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Biema Christina Banez

How do you keep creative juices flowing when working at home?

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We know that productivity is a daily challenge for remote workers. I am guilty. So I am curious how you guys keep productivity at peak (or at a functioning level, at least) while working remotely? A good night's sleep and a cup of coffee/matcha are great boosts for me. How about you?

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Brenna Donoghue
Create distraction free focused time... and then take breaks.
Biema Christina Banez
@brenna_donoghue i totally agree, but its still a challenge for me until now. but i see it working! ;)
Brenna Donoghue
@bibim_banez Oh I get it. Some days it goes better than others!
Ilya Uglianitsa
The thing that works for me, if i feel stuck, is changing the envoriment. The thing is at home there are a lot of distractions - food, "oh, i need to clean this", youtube on tv, etc. And they all will play out, if you are procrastinating. So what i do, i eleminate this distractions. I just go to a local coworking or cafe. Basically, on this areas you have nothing to do but work 😅 Pro tip: go to your local library, if you have one. All of that would not save the day, but some work done is better that no work done
Biema Christina Banez
@ilya_uglianitsa couldn't agree more! Working from home is challenging. "hey, clean me!" and "you can rest here and get comfy" are waving from all corners. I'm not alone! :D I'd probably go for the local library tip.
Qudsia Ali
When working from home, establishing a work-life balance is essential; one of the best ways to do this is by setting boundaries. Get organized before starting work. Take some time to organize your materials, remove unnecessary clutter, and schedule times each day to focus on specific tasks.
Naomi Chao
Queue up a tv series and force myself to work for the length of an episode before I get to watch. Or listen to military anthems to hype myself up 😂
Nyla Chughtai
You'll want to set limits for your food consumption just as you wish to remain focused on your work productivity. Despite this, you still need to eat. One benefit of working from home is preparing fresh, healthful meals.
Biema Christina Banez
@nyla_chughtai 'a healthy mind lives in a healthy body' science agrees with this.
Akash Zaveri
Owning my morning helps me be more productive throughout the day. Accomplishing hard tasks as soon as I wake up sets the right tone for me.
Audree Lapierre
Close the laptop when you need to think!
Aliaksandr Kandratsiuk
Good night sleep is essential habit for remote/onside workers and all people as well. For me the main challenge for remote mode is to handle with business and personal time. Speaking about my peak of productivity all the day I would mention my focus on the rule - to do a task without being distracted by income email/messages or any small activities. If you need do short breaks during working day make sure that with sort period of time (say an hour) you have visible outcomes. At the end the day you can summarise you small achievements and will see big result which means that you are super productive ) But this is of course the ideal situation )
Henry Miller
Interesting topic. In my own experience, you can try to get outside and getting some fresh air and exercise, which can help boost your creativity.
Omri Tamir
Making sure you're laser-focused on your goals and have a clear idea of what you have to do is a must. If you feel lost for even a moment, productivity goes down the drain.
Gavin Hammar
Make a prioritized list of tasks, then block off 30-minute slots in your calendar throughout the day. Then use Pomodoro to focus and smash each task!
Michael M
- I drink coffee or mate strategically: only when I need it most, usually not in the morning. - I use noise cancelling headphones (even if I work alone) - Sometimes I listen to music, without any lyrics. Search for "study / work music" on youtube. - I tried pomodoro method few times and these days were very productive for me.
Peter Douglas Ross
Work on a new project... unfortunately that's not always an option.
Emil Ahayeu
Hi, great question:) I use Tecnica del pomodoro and Golden hour. "Golden hour". Every morning I wake up 1-1.5 hours before work and prepare my brain for it. I read professional literature or listen to audiobooks on business topics. Thus, by the beginning of the working day, my brain is already tuned up for work. "Tecnica del pomodoro". I divide the work day into segments, in my case it's an hour of work and 15 minutes of rest. I'm not looking at the work stage, but as soon as an hour passes, I either go out for a walk, do yoga/exercise, or simply get distracted by something meditative. It helps to clear my mind. I also try not to set more than 2 main and important goals for the day. And a few smaller ones. I start doing the hardest ones first. It helps to tackle difficult tasks at the peak of brain activity. And as for finding inspiration. My colleagues and I often go to the opera and ballet at least once a month. It helps to develop abstract thinking, find new images for inspiration. It has become a great alternative to cinemas:)
Michael Silber
I challenge this statement: "We know that productivity is a daily challenge for remote workers." The studies show that people are generally MORE productive (13%) from home. So give yourself a break, take a walk, or exercise.
Alex Robinson
@product_at_producthunt It's not just that people are more productive at home--they're also more engaged and less likely to quit. So if you're feeling burned out, it might be time to consider working from home.
Aaron O'Leary
Exercise is a good one for me, If I ever have a creative block something as simple as a long walk gets my creative juices pumping again!
Madeleine Lamou
Love everyone's suggestions. One small trick I'd add is to get your body moving during those small breaks (I personally like to take 2-10 min breaks every 30-60 min) + add an inversion pose to increase circulation & energy levels (doesn't have to be a handstand – downward dog, legs up the wall, forward fold or even just a simple child's pose will do just fine).
Social Talent
I use Pomodoro technique and Social Suite, which helps me keep on top of all my social media management, marketing, monitoring, messaging, and merchant activities online at one glance: suite.social/s/producthunt
Cyrus
I recently watched a video by Dr. Huberman where he talks about how we are programmed to do more routine and physical activities in the first part of the day and other deep thinking, analysis and ... in the second part of the day.
Gabe Moronta
I've been working from home for over 6yrs so I have a pretty good routine, but even I lose myself in work sometimes. I think its key to focus on work take incremental breaks to go walk around, in my case I'll walk my dog several times throughout the day and work it into my schedule. It helps to get up and stretch my legs, let my brain run free before coming back and thinking of work again. I think the biggest challenge is to step away when you need it. We all get burned out and knowing when to step away is actually key for creative juices to flow.