When I tell people I work at home I get a variety of responses like:

[sneering] “Work, huh?  What do you do exactly?”

[wide eyed] “How do you get anything done? I’d be so distracted”

[glaring] “I wish I could do that!”

Admittedly I work in casual clothes (sometimes they even match!), take “laundry” breaks instead of coffee breaks, and sometimes have a 4-legged-feline attend conference calls with me. Despite these out-of-the-ordinary attributes of my workday and working environment, I am 25% more productive when I work from home.

How can a person whose attention is quickly diverted succeed in such distracting environment? Here are 8 ways that working at home makes me so much more productive.

# 1: Commute to work in 30 seconds

It’s a misconception that working at home means no traffic. I have to navigate 4-legged moving targets and daily temper tantrums to make it to my desk. Despite these obstacles, the commute from my bedroom to my office is usually 30 seconds. It takes up to 2 minutes on a heavy traffic day.

Therefore, getting to my desk faster = more hours at my desk = increased productivity.

# 2: Wear yoga pants

Approximately 2 years ago I finally admitted that I no longer possess any personal style.  After years of sporting yoga pants paired with a plain black shirt, complete with purple Birkenstocks, I had to accept that working at home resulted in a more casual attitude towards fashion – but this attitude did not apply to my work.

Being comfortable makes me cheerful. Being cheerful makes me more creative. Being more creative makes me more open to ideas. Being open to ideas makes me a better problem solver. Being a better problem solver helps increase productivity.

Therefore, yoga pants = increased productivity.

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