Working from home can give you the work-life balance that you’ve been dreaming of while working at the office, but now that it’s here, doing your work and staying productive proves challenging for many people.
When you are working remotely, remaining productive is important and knowing how to do so is essential. Being productive will help keep you motivated and organized when things get busy.
By working on simple habit-building approaches and making adjustments to your everyday schedule, you can remain focused and on track. Below you will find 5 productivity hacks you should implement while working from home.
1) Start Early
Although it may seem tempting to sleep in when you have full reign over your schedule, starting early is the secret to setting yourself up for a productive day.
Whether it means waking up an hour earlier than usual to go for a walk and fit in a good breakfast, or starting work earlier so you can end sooner.
Waking up and starting earlier takes practice, patience, and perseverance. It will help set you up for a great day. Starting early will also rid you of that ‘work guilt’ where you may feel as though you need to work 24/7 at home.
There is something about it being 10 AM and already having checked off 3 tasks. That is a lot more satisfying than waking up 5 minutes before, half asleep at 9 AM.
2) Eat The Frog First
The best thing about eating the frog first is that your day cannot get worse from there. Now you may be confused as to what this actually means but stick with us here.
Prior to the start of your work day, separating the most urgent tasks from other important tasks will help keep you organized and focused. This will help you stay ahead of schedule and on top of deadlines, even when your workload is already high.
Eat The Frog is a method developed by Brian Tracy who is a productivity consultant. His idea came from a true-to-life piece of advice from Mark Twain who once said, “If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first.”
Essentially, the power behind this method is to identify an important task and do it first. Most typically the one you would put off till the end of the day.
This is not to say that once that task has been completed you can now call it a day, it just helps you prioritize your most important task (often the most challenging) before all the other things get in the way.
By identifying your frog, you will get into the habit of setting your own agenda and getting into a deep work habit from the beginning of the day, free of any external distractions.
3) Find Your Ultradian Rhythm
Now this may sound like some quantifiable science experiment, it is no longer an experiment. Many neuroscientists swear by the Ultradian Rhythms to help individuals boost their energy and productivity levels.
Your so-called “clock genes'' help dictate how your body functions at a particular time of the day and is a physiological pattern that your body has to manage in order to operate appropriately.
It is not as complicated as it sounds. In order to achieve a state of ‘flow’, all you need to do is pay attention to the times that you feel most productive in a day.
Your ultradian cycle is when your mind and brain is more focused than ever and when we dip in and out of them, it is known as an ultradian rhythm.
By becoming aware of when your mind is most productive and at what time, you will be able to become a remote working go-getter and productivity will never be a challenge for you again.
4) Use Time Management Apps
Being able to effectively manage your time is essential for optimizing productivity when working remotely.
It can be just as easy to lose track of time as it is to wander off to the fridge and have a peek at what's new on TV. When working from home, oftentimes workers find themselves overworked and underpaid.
If this is the case for you, making use of time management apps is important so that you can monitor how long you spend on certain tasks and when it is time to take an official work break.
There are many different time management techniques one can make use of. The Pomodoro method, for example, is a strategy that sets you up to work two to three hours at a time followed by a 20 to 30-minute break.
By finding a time management tool that works for you, you will be able to do more in less time and not burn yourself out while doing it.
5) Schedule Face Time With Colleagues
When using a video platform such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams to meet virtually with your colleagues and boss, it is important to come prepared.
By engaging and seeing one another virtually, you are able to feed off each other's ideas and motivation to continue working for the remaining hours of the workday. A lack of motivation can be the first step to procrastination so prevent it where possible.
Let them know you are just as invested as you were when working in person, which will not only show good character but also provides a sense of meaning as to why you are doing what you are doing, whether it be remotely or in the office.
In addition, it also helps you stay connected and reduces the feeling of isolation - which can be a productivity killer on its own.
Conclusion
By keeping these five productivity hacks in mind, you stand a good chance of getting into the habit of creating a productive and optimal work environment helping you achieve your goals and be a valuable member of your team while working from home.
