10 Simple Tips to Improve Your Productivity Today While Working from Home
As a blogger or freelance writer working from home, you are aware that it is not always easy to be productive, or better still maintain your productivity.
There are lots of things to do and you strive to accomplish each one of them while maintaining your balance as a stay at home and a work from home blogger.
You have to write blog content for your blog, write guest posts for other blogs, respond to comments on your posts, write for your clients, post to and schedule content for social media, etc.
You need to accomplish these tasks to set up yourself as an authority blogger and build a successful blogging or freelance writing business.
But to carry out these tasks, you need to improve your productivity while working from home.
In this article, you will discover simple tips to help you improve your productivity as a work from home blogger or freelance writer.
#• Wake up early and dress up like you’re going out to work
Make it a routine or a habit to wake up early each morning as if you’re leaving the house to go to work.
It is easier for you to wake up at whatever time of day and roll around in your pajamas, grab your laptop and start working.
In fact, I used to be that person mentioned above until a friend came by and advice me otherwise. The result, I became more productive.
In a situation like that, you’re not creating an avenue to improve your productivity, because you’re more or less telling yourself that you’re not into some serious business.
But when you wake up early and get dressed for work, your brain gets it that you’re in for serious business.
It will certainly improve your productivity.
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#• Set Up an office space
As a blogger or freelance writer who is working from home, you need to set up an office space to help improve your productivity.
With an office space in the comfort of your home, you otherwise won’t wonder about or be distracted, but rather, you will be able to maintain focus and concentrate on what is important — creating content.
Working from a home office space will feel like you’re working from an office outside of the home.
But I read about bloggers who say they are writing in their pajamas on the bed, from the living room couch, etc.
This is not a great idea if you want to improve your productivity and prove yourself as an expert blogger or freelance writer.
You have a TV and other devices that cause distractions in your living room, your bedroom and other areas, including kids playing around the house.
These will never improve your productivity. Your home office is your personal office space and not a place for kids to play around. This is where you get creative, where you come up with incredible ideas, put your ideas together, and make them come alive.
Hence, take time to set up a functional office in a distraction-free space. Remove all clusters, everything that is not needed. Make your home office the best working space ever.
Invest in office items such as furniture. Get a comfortable desk and office chair, as well as other components of an amazing office, including a sound system to suit the atmosphere.
#• Exercise regularly
You need nobody to tell you about the amazing benefits of regular exercise.
Your job as a blogger or freelance writer requires you to sit or stay in a fixed place for long periods. This can cause stiffness and some sort of aches that make you feel unpleasant. However, your stiffness and aches might increase dramatically the longer you stay put in a place to do your job.
That is where regular exercise comes in. You can set a reasonable time for your exercise. For example, I do my exercise (strength) in the early hours of the morning. Then during breaks, I do little stretches for my arms, neck, legs, etc.
No wonder my friend Ryan Biddulph of Blogging From Paradise always encourage his readers to exercise and meditate. In fact, study shows that regular exercise enhances blood flow to the brain and helps you keep up a healthy brain and memory.
It doesn’t matter what type of exercise you choose to do — whether aerobic, strength, balance or flexibility exercise.
What matters is that you get involved in a regular physical activity that will help to boost your brain function and protect your memory and thinking ability.
#• Take frequent breaks
I mentioned earlier that I do some little stretches during breaks.
So I ask you:
- Do you take breaks?
- Are the times when you stop working and rest up a bit or walk around for some fresh air?
Taking frequent breaks is a great way to re-energize yourself and come back with full focus. Accomplishing your tasks is a remarkable feeling, but trying to over-work yourself to complete your work will only cause you harm — burn out!
Frequent breaks enable you to have a focused mind, clear thinking, more energy, etc which will help you do more of the task at hand.
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#• Avoid distractions
Distractions are the common cause of non-productivity among bloggers and freelance writers. Distractions are so common that sometimes you don’t even realize that you’re being distracted.
Some common causes of distraction are:
- Social media
- Emails
- Location
- Mobile phone
- Kids
- Television, etc.
Let’s talk about the first two:
Social media
Please, don’t get me wrong when I say social media is a distraction. Social media is a terrific place to promote your content, connect with your target market, interact with your audience, drive traffic, generate leads, etc.
But social media can be a distraction if not used properly. How? Let’s say you’re writing an article while your social media notifications are on. And the notifications keep coming.
