

- Darren Hardy | The Compound Effect

One of the biggest impacts on my increased productivity, last year was tracking my time. Knowing where your time goes each day can help you make more informed decisions about scheduling.

• Are you doing too much or not enough?
• What's gobbling up the hours?

I use ClickUp's built-in time tracker to clock in the hours spent on different projects and tasks. So, when I find myself wondering where the day went, I can look at the time tracking dashboard to see what I worked on that day and how long each task took, and how many billable hours I logged. I especially love this because it gives me data, so I know my average turn around time for future planning.

There is also a goals feature that helps you set a target and milestones to help you get closer to achieving success. My current goal is to add two more hours to my work day, so I can get back to my sweet spot.

3. Listen to Your Body

"One of the best ways we can fight the enemy is to get a good night's sleep."

- Havilah Cunnington

Dips in energy happen, and understanding what your body needs can give you that extra jolt of energy to make it through the day. For me, getting my morning coffee, a daily dose of Vitamin D, and going for a short walk helps with brain fog and revitalizes me for any tasks that are pending toward the end of the day.

Having a regular sleep schedule has also been a game changer. The human body needs sleep to recuperate, keep cognitive function on point, and deal with the stresses of life. So, try giving yourself a bedtime and set your alarm for the same time every day (even on the weekend). Wind down before bed by avoiding caffeine and screens.

4. Cultivate Boredom

"When you take a break, it's important not to jump back onto your distractions. Leave all those things off."

- Matthew Encina

The biggest enemy to my productivity is getting back into the flow after a break. I get easily distracted and an twenty minutes of catching up on chores or going for a walk easily takes over the rest of my day and any hope of focusing on work flies out the window.

In the past, I remedied this by working in four to six hour sprints before taking a break. But that's not the healthiest approach and the sessions typically leave me drained creatively. That's why I've been trying something new.

In a recent article, Matthew Encina mentioned how staying distraction free during breaks helps him rest and stay in the work bubble. The idea is to protect your time, energy, and I'll add brain power for the important tasks. Writing is very cerebral. It involves problem solving, understanding new concepts and then explaining them in a concise yet easy-to-grasp way. Using breaks to sharpen that weapon, can help you get back into tasks with renewed focus and ideas.

While, I still use my phone during breaks, I try to stay in a bubble by listening to chilled music or podcasts about writing and freelancing instead of my favorite TV shows or YouTube videos. The goal for the rest of the month is to avoid screens entirely during breaks. I'll let you know how it goes.

5. Set Boundaries with Your Loved Ones

"Burnout is a sign of my unhealthy boundaries."

- Havilah Cunnington

Working from home in your bedroom office and having loved ones nearby sounds idyllic. However, that's not always the case! To start, not everyone has the luxury of working in a designated room. A lot of people work at a laptop on the coffee table after their children go to bed, or in a shared space around a dining table.

Secondly, it can be quite distracting if you don't have healthy boundaries in place. Your loved ones don't use email, they walk up to you and start talking.

To protect your work-time, talk to your family or housemates about when it's okay to talk to you or not. Here's an example. My brother and I both work from home and if our doors are locked it's a clear do-not-disturb sign. Wearing headphones is another clear "Please, don't talk to me" sign.

It's hard telling someone you care about that you can't pay attention to them, but respecting your focused time is extremely important. If you're lucky enough to be living with your loved ones, make sure to communicate clearly about the boundaries between focus time and chill time. After all, they wouldn't call you to tell you about the cute Reddit meme if you were at an office, would they? Set a time when your room, desk, or shared space is off-limits to them so you can focus on work.

Getting Back To Work After Vacation

Give yourself a little grace. It might take a few days to settle back into your regular routine and that's okay. Set a clear goal and create rules and routines to help you get your groove back.

If you'd like to learn more about my workflow and productivity, leave a comment below, and I'll consider it when creating future content.

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