As employers ask workers to go back to the office, it’s the best time to shine with your productivity while working from home. If you can prove to your boss that you can accomplish more while working from home, you increase the chances of keeping your current work from home set-up.
Here are some tips to maximize your productivity while working from home.
1. Arrange Your Schedule with Your Family
While you’re home, it’s important to set up a schedule with your family so everyone knows what’s expected of them. You don’t want to be surprised when you get home and find your kids are supposed to be doing their homework, your spouse has a deadline at work and you have to prepare dinner.
By working out a schedule, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and know what to expect.
2. Have a Comfortable Workspace
If you’re fortunate enough to have a full-blown office, good for you! However, if you don’t have a home office, you can still become from productive while working from home by designating even a small are as your own workspace.
Make sure that it’s a comfortable area and the temperature is just right to keep you a productive. It’s a good idea to install an air conditioner so you can keep cool during the summer so you can accomplish more.
3. Get Up Early – Eat That Frog
You’ll be surprised by home much more time you’ll have by getting up early. More hours mean more time to accomplish your daily tasks. You’ll also have more time for other important facets of your life like bonding with your family, exercising, or learning a new skill.
Eating the frog means doing the hardest part of your job first. Once your done with the hard part, your day will become more productive. Find out what your frog is and do that first.
4. Take Frequent Breaks
It’s important to take frequent breaks if you want to become super productive while working from home.
In addition to taking a break to eat, drink or even take a shower, it’s important to take a break from your work.
If you’re trying to accomplish a big project, it’s a good idea to take a break every hour to focus on a different part of the project.
5. Eliminate the Digital Distractions
It’s important to eliminate the digital distractions that can keep you from accomplishing your goals while working from home. Set your smartphone on silent mode while you’re working to stay focused. By keeping your email, social media and other digital distractions to a minimum so you can get more work done.
6. Set Up a Healthy Work Environment
It’s important to set up a healthy work environment so you can keep up your productivity.
In addition to a comfortable home office, it’s important to make sure your home is clean. You want to keep your workspace clutter-free and clean so you can get the most work done.
You can even install an air purifier to keep the air in your home clean and free of allergens.
6. Check Emails at Set Intervals
One simple yet effective way of accomplishing more is by setting time blocks. Set a specific time during the day when you’ll check and answer your emails. It could be a few times during the day. The important thing is to stick with your schedule. By doing this, you can accomplish more while you work from home.
7. Use a To-Do List
Spend a few minutes at the start of the workday to list what you need to accomplish during the day. This helps you focus on the important tasks and keep your momentum. You’ll know exactly what you’ll have to do next after accomplishing one task.
While there are powerful software to-do lists that you can use, even a simply notepad could be very useful. In fact, for some people, a notepad is more effective since it is tangible. You can literally hold the notepad and put checkmarks on the tasks once you accomplish them.
8. Focus
It can be tempting to multitask. When you multitask, you can feel that you’re very busy and that you’re accomplishing more. However, studies have shown that focusing on one task at a time actually saves you time because you avoid making mistakes.
9. Try Meal Prepping
Sure you can have food delivered to your place. But if you want to save money and eat healthy meals, cooking is the way to go. The problem is that it takes too much time. The answer is meal prepping!
It’s a great way to prepare your meals for the week ahead and save lots of time. You can even do it in bulk and save money. To get started, make a list of what you’ll need to cook and what you’ll need to eat and then buy it.
10. Stick to Regular Working Hours
One of the benefits of working from home is its flexibility. You don’t actually have to follow a 9-6 schedule as long as you get the job done. Perhaps counter-intuitively, you can actually accomplish more by setting a regular work schedule. We are creatures of habit after all and you can take advantage of that by making work a habit. There will be less friction because your unconscious mind will know that it’s time for work and you SHOULD be working.
The Bottom Line
We have compiled a list of tips that will help you stay productive while working from home. Remember, these tips aren’t a guarantee that you’ll be productive every day. Some days you may not feel like working and others you may not be able to accomplish anything. However, you should be able to see some improvement after following these tips.
By maximizing your productivity, you’ll be able to demonstrate to the powers that be that you can accomplish more. You’ll have a better chance of keeping the work from home set-up or at least have the option to continue working from home instead of going to the office.
Being productive strengthens your case of keeping the WFM set-up.
