by Avionté

A few months ago, we wrote a post on 7 Productive, Unique and Fun Places to Work Remotely that was filled with ideas to help business professionals spice up their remote work-life but unfortunately, most of the ideas were before COVID-19. No longer is working from a brewery or coffee shop a viable option.

Instead, pretty much everyone is stuck working from their home, which can feel like the movie Groundhog Day, where every day seems the same.

To break this dull routine, we’ve assembled seven of our most productive, unique and fun ideas to spice up your work from home routine with COVID-19 in mind.

Have Themes for Every Weekday

Don’t make the weekdays seem like weak days. This is a perfect time to make each (and every) day special. Assigning “themes” to every weekday can help distinguish them so they don’t blend together. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking. We hope you try a few out for yourself!

Monday

Group Lunch and Travel Talk Day – Schedule a recurring meeting every Monday where your team eats lunch together and one designated person gives a 20-minute slideshow of pictures and stories from a vacation. Not only is this a great way to connect on a personal level, but it also helps your team learn more about each other outside of work. Additionally, it gives everyone something to look forward to on what would have just been an ordinary Monday.

Tuesday

Weekly Challenge Day – Come up with a communal challenge for your team. Whether it’s who can place the most candidates, who can take the most steps that day or who has the best lunch – anything really to spark a fun competition.

Wednesday

Trivia – Each Wednesday host a digital trivia and keep track of the winners. At the end of the pandemic or at least the day your office opens back up, whoever has the most trivia points wins and gets a special prize.

Thursday

Takeout Thursday – You’ve almost made it through the week! Treat yourself with takeout from one of your favorite locally-owned spots. Most of us are food-motivated, or at least to some extent. Having a special meal one day of the week not only gives us something to work towards, but it also supports local businesses – a win-win!

Friday

Team Happy Hour – Ending a little early with a team happy hour is always a great way to boost spirits (literally) and end the week on a good note. Cheers.

Power Hour

What time of the day are you most productive? An hour after your first cup of coffee? After lunch? Mid-afternoon? Once you identify the conditions and time period that makes you the most productive, use that hour of distraction-free work-time. Create a list of tasks you’d like to accomplish and see how you do within the hour timeframe. It’s like one of those cooking shows where the contestants have only an hour to make something spectacular. You just might find that the time crunch boosts your productivity and creativity.

Take Frequent, Short “Productive” Breaks

Taking breaks may seem counter-intuitive to a productive work environment but it’s honestly one of the best things you can do for your job. It’s clinically proven that taking breaks helps refresh the mind, replenishes your mental resources and helps you become more creative. Now pair short breaks with something productive and you’re cooking with fire. Being in quarantine is a perfect time to learn a new skill, practice an existing skill or embrace a new habit/hobby.

Here are some ideas of productive things to do during breaks:

• Stretch or work out
• Meditating
• Learning a few phrases in a different language
• Trying a delicious recipe to try out
• Calling a friend
• Listen to a podcast
• Tidy up your workspace or organize a drawer

20-20 Method

The average attention span of an American adult has considerably dropped throughout the years, especially with the invention of smartphones. It’s estimated that adults can only stay focused between 10 to 20 minutes, and that’s just an estimate. To maximize your attention span, try focusing on a specific task for just 20 minutes and then move on to another task. This method works phenomenally well when you’re juggling multiple tasks and helps dedicate your full attention to every task.

Please note: For these next three tips, keep in mind this totally depends on your location, the situation of COVID-19 and your general comfort level. These last three tips are by no means meant to risk your health and safety, they’re simply ideas for if or when you’re comfortable/able to leave the house. With that, here they are:

Find a Secret Spot Outside the House

Discover a new or old “secret” spot to change up your work environment. This could be in the woods, a park or even in your own backyard – anywhere outside your home where you can effortlessly maintain social distancing guidelines.

Bike Ride/Hammock Hang

In the good old days (a few months back), you could take a stroll through any popular park and almost certainly find a number of people hanging out in hammocks relaxing. While this is still true today, biking to a secluded spot and then hanging up your hammock is surprisingly comfy and fun!

Switch up the Location

Being quarantined at home can get boring quickly, especially for your work environment. To spice it up, change up your environment completely with a unique getaway on Airbnb. There’s still a surprising number of listings available. With just a quick search, we found an affordable tree house listing with a hot tub just an hour away with immediate availability. If you have a cabin or another property elsewhere, this is also a perfect time to pay it a visit.

We’re living in some truly unusual times and it’s no doubt easy to lose motivation working from home. Hopefully this post genuinely helps you spice up your work routine.

About Avionté

Avionté is a leader in enterprise staffing and recruiting software solutions, offering innovative end-to-end staffing solutions to over 900 customers and 25,000 users throughout the U.S. and Canada. Avionté delivers a robust platform for clerical, light industrial, IT and professional staffing firms to maximize profits and boost productivity.