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

    Biema Christina Banez
    49 replies
    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?

    Replies

    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).
    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!
    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!
    Mark Prutskiy
    Put on your headphones and dive into the focus tunnel. That's how professional sportsman do. It works for me.
    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.
    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.
    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!
    Margarita Shvetsova
    Understanding your most productive hours (for me it's 10am to 5pm with energy going down fast after 6pm) and having breaks before your brain starts slowing down :) that's what works for me. And of course being excited or at least interested in your work, because when one feels their work is dumb and meaningless, their productivity naturally falls down. But I hope it's not the case :)
    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:)
    Peter Douglas Ross
    Work on a new project... unfortunately that's not always an option.
    Cynthia Kartika
    Change of scenery! I'd put a calendar hold for some quiet hours in a coffee shop, especially useful during ideation session or problem solving where I need to be extra focused. The caffeine boost and relaxed setting with nice background music really helps calm me down
    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 😂
    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.
    Mayank Jain
    Sprints! Big fan of this. It helps to get proper breaks and at the same time keeps me focussed and creative :)
    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.
    John Rising
    For me, it's art. Whether it's painting, sketching, or even playing around with p5.js, activating a different kind of creativity than what I usually do really helps.
    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.
    Rich Watson
    NVSTly: Social Investing
    NVSTly: Social Investing
    Sometimes ideas and features or improvements just randomly hit me- I wish I could lock in on what caused it so I have hack into that.
    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.