Here at The Optimist Daily we like to provide our readers with tips and tricks to make their lives a little easier. This time, we’re giving you some valuable insight about working from home.

Thanks to the pandemic, people worldwide have retreated from their offices and have taken up shop in their own homes. Working outside of a traditional office setting takes some getting used to, with many people finding themselves not being as productive in this environment.

To combat this, consider this guide on classic mistakes we’ve all made from working at home and some solutions for dealing with them.

Getting too easily distracted

Working from home, you’ll be face to face with the never-ending personal job list you have to do. The laundry that desperately needs to get done, the dirty breakfast dishes, or the TV enticing you to take a break.

To combat such distractions, identify your biggest potential triggers, and engineer your environment in ways that will help you avoid them. For example, if you usually work from your living room, you might go so far as to hide your TV remote to prevent you from falling prey to the temptation to turn it on and slack off. Or, you might pledge to only tackle your laundry in between tasks as a mental break of sorts–but only after you’ve checked a number of key work items off your list.

Not setting boundaries

When your personal space and your office space are the same space, the temptation to do “just one more thing” workwise is always there. That can make it a struggle to tear yourself away from your job and can end up working longer hours, leading to burnout and decreased productivity in the long run.

The solution? Map out a schedule that defines when you will and won’t be working. Granted, you can bend the rules here and there when workplace emergencies strike, but setting clear working hours means you’ll be less likely to let your job take over too much of your life.

Not have the right setup

If you find you don’t have enough room to spread out, or you’re missing key tools you need, working remotely can be frustrating.

Spare yourself the frustration by taking a bit of time to arrange a reasonable work environment that will boost your work rate rather than slow you down.

For more life hacks on how to make the most out of your at-home setup, check out this guide on being more present in the new work-from-home era.