The world of business has taken a turn in the way it operates ever since the onset of the Coronavirus. Companies have tried and tested a number of ways to get the job done without having to put anyone’s health at risk. This is why you’ll find that the new normal for many people is working from home. While this has many advantages, it can be trying at the best of times, and since this is becoming the norm, it only makes sense that you take a more structured approach to setting up the way you work from home. This is why we’ve created a simple guide to help you have a perfect and productive setting to work from the comfort and security of your home.

Create a Dedicated Workspace

You might not think that this is too important, and that it’s okay to work on the dining table, or while you lay comfortably in bed. While this is not the worst thing that could happen, in the long run, it’s certainly not the best. There are a couple of factors that come into play here. First of all, your posture matters when you sit in one position for a prolonged period of time. So working in bed should be off the table for you. Secondly, you need to dedicate a space, preferably a room if you can help it, exclusively for work. You’ll find that by doing this, it will go a long way in providing structure not only to the way you work, but also affect your surrounding in a big way that will definitely help you focus and stay on track. 

Have a Strong and Stable Connection

This point is a given, but many people think that having a normal internet connection that the whole household uses will do. It actually makes a lot more sense to get a separate connection that you use only for work. Make sure that it is high speed because you will need to avoid having meetings interrupted or urgent and live work cut short just because you didn’t take the time to get yourself a proper internet connection. If you take the people living in Canada as an example, they have services that provide them with different internet connection options that they can pick from. Detailed descriptions from WaveDirect.net explain how each option works and how you can benefit from it. It’s crucial for you to contact a reliable service to ensure that you get the best possible uninterrupted speed set up for your work from home. 

Make a Schedule for Your Day

Initially, the prospect of working from home gives you a certain sense of freedom- besides the fact that some meetings are set up at specific times, you feel like you can do what you want whenever you want, as long as you’re meeting deadlines. While this is somewhat true in many cases, it is a dangerous path to take because you can easily fall off track and end up with piles of work collecting because you didn’t bother to do it on time. This is why it is imperative that you create a schedule on a weekly or even a monthly basis, if possible. By doing so, you eliminate the stress of the unknown. By setting exact times and dates for your tasks, you’re going to be able to have a much more structured day and you’ll actually end up having more time on your hands, and much less stress.

Put in The Effort

Don’t fall into the messy trap just because you’re working from home. Always stay organized and don’t drop the ball. Get stationery and shelving for books and paperwork as well. Ensure that you have sufficient lighting and surround yourself with plants and soothing artwork. The key is to create the perfect ambience, and by putting in the effort to create the perfect surrounding, you’ll find that you’ll be able to focus that much more. Another important factor is you need to cut out any kind of distraction during your working hours. Tell friends and family about your schedule and get a separate phone for work if you don’t already have one. 

Working from home can be a great success or could eventually be disastrous, and this all comes down to how you organize your space and your time. Make sure that you keep all the tips mentioned here in mind as you prepare yourself, and you’ll find that each point will make a world of difference to your work from home experience. 

There was a time, some fifteen years ago when people chose desktop computers over laptops. Laptops were, back then, a rarity outside of traveling businessmen and women. Now, everybody uses laptops. In fact, this is being written on one. Laptops are used for a variety of reasons nowadays, from freelance writing to blogging. We here on this page today will discuss the latter of the two, blogging. We will hope to tell you what a blogger needs in a laptop and how they can make the right decision.

As bloggers work from their laptops and maybe on them upwards of eight hours a day, it is very important that they choose the right one. Here is what bloggers need in a laptop and how they can get the laptop that they need.

Set Your Budget

Laptops come in a variety of shapes and sizes. And, of course, prices. Finding the right laptop can be difficult, and this is a sentiment shared by the computing experts of LaptopBlogger.com, who explain that finding a laptop on a fixed budget can be really hard, especially if your budget is toward the lower end. Even so, whatever your budget, you can likely find something. When starting out as a blogger, you just need a laptop that you can write on. It doesn’t need to be the very best, although if you can get a better laptop, it will save you money in the future on replacements and repairs. Set your budget realistically from the outset and do not exceed it.

Sturdiness

You need a sturdy laptop that can support you. It is important that you get this, as you will likely be spending a lot of time on your laptop. Always search for sturdiness in your laptop, and never buy a flimsy, poorly made laptop.

Choose Your Operating System

If you have a budget under a thousand dollars, unless you buy second-hand, you will likely be choosing between Windows and Chrome. Although, if you have a budget higher than a thousand dollars, you can include Apple’s OS X on that list. As a blogger, you need an operating system that is both fast and efficient. You need a laptop designed around convenience for writers. Generally, the consensus among bloggers and writers is that OS X is the best operating system for writers. This, however, is subjective to your personal wants and needs.

Laptop Design

As a blogger, you need a laptop that is thin, compact, and easily stored. Many bloggers write on the go, which is something you may be considering. Having a hefty, bulky laptop will just hinder your travel if you are planning on traveling with your laptop, or even just taking it to the coffee shop to do some work there. Think carefully about the design of your laptop and its build so that you can ensure you get the optimum laptop for your blogging. Try to find the most compact and easily stored laptop that you can.

CPU

There are many different CPUs [Central Processing Units] to choose from. As a blogger, you need a sturdy, reliable CPU. The consensus again, among writers and bloggers, is the Intel Core i3 and i5 processors, which are used by businessmen and writers regularly. They have been described as the four-door sedans of the computing world and will not fail you. They are great operating systems, for you can have multiple tabs open at once, while streaming media and storing photos, but on a budget. These are definitely the best two options, and you should strive to find a laptop with these CPUs.

Decide Between New or Second Hand

Whenever you are buying a piece of technology, especially when on a budget, you must decide between a new piece of tech, or an old one. There are many benefits to buying second hand, providing that you are buying it from a reliable and scrupulous source. Many people sell their old junk with a high price tag that does not reflect the true value of what they are selling. Although with that said, many people sell high-quality equipment for a reasonable price online. If you are going to buy a laptop second hand, especially since you will need it for writing, you will need to ensure you shop carefully and view the laptop before you make a purchase or commit yourself to. A good option would be a refurbished laptop, which you can purchase directly from the manufacturer for a heavily reduced price.

With the help of this page, you should now know what to look for when you are searching for a laptop as a blogger. Blogging has become the primary source of income for many people throughout the world, so it is important that if you are going to pursue blogging, that you have a laptop that can support you.

We all love the end of a productive day, right? The fact that you managed to close a sale, complete a script, or finally fix that bug in your code makes you feel useful and important. It’s days like this that make you love your job and think all your effort is worth it. 

Sadly, not all days can be like this. In fact, some days in the office can be frustrating and unfulfilling. On the other hand, some days just pass by you and you live the office trying to figure out just what important thing you accomplished. 

So, how do we make it work? How do we get the wheel spinning until the next great, productive day? Well, everyone has their tricks, and that helps improve productivity just a little bit with each day. This way, before you know it, things start moving smoother, and your efforts will have more impact. 

We had a chat with several successful employees and entrepreneurs and made a list of the top three productivity tips everyone swears by.

Use of All the Tools at your Disposal

We have access to a world of information (freely available) and tools, but we seem to forget about it quite often. 

Younger generations (aka millennials) know that Google holds most of the answers. As such, when they can’t figure something out, they start a search quest that will eventually provide some helpful advice. 

The same goes for various office tasks that can be solved in just a minute with free tools available online. 

For instance, you can combine PDFs online (for free) without raising any privacy risks. You don’t have to call the IT department for this. The same goes for other tasks like saving your PPT presentation in PDF format or sending a large file to a customer. 

There are lots of tools available online that can shorten the time spent with technical office tasks. You just need to search for them!

Know your Productivity Cycle

During the day, our mental focus and motivation go through several ups and downs. 

For instance, almost anyone we know has a down period right after lunch, between 2 and 4 pm. During this time period, your brain is barely moving and you feel like taking a nap right under your desk!

However, you still have to work, but there’s no way you can come up with something creative, insightful, or original. So, why not do some of those menial tasks (like answering emails, checking the calendar, filing the new project, and more)? This way, when you hit a productivity peak, you can work on a more complex and important task. 

The secret here is introspection. Observe your behavior on the timespan of one week and identify your productivity cycle.  

The To-Do List

Make sure that you end the day with tomorrow’s To-Do list and try to have everyone in the office do the same. This way, when the new day starts, everyone will know what tasks to tackle and in what order. 

However, the To-Do list must contain some specifics as to the time that should be dedicated to a task, the level of priority, and more. Luckily, we don’t have to use post-it notes or any kind of paper to put this list together. There is a wide range of apps (for mobile and desktop) easily available online. 

In addition, if you use a mobile app, you can add to the list and make changes even after you’ve left the office. 

In Conclusion 

In the end, there is no one miracle solution for better productivity. It’s important to keep an open mind and try various solutions until you find the right ones for you. 

While we are all wrapping our heads around this “new normal” that we’ve found ourselves in when the pandemic struck, we’re re-assessing what are actually the essential things we need in life. And one thing that keeps being at the top of the list is reliable internet. In the beginning, with the first stay-at-home orders, we saw many internet services crash under the strain but good providers like Spectrum internet outage turned out to be for a small period, and we saw once again how crucial they were to our daily lives. So, what are the things that make a good internet so essential?

Working From Home

A lot of people have switched to working from home to minimize exposure and eliminate using public transportation. For many, this means working online, whether by always being in contact with their colleagues, or full-on accessing their office computer remotely. Whichever the case, a productive day means stable internet and good speed. This is why at the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of people reconsidered their internet and cable plans to make sure that they can stay connected and do their jobs properly. For some, a lousy internet connection actually meant potentially losing their jobs, especially if they are self-employed and had to put their business online.

Online School

For the younger generations, the start of the pandemic meant schools closing and their lives getting turned upside-down. While some countries introduced a system of TV classes, students still had to submit their assignments online, or join online video-calls with teachers. For kids without a stable connection, it could mean missing out on classes or not being able to fully understand the subject, because of constant interruptions. Additionally, since kids won’t be getting as much attention from the teachers, they might have to do a lot of additional research by themselves, which will also require reliable internet.

Stay Connected With Loved Ones

Social distancing has hit everyone hard. We all have to be responsible and keep our distance, but it’s normal to miss your family and friends. And this is where we use the internet most often – chatting, video-calling, and sending pictures of our lunch to friends and family. Especially when families have to be separated – for example, grandparents not being able to see their grandkids for a long time – video calls are life-savers and will help people stay connected and feel less lonely through these times. People who have been in long-distance relationships or live far away from a family already know this feeling all too well, but now this is a reality for nearly everyone.

Stay Informed

With new measures being introduced seemingly every day, it’s important you stay on top of everything that is happening and get the newest information from reliable sources – which can often only be found online. Without good internet, you might miss and important stay-at-home notice and get in trouble for it, or you might miss the instructions on what to do if you actually feel some symptoms. Not to mention, the world hasn’t stopped: things are happening the same way as they were before the pandemic started, and we need to be aware of current events around the world.

In short, stable internet access has been a necessity for years, but the pandemic has brought to light exactly how big of an issue it can be when we do not have access to it.