Working remotely. It sounds like a dream come true to some. I mean, the commute is hard to beat! Right? Yet for others, the idea of working from home can feel like a bad test of their will power. It’s okay if you’re in the latter camp. Perhaps you don’t like the idea of mixing your personal life and your work life within your home. Or perhaps you’re not sure how you feel about trying to focus on your work when your personal obligations are staring you in the face. I get it.

I am going to give you some of my best practices for setting yourself up for success when working remotely. These are practices I had to implement myself when I was put on forced modified bed rest during my pregnancy and they really helped me create healthy boundaries between work and my personal life while ensuring I was productive and successful working from home. So, let’s not delay any more. Let’s dive in.

Step #1: Create a dedicated workspace

If you have the space for a dedicated office in your house, great. But if you’re not necessarily rolling in bedrooms, I totally understand. Find a designated work area where you set up your laptop, your wireless mouse, your work notepad, your to-do list, etc. Make it a work-only space where you can concentrate and be in work mode.

It’s preferable if this space is not in your bedroom, just to create a healthy boundary between your sleep space and your workspace. But if you have to add this space in your bedroom, opt for a partition or divider to keep these spaces semi-separate.

Step #2: Remove personal tasks and distractions from your view

Remove your personal tasks from your workspace, such as your piled up laundry, the pile of thank you cards you need to write, or those bills you need to pay from your view. If your personal tasks start piling up near or around your work-dedicated space, you’ll be tempted to take those on instead of work. This also means removing your TV from your workspace. There is nothing more distracting than a new season of your favorite Netflix show to binge.

Step #3: Create working hours and stick to them

Just because you’re working from home, doesn’t mean you need to work all the time. It is easy to run back to your workspace to send one more email at 9 pm when you’re in your pajamas when you’re working from home. But don’t do it. Instead, create working hours and stick to them. Power up your laptop and log in to your work email during your work hours and power down your laptop when your work hours end. This will ensure you’re creating healthy boundaries between your personal life and your work life. This also means not leaving your workspace in the middle of the day to run personal errands during your work hours. This is a big no-no and will become a slippery slope if you let it.

Step #4: Create a morning and evening routine around work and your personal life

Step #5: Create a priority list

Step 6: Get out of your house

ProTip: