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Espresso and Ambition

A not-so-serious gal with some serious dreams.

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Staying Productive When Working From Home

December 17, 2018 by Taylor 1 Comment

Staying Productive When Working From Home - Espresso and Ambition

Being productive can feel a bit difficult when you’re working from home, or on an entirely unstructured schedule. When you’re in college, you’ve got classes and the like that give you a sense of structure; when you’re working a typical 9-5 job, you’ve got that structuring your days for you. However, when you’re working from home or on some sort of break, any sense of structure goes out the window – and sometimes it can feel like your productivity levels go with it.

But if you’re on one of these unstructured schedules and still want to #getsh*tdone, this is the post for you. I’m sharing some of my biggest tips for how I’ve been working at home for the past 2 weeks and still finished each day feeling accomplished.

 

Create your master to-do list

If you’re anything like me, there’s always things that need to get done, even when you’re not actively in work/school. So I’ve always got this massive running to-do list. It exists in multiple iterations – the reminders app on my phone/laptop, my bullet journal, and occasionally somewhere in my notes/an actual notebook. Right now, I’m working on a number of projects (including some exciting things for the blog!), so those are the big items on my to-do list.

 

Break it down into parts

Take your big tasks and turn them into the stepping stones required to accomplish them. If you’re trying to reorganize your apartment, break it into parts of the space, like your makeup drawer, kitchen cabinets, and desk. If you’re redesigning your website, break it down into individual tasks, like creating the new designs, updating the text, writing the code, etc. Turning big tasks into smaller, more tangible ones will get you to this next step.

 

Set yourself time-sensitive goals

This is the big one. When you’re working at home, you don’t have as much pressure to get things done in a timely manner – especially if you’re working for yourself. It’s really easy to spend 8 hours of your day in a YouTube/Netflix spiral, but giving yourself some structure in the form of time-sensitive goals can help with that. Remember that running to-do list I talked about? Turn it into a schedule. My favorite way to do this is with the reminders app on my phone; I can literally set myself deadlines for all my tasks – I want this post written by 11 a.m., I want this video edited by 10 p.m., and so on. The really great thing about doing this with the reminders app is that it will put a notification on your home screen at the deadline that won’t go away until you check off the task – so if you’re like me and can’t stand those notifications, you’ve got incentive to get the task accomplished by the deadline.

 

Make a dedicated workspace

Yeah, working from your bed is fun. Truth be told, I’m writing this post while sitting in bed. But sometimes, you need a space that’s specifically dedicated for getting work done, that allows you to really get in the zone. In my apartment, I’ve got my little butterfly chair and the laptop table that I keep next to it – when I’m sitting there, I’m getting things done. That mental association will really help you stay on task and on top of things, even when you’re technically in the same space you sleep/eat/watch TV in.

 

Change up the scenery

Sometimes, the ‘dedicated workspace’ just isn’t enough. If you’re starting to feel a bit hermit-like by being holed up in your own apartment all day, get out. Go sit at a coffee shop or café and get work done there. It’s amazing how the ambient noise and movement of a public place can rejuvenate you and recenter your focus. This is also brilliant if you frequently fall victim to the infamous afternoon slump, and need to physically get out of the house to avoid falling asleep at your desk. Bonus: you can counteract the sleepiness with caffeine!

 

Punctuate your days

The biggest ‘working from home’ tip I’ve got is that you should treat it like a normal workday. While working in pajamas is super appealing, you’re going to feel so much more productive if you at least put on something different (changing from PJs to leggings and a sweatshirt is still fair game – it’s all about that mental association, are we seeing a theme here?). Give yourself something to do in the middle of the day; I like to work for a few hours, go to the gym, then get back to work for a few more hours before making dinner. It keeps the day moving instead of being this amorphous blob of 16 hours of potential working time.

 

If you’ve got the opportunity to work from home – whether for your job, or because you’re on break from school, or for some other reason entirely – hopefully these tips are useful in helping you stay on top of things even without the structure you’re used to!

xo, Taylor

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Filed Under: Productivity

Comments

  1. Jordan says

    December 18, 2018 at 3:35 pm

    I really needed this! I feel like I’ve lost so many hours in the day since being home on break, but it’s definitely time for me to get some things done!

    Reply

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Meet Taylor

A real-life combination of Elle Woods and Hermione Granger. Recent graduate of the University of Georgia, currently living and working in DC. New blog posts every Monday, new YouTube videos every Thursday. Subscribe by clicking the link below for post updates and exclusive content!

