Hello. My name’s Jeff, and I work from home. Sometimes that means on my couch, sometimes it means in my minivan. Whatever it means, this is how I make it work wherever I am:
1. Establish your morning routine: Alarm, shower, real clothes, decent breakfast. Dress semi-professionally. Don’t go all crazy with work pants, but sweats don’t exactly make you feel productive.
Related: 12 Work Methods That Will Skyrocket Your Productivity
2. Find a dedicated workspace in your home. This might be an office or a desk. It might be 1,000 square feet or 30. Just as your bedroom should be a space that makes your brain think rest, your office space should make you clock into the work mindset.
3. No TV. But background music is good. (Personally, I can’t work with anything with words, so I’ll put on a jazz station and zone out.)
4. Get a coffee shop rewards card. Obviously.
5. Cut out your social media distractions. Yeah, I don’t do this either. But you’re already surrounded by enough other things to do; minimize them if you can.
6. Take two walks a day. I read this somewhere and dismissed it as nonsense; then I tried it. Now every day at 2:30 p.m., I take laps around the neighborhood—turns out fresh air actually does clear your mind from staring at a computer for hours on end. Who knew? (Well, everybody, but you get my point.)
7. Hang out with others. If your city has a shared-workspace situation, check it out. If not, and you know other people in a WFH arrangement, meet them for coffee.
8. Fold your laundry during particularly long conference calls. That’s just obvious.
Related: The Truth About Working From Home
This article appears in the April 2016 issue of SUCCESS magazine.
