It has always been my dream to work from home and when I finally achieved my dream to start my own business, I was so happy to say goodbye to long commutes, office politics and unappreciative bosses.

Little did I know that working from home had its own unique challenges. One of them was staying productive while working from home.

It’s tempting to slack a bit while working from the comfort of your own home. No one bothers you with deadlines and the environment is extremely cozy. But as a freelancer, I had to discipline myself. I realised that unless I improve my productivity, I’m not going to get further in my work.

If you’re like me and you’re looking for a way to stay productive, then here are 5 ways to improve your productivity when working from home.

1. Create a productive workspace

You need to create a clearly defined workspace where you can focus on anything work or business related. Create a workspace with a desk and a chair where you can sit and do all your work so that whenever you sit in that space it’ll always put you in the mood to get productive.

Although it may feel comfortable to work curled up in your bed, more often than not, it doesn’t inspire productivity. This is because your bed only inspires sleep and relaxation.

2. Prepare your schedule the night before

Planning your day is the best way to stay productive. When you prepare your schedule the night before, it puts you in that state of mind that there are tasks that need to be done.

A schedule keeps you on track of the tasks that need to done for the day, what time you’re meant to do them and how long each task will take. Productive people are always dependent on their schedule. Without a schedule, you won’t know which task to do and that can be a huge time-waster, if you ask me.

3. Take breaks

This may sound very counterintuitive but taking breaks actually helps you stay productive. Breaks give you the opportunity to recharge before working on the next task. A 5 to 10 minute break can do wonders to refocus your concentration on the next task ahead. So, make sure that you schedule breaks when planning your day.

4. Avoid distractions

Put your phone away. Turn off the television. Don’t check your notifications. In short, avoid anything that can distract you from working.

You may have heard a lot of people being able to multitask. But research shows that multitasking doesn’t actually make you productive. Distractions take you away from actually maintaining uninterrupted workflow.

5. Break your tasks into chunks

As much as we all want to devote 100 percent concentration to our work, it’s far more important for your productivity to break down your tasks into smaller manageable tasks.

This will help you complete your work a lot faster as it will be less overwhelming to tackle a large task. When your tasks are broken down into manageable chunks, it helps you focus your attention on your workload one chunk at a time.