At this point, you might be tempted to have a look at one or two notifications.
Once you decide to check out your notification, you’re done — distracted because you might end up spending an hour or two going through your notifications.
The best and simple thing to do is to turn off your notifications.
Just as social media enables you to connect and interact with your buyer persona, email is also a phenomenal tool that can help you reach out to your audience and promote your content.
But when it comes to being productive, emails can be a hindrance to your productivity.
As a result, it is advisable to turn off email notifications while writing. If you must check your emails, do it before or after you’re done writing.
You might also want to consider hiring a VA to take care of your emails, or you might want to unsubscribe from unnecessary services.
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#• Set a content plan
A research by Content Marketing Institute revealed that it is a challenge for 50℅ of content marketers — bloggers to consistently create content.
It is no surprise because I have personally come across many blogs that are inconsistent with content production. But with a content plan that fits your routine, you will be able to overcome the challenge, improve your productivity, and do more.
You have to be realistic. If you cannot publish one blog post every day, you can set a plan to create and publish 3 or 4 articles each week.
However, if you still cannot accomplish that, then, you can set up a plan that helps you create at least one blog post each week. The idea is to help you set up a content plan that is attainable and fits your lifestyle.
Remember, after creating and publishing content, you will have to respond to comments on your blog about your article. These can only be achieved if you have a sustainable content plan.
#• Work at the peak time of day
For me, the best time to work and get more done is during the early hours of the morning, which is why soon after my exercise, I go to work.
For some, it is the early mornings, late evenings and, or late at nights.
Everyone has a time that best suits his or her lifestyle. Find yours and plan your activities in harmony with it. It will definitely improve your productivity.
#Use tools to map out and organize your ideas
Creativity is an art that must be cherished. As a blogger or freelance writer, you are a creative person with terrific ideas. But you need to understand that ideas come and go, which is why you need to map out your ideas and get them organize in one place for easy access.
If you cannot organize your blog content ideas in one place, it will certainly be difficult to locate them when you need them.
Interestingly, there are many tools that can help you in this regard, such as:
- FreeMind
- Evernote
- Trello
Let us have a glimpse of the first two tools mentioned here.
FreeMind
As a writer, you sometimes have to deal with writer’s block. This is a situation where you seem lost of ideas to write about. FreeMind is what you need in this situation because it will help you organize your thoughts and ideas.
This tool is described as a “free mind mapping software that allows users to edit a set of concept surrounding a primary notion or thought.”
The non-linear procedure will help you when planning new projects as thoughts and ideas are included in the mind mapping process.
Evernote
Evernote is a great tool you can use to brainstorm, map out ideas, and organize them accordingly.
With this tool, you can store your ideas and the research you’ve made in a searchable location.
Evermore is the tool you need for organizing any type of project or information. This amazing tool also lets you collaborate with team members.
You can as well create notebooks for each project on Evernote.
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#• Create a to-do o list.
A daily to-do list is a great way to stay focused and boost your productivity. I have a to-do list on my desk, my smartphone, and my laptop.
That way I can conveniently manage my activities anywhere. Usually, I create a monthly to-do list which I then break down into segments of weeks and days.
This helps me improve my productivity and get more work done.
#• Delegate task or hire a writer
There is more to blogging and freelance writing than you can imagine. Many bloggers would not tell you that, they’ll rather make it look simple to you.
It is not just about creating and publishing content, there are more involved.
As mentioned in section 6 of this article, you’ll have to respond to comments on your blog, schedule your content for posting on social media sites, check and reply to emails, etc.
Sometimes it is overwhelming, and at some point, you find that you have more work than you can handle.
At this stage, I suggest you hire a blogger or freelance writer to ease the workload so you can have time to concentrate on other aspects of your writing.
Wrapping up
Being a productive blogger working from home help you in many aspects of your blogging career.
For one thing, it will enable you to do more with your time. The more you improve your productivity the more you will achieve.
Although there are many ways to improve your productivity, the steps in this article will dramatically improve your productivity beyond your imagination.
Ensure to implement the steps above.
This article first appeared on www.mossmedia.biz
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About the author
Moss Clement is a blogger and digital marketing freelance writer, social media & content marketer who blogs at mossmedia.biz. He is on many websites and publications, helping businesses and people like you generate leads, increase engagement, and grow your business by delivering consistent high-quality content tailored to the needs of your audience.
Connect with him on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
