In an attempt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, almost all governments around the world have enforced strict lockdown measures that have quelled the on-site operations of all non-essential services. In this climate, employers have had to resort to ‘work from home’ strategies in order to maintain productivity, while adhering to the active governmental policies. Furthermore, as the fight against the virus continues, a clear end point to the present situation cannot be defined. So, to help you overcome the inertia of this change and make the most of the current scenario, we put this article together outlining some of the ways in which you can use the opportunity to work from home to your advantage.

Define a new routine

Working from home saves you the burden of having to travel to your workplace, and in many cases allows you to be more fluidic when it comes to planning your work schedule. So in that case, by planning out your time well, you can easily create space for that workout you were never able to squeeze into your schedule before, the healthy diet that seemed impossible given your working hours, and even short breaks to relax and rejuvenate yourself to increase productivity and reduce your stress levels. By allowing you the freedom to define a new routine, working from home can be tailored to improve your overall well being. You can get started early, pretend like you are going into the office, structure your day like you would, in the office, choose a dedicated work space at home and can start working with a new routine.

Learn a new skill

Skill development is seen as an extremely important factor when it comes to growing as an individual. The extra time you get when you start working from home offers the perfect opportunity to hone existing skills and learn new ones. Whether it is learning to communicate better, taking up computer programming, improving your understanding of finance, or even practicing meditation, you should definitely use some of this time to enhance your capabilities. Apart from just contributing towards your personal satisfaction, skill development can also play a big role in improving your professional capacity. 

Boost your savings

Working from home allows you the flexibility of taking up multiple projects, so long as you can manage your time efficiently. Many professionals who work from home take up a part-time job to increase their savings and work towards achieving their goals faster. Furthermore, the money that you had previously allocated for routine expenses like commuting to and from the workplace, purchasing meals, etc. is saved and can be moved into your investments to boost your savings during this period. Money saved is money earned.

 Spend more time with your family

Most working professionals experience a hectic schedule and complain about having very little time to spend with their family and loved ones. This often causes dissatisfaction and can affect productivity. So it is important that you take full advantage of the opportunity that work from home offers and spend more time with the people you care about the most, as this can have positive outcomes both in your personal and professional life. However, it is extremely important that you balance family time with work, so that you can get the best of both worlds. The most effective way to do this is to have clearly defined work hours, during which you minimise distractions and disturbances, and finish your tasks for the day – so that you can have unrestricted family time once you close shop. This will help in having a healthy work life balance.

It is extremely important to remember the significance of time management when it comes to working from home. As you have seen, taking full advantage of this situation relies substantially on your ability to organise your day efficiently, and to stick to the plan you develop. In that sense, to get the most out of working from home, the first thing you should do is spend time judiciously in discharging your official duty to make time for your personal life.