How to stay productive while working from home

As of mid-April, about 95% of Americans — or 306 million people — were placed under a stay-at-home order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. This means that in a matter of days we’d been thrown into the largest work-from-home experiment in history.

But disruption is an opportunity for innovation. It’s critical that you stay as productive as possible during this time — for your own career, for your company and for our larger economy. With that in mind, here are eight tips for working from home, whether you’ve been doing this for years or just a few days.

1. Create a schedule. No one really knows how long the coronavirus shutdown will last. For now, you need to think of this as your new normal and get into a regular routine.

Wake up at the same time every morning, get dressed, show up and work hard — just like you would when you go into the office.

If you have kids, especially little ones, then writing and posting a physical schedule is a must. Look at the day (or week) ahead and plan out meetings, schoolwork, screen time for the kids and even chores that need to get done. Involve your kids in the planning process, too. It will really help them buy in and participate.

Also, make sure to power down at the end of the day. You don’t have a physical commute that separates you from the office, so create a ritual to help you disconnect. Walk the dog, go on a short drive or get in a solid workout.

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