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tayy_kay

📍 dc
🔥 nasm certified personal trainer
✨ self-love + balance
🎥 2 new workouts per week!

tayy_kay
without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little c without heavy weights, it’s sometimes a little challenging to really feel like i’m working at my full potential on leg days 😶 enter: single-leg movements. since all the weight is in one leg, you’re putting way more emphasis on it than you do during two-leg movements - and you’ll definitely feel that 🔥 you also get some added bonuses in the form of ensuring you’re working each side of your body equally AND a balance challenge!!
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you can add in weights or bands to up the challenge level, or do it all bodyweight like i am here!
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1️⃣ 15 single-leg box squats per leg (use other leg as a kickstand for an easier modification!)
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2️⃣ 15 bulgarian split squats per leg
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3️⃣ 15 single-leg hip thrusts per leg
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4️⃣ 15 single-leg deadlifts per leg
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throw on at the end of a longer leg day workout or do it 3-4 times as a workout all on its own!!
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👚 @girlfriend 🎧 numb - neffex
🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time 🖤 go easy on yourself 🖤 this is a weird time to be alive, and it’s more important now than ever to listen to your body and stop being so hard on yourself. motivation is a fickle thing and working out when you don’t have all the equipment you love is weird. give yourself permission to take a break when you need it. don’t beat yourself up for missing workouts - exercise should be something you do because it makes you happy, not because you feel like you have to punish yourself. if it doesn’t make you happy that day, that’s okay. give yourself a break, come back and try again tomorrow. 💪🏼
circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not circuit-style upper body workout 🖤 honestly not kidding about how much i love this long resistance band, it’s so versatile! definitely worth getting your hands on one for home workouts 😊 (although almost all of these can be completely with dumbbells or heavy objects if that’s what you’ve got in hand)
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also please watch to the very end of the fourth video for quality footage of greg 😂
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1️⃣ 12 long band shoulder presses to standing chest presses
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2️⃣ 12 upright rows to bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 overhead triceps extensions per arm (the one leg stance is some bonus balance work!)
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4️⃣ 12 rear flies, featuring greg trying to fight my shadow
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5️⃣ 12 commandos
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6️⃣ 12 side-to-side pushups
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repeat 4x total!!
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👚 @underarmourwomen
🎧 best of me - neffex
giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, cra giveaway 🔥 we’re all handling this weird, crazy time in the world a little differently, and for me, it’s looked like a lot of establishing to and sticking to routines (seriously, sometimes it feels like my skincare routine and workout split are the only thing still giving meaning to days of the week, lol). my morning smoothies have been another important one - there’s a recipe in my story highlights and surprise surprise it uses this protein powder 😛
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anyways, onto the real reason you’re here! i’m giving away 25 $20 giftcards for @310nutrition with NO STRINGS ATTACHED 🤯 you hear that? you ain’t gotta do a thing to win - the first 25 people to use the code KAYGC20 on their order automatically win. get your hands on some fire plant-based protein powder, courtesy of me and 310 😋 (p.s. if you’re still seeing this caption, there are still giftcards available!!)
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#310gc20 #310shake
sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and sometimes you just gotta get hella dressed up and hold a fake photo shoot just to prove to yourself that you’re still a real human
posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangen posted a new youtube video. this picture is tangentially topical. link in bio.
upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating upper body circuit ‼️ i’ve been gravitating towards circuit-style workouts lately, because they really work up a sweat and home workouts just don’t feel as legit to me unless i’m hardcore sweating 🤷🏼‍♀️ i don’t mind not breaking much of a sweat at the gym, but it feels weird not to when i’m working out at home - anyone else feel this or am i just weird?? 😅
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do all exercises back to back with no rest in between!
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1️⃣ 10 push-ups to renegade rows
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2️⃣ 12 alternating bicep curls
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3️⃣ 12 diamond front raises
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4️⃣ 8 sets of 3 tricep pulses to this lil cross-body weight move that doesn’t have a name {keep your core tight to feel it on your obliques!}
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5️⃣ 15 bent-over rear delt rows
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6️⃣ finisher!! 🥵 10 burpees with 2 shoulder taps and 2 toe taps in the middle of each rep
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repeat 🔁 for a total of 3 rounds!!
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👚 top from @gymsharkwomen, shorts from @nike 🎧 dangerous - neffex
would be nice if both sides of my head could agree would be nice if both sides of my head could agree on whether my hair is wavy or straight, but apparently that’s a little too much to ask of it 😂
got a circuit-style leg workout for you today! 🥳 there are 3 sets of 3 exercises that you’ll complete back-to-back - once you’ve done those three moves, rest for 30 seconds before repeating them all over again 2 more times! rest for 1-2 minutes in between each circuit - keeping your heart rate up is the goal here, i was driiiiiiipping sweat by the end of this one 🥵
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circuit 1️⃣: 10 step-ups to reverse lunges per leg
10 reverse lunges to curtsy lunges per leg
20 lateral lunges
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circuit 2️⃣:
10 squats to surrenders (stop in a squat position before standing up at the end to really feel this one)
10 stagger-stance rdls
20 criss-cross squat jumps
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circuit 3️⃣:
15 leg lifts per side
10 single-leg glute bridges per side
15 frog pumps
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👚 top from @fabletics, joggers from @gymsharkwomen
🎧 watch me - neffex
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