Hello Everyone out there,
As many of us continue to work from home, I wanted to share with you some of the things I do to maintain my productivity at home. Some are habits you may not even realize, but are important or can make a difference in keeping your productivity high. Please reed further as you will surely discover more of your own things.
A. Set the stage
If you must utilize more than one workspace in your home, establish the same environment, such as a pad of paper, photo, or inspirational quote, in each location every day.
Repeating the set up tells your brain that work is “on,” and the visual cue of returning to the same orchestrated workspace over and over will give you a sense of power.
I have a little office set up at home where I go to do my work, so I won’t spill over to the living or dining or other areas of my home. I’ve found that this helps me separate my work and personal time now that I’m working from home.
B. Get rid of low value activities
These are tasks that fills our day like emails, meetings, paperwork, protocols that can drain the critical capacity of work-from-home teams. These low-value activities can become a barrier to getting to the important and meaningful aspects of your work, and reducing the burden requires a shift in mindset and language.
For example, I usually set myself a fixed amount of time each day to check my emails. I also set certain days for meetings. You might have other things instead.
C. Add whitespace
When you feel like you’re drowning in calls, when you tingle from adrenaline, or when your body is craving sugar or email or caffeine or any of the compensatory techniques for rest, take a break. Yes kick back and relax
Being productive is not all about doing as much as you can in a day. It’s also about conserving energy so you can do things well. Are you still with me . . .?
D. Keep emails to intervals
I mentioned this in point B about getting rid of low value activities and I’m repeating it here again because this is one of the most common habit that drains people without them even knowing!
Whenever we see or hear an email notification, it’s almost instinctual for us to respond to it. And we end up losing focus on what we were just working on. And it takes time to get back into the zone after you’ve checked that email that was probably an advert.
So set a fixed time to check your emails every day and stick to it! BAM BAM BAM !!!
E. Create a clocking out ritual
Productivity can hinge on compartmentalization, which is a vital habit of work-from-home professionals. Anytime you can put something in a box, literally or figuratively, it helps you focus.
Use this concept to end your day visually by opening a literal compartment, such as a drawer or a cabinet, or just leaving the room that you’ve been working in and closing the door.
It’s not easy to clock out in a virtual world where we can be—and sometimes feel we should be—constantly available. By having a physical clock out ritual, it helps your mind get used to differentiating between work and personal time at home.
How have you been coping with working from home? Are there more distractions or interruptions that you have to overcome? Help yourself to find out more.
If you’re struggling to overcome your distractions, then check out how you can create an effective method for yourself so you can apply it every time you feel distracted to clear up your mind, refocus, and sharpen your attention all the time.
