Smooth Transition between Tasks Is the Key for High Productivity
The biggest challenge I found working from home for over five years is not the work but the smooth transition between various tasks.
It’s because when you work independently, you don’t have one given task, but you are a one-man army on every field. You have to organize yourself, write a plan, do actual work, and then issue invoices to clients and all that.
There are the days when work seems like a reward, as I can, e.g., sit and write one article for hours. But it’s rarely the case. Moreover, even if the day is full of writing, it’s not for one client, so I need to focus on one article and then transit to another and another.
Changing focus from one task to another is challenging, as it’s easy to get distracted and start the loop of procrastination.
Another difficulty is that I never work 8 hours straight as I think it’s ineffective. So, instead, I use the time between productivity sessions to do house duties or home workouts. But, after each break, it’s hard to come back to the desk, sit and kick-start productivity on the cue.
Yet, while it’s hard, I found some systems that helped me become way better with the transition between tasks than I was five…
