Working from home can be immensely rewarding and as businesses invest in video collaboration tools, adopt BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies allowing for flexible work, and invest in cloud collaboration platforms like Cisco Spark, employees are discovering success outside office walls. That being said, flexible work isn’t for everyone; I’ve long struggled to stay on task when working outside the office. For me, the shift in mindset that occurs when I step into the workplace and turn on for the day is essential.

Because of this I decided to poll industry friends and peers to learn how they have found success when working from home. Read on to learn what I uncovered.

Break-up with your inbox.

We aren’t the biggest fans of email around these parts (as you may know) and why would we be? Email has become one of the biggest sources of lost productivity in the workplace. At ScanSource KBZ, most of us favor Cisco Spark for team communication. Spark has given remote workers the ability to meet, message, video call and share documents on any device no matter where they are. Nearly all of the folks I spoke to when writing this have become Spark evangelists. The platform is revolutionizing flexible work.

Stay connected to your team.

When you’re team isn’t in one location staying connected can be a real challenge. Make it a priority to schedule weekly brainstorming sessions via video to keep your culture alive and the good ideas flowing. Outside of weekly catch-up sessions, events can be a great way to keep your team connected and happy. Try to plan a few culture and connection focused events throughout the year to keep everyone on your team feeling motivated and involved.

Define your workspace.

Everyone I spoke to emphasized the importance of establishing a defined home workspace. Building a room or area that is specific to work creates the mental shift I spoke of earlier- that moment when your brain turns over from home to work life. Your home workspace need not be elaborate. A simple desk and comfortable chair will do the job nicely. Just make sure you’ve got everything you need nearby and try to keep distractions are out of reach.

Switch up your scenery and take breaks.

You may feel that grinding away at your work, day and night is the best way to get things done and sure, for some people this is true. For the rest of us, sometimes the best way to get work done is to step away from it. To prevent burnout, plan to take breaks throughout the day and perhaps move your work to a nearby café or shared workspace. A change of scenery, quick workout or interlude with friends can do wonders for the quality of your work.

Create a schedule and stick to it.

One of the best parts of working from home is you don’t have to punch a time clock every morning. Remote work gives you the ability to determine how and when you work best but you’ve got to build your schedule and stick to it. For me, this means adhering to virtually the same schedule I have when in the office, roughly 8-5 with a few breaks scheduled in to keep my sanity. Your schedule will likely look totally different but that’s what makes flexible work so great. You can figure out how, when and where you work best.

Some of you may find, like me, that working from an office is the best option. Others will discover telecommuting is well suited to them. In either case, the tips listed above can prove valuable. Do you work from home? What are your tips for finding success? We’d love to hear them. Leave a comment below or get in touch on social.