Working from home is fast becoming the norm for many people around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For some people, working from home might be a dream come true – for others, it will sound like a nightmare! Working from home doesn’t come without its challenges. It can be hard to concentrate when you’re in your ‘relaxation’ space, or because you have children! You might feel like you spend all day in your pyjamas, have trouble focussing, and can’t get the simplest of tasks done without office equipment.

Fear not! These 7 books will help you with your new working-from-home life, from time management to the best work at home essentials:

1. The Home Office Handbook by Lorie Marrero

This is a great book because it helps you have a solid organisational system. The Home Office Handbook outlines how to maintain daily routines to keep your workspace clean and tidy, both physically and digitally. There are a number of different solutions outlined and you can choose whatever one works best for you! There are also tips on time management, handling emails, phone calls, and how to organise your home life around work.

2. Work from Home Superstar by Jack Wilson

This is a book all about the distractions and troubles that can arise from working at home. The book poses the problem that most people choose to work from home to have more freedom: they find it difficult to keep working to a routine once that freedom is found, instead preferring to slack off and watch TV! 

Obviously, if all you do when you’re meant to be working from home is watch TV, it’s a problem! This book outlines how to be productive and work better, faster, and easier than ever. Everyone’s schedule is different, so you should schedule your work around whatever timeframe works best for you.

You might like to work in the evenings and have the day free for your kids – or early morning might work best for you. The solution is to find a timeframe that works best for you. A short book jampacked with a lot of valuable information!

3. Secrets of the Remote Workforce by Teresa Douglas, Holly Gordon, Mike Webber

The world has become our office – now we can work from home, a coffee shop, or the gym! But it’s hard to stay on task and stay motivated without the office environment or our boss breathing down our neck. This book covers how to avoid loneliness, how to communicate with colleagues remotely, how to network and grow your career online, and more.

This book is written by employees, for employees – it’s not written for companies or managers in mind. Instead, it is specifically for remote workers to help them get in the right frame of mind to work remotely. A very useful book!

4. Balanced: Finding Centre as a Work-at-Home Mom by Tricia Goyer

Here’s one for all the stay at home moms out there! Working from home as a mother has a lot of obvious benefits: no need to pay for child miners or day-care, and unlimited time with your children. However, there are also difficulties: raising children whilst maintaining a working schedule! It’s not a simple task but it can be done.

In this book, Tricia Goyer shares her own personal experiences as a work from home mom who also chose to home school her children! She worked hard to find a balance between all these areas of her life.

5. How to Declutter Your Home or Work Office to Improve Productivity by Sarah Adams

Moving on to the nitty-gritty of working from home, this book explores how you can declutter your home office and keep it clean. The author Sarah Adams, makes the point that an office space needs to be tidy and clean so that you can focus and get work done.

6. There’s No Place Like Working from Home by Elaine Quinn

The author, Elaine Quinn, has over 10 years of experience mentoring self-employed business owners and remote workers. She knows better than most how to get the job done and stay on top of poor habits! Since you might not be able to have Elaine mentoring you personally, this book is the best you can do to learn how to keep on track.

7. The Art of Working Remotely by Scott Dawson

Scott Dawson has been a remote worker for 21 years. In this self-help book, filled with funny and true anecdotes, Dawson explores how remote workers can learn to thrive. People aren’t typically taught how to be remote workers, they have to learn it alone. Dawson explains the best ways to set up a quality workspace, from coworking spaces to coffee shops, and the behaviours and best practices that will make you a remote working success.