Breaking the Cycle: 7 Bad Habits That Sabotage Your Productivity When Working From Home

martinagvisionfact
Sep 2
5 min read

Author: İsa Korkmaz

Remote work can be beneficial or harmful for a person. The person should focus on work and try to avoid things that can cause “long rests”. Nowadays, remote work from home is increasing among the people. This can be a blessing and also a challenge for people. There should be balance for work and rest.

Working from home can make us more productive or more distracted. Yes, working from home can be more peaceful and quick but if we cannot overcome the distractions in our home, then we will face with problems in our work. There are 7 bad habits that sabotages your productivity while working from home.

Bad Habit #1: Blurring Work-Life Boundaries

If you have not a clear schedule and always look for e-mails outside of your work time, then you might have problems of working in a schedule. Having no clear starting or ending in the work can cause energy drain and might make you less productive.

For these reasons, you need a clear schedule of work. So, having a defined schedule is necessary work working in a great productivity. You can choose and give priority in your work and daily life and create a schedule according to these.

Bad Habit #2: Multitasking with Household Chores

As giving priority, you should choose what to do first and when or when to do other things. If you try to multitask in your work, you should focus on your work and nothing else. If you try to finish everything at the same time, then you cannot be able to work and do chores and loose from both sides. For example, cleaning the floor or cooking something between tasks.

These doings can cause productivity, and focusing problems in both your work and also chores. So, you should create a schedule and do your chores after you finish your work. So, you would be able to do various things in a day.

Bad Habit #3: Overindulging in Social Media

Social media can be tempting and can turn your “short scroll breaks” into a “long scroll breaks”. If you feel lost in the social media, your might lose time in work and cannot have a great productivity in your work. Moreover, social media can cause dopamine hits and this can cause unbalance in your brain hormones. This can cause problems in your productivity.

Solution can be using app blockers or time-limited browsing during work. So, there would be less things that are tempting you to social media and you can focus more on your work. This schedule is necessary for you to give your all in your work.

Bad Habit #4: Working from the Couch or Bed

While working in your home, the place you are working is also quite important for your productivity. If you work on a couch or a bed, you might feel less energetic. Poor posture, lower energy, blurred mental boundaries, feeling sleepy and so on can all cause problems in your work.

Moreover, by the time, you feel used to that unsuitable place for your work. In long term, this can cause problems in productivity, in your work, in your life and so on. So, you should change the place from the beginning.

In order to avoid these problems, creating a great workplace is necessary. You should have a great posture, have a great quality and wide desk and good lightning. Thus, you will be able to show more productivity in your work.

Bad Habit #5: Skipping Breaks

Working nonstop can cause burnouts and mistakes can occur. Having breaks is a must for working continuously and correctly. If you force yourself to work more and more, your productivity will decline and your mind will not be able to understand even simple tasks. There are many things you can do to avoid these possible results.

You can work 25 minutes and take a 5 minutes short break. With this, you will feel more energetic and work better. In addition, you can take short walks, while maybe listening to music.

Walking is one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself. It is not just walking, but also balances the hormones in your brain, you feel more energetic, better and can focus on your work more.

Bad Habit #6: Endless Snacking

While working, if you eat endlessly, this can cause various problems. You should not give your priority to kitchen, and focus on your work. Having small healthy snacks can be beneficial but you should keep a balance. This eating habit can cause unhealthy eating. You can eat things like nuts, yogurt, dark chocolate, hard-boiled eggs and more (4).

Moreover, eating healthy things can enhance your cognitional ability, brain functions, mood, productivity and more. Your body will consume healthy things so that your brain will also function well. So, facing the problem of snacking, you can do several things.

A solution for this can be planning snacks and stick on your mealtimes. If you eat at a certain time in a day, then eat at that time. You should plan what to do and you can write your plan on a schedule table.

Bad Habit #7: Letting Notifications Control Your Day

While working, notifications can be displeasing. You should turn off the volume and focus on your work in work hours. Continuous notifications from your phone, WhatsApp, e-mail or applications can cause less productivity. Still, you can give priority and arrange your notifications as important notifications and unimportant notifications.

During work hours, you can select the notifications’ importance and work according to this. You should set your “focus hours in work” and thus your productivity might increase. Give priority in your notifications and work.

In Conclusion

Working is a fundamental part of our lives. We work everywhere, and anytime. A workplace is a necessary part of our lives and we need to manage the workplace correctly, so that we can achieve success in our work. We need to work on priorities, schedules and more in our work.

Working from home can either be very beneficial or harmful for a person’s work life. Still, it is not a thing that we have to avoid. We just have to manage our lives, plan and give priority in our daily lives, work and more. If you have these habits in your life, then start with breaking one of them.

One bad habit to break for this week. Thus, you will feel that your productivity goes up and you will feel better in your work and life. Still, you need to do everything by not rushing, but by planning and giving priority. You will manage quite things in your life in the future.