9 Crucial Steps for Increasing Your Productivity at Home
With the recent transition in many industries from commutes and office buildings to remote work, many people have noticed a decline in their productivity. With all of the hours saved every day and the comfort of working from your own home, it can be easy to get complacent and lazy, dragging down the quality of your work. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to prevent this. These tips are compiled both from outside sources, as well as measures that we have personally taken during the last year and a half of remote work.
1. Separate your working space from your relaxing space
While it may be tempting to do work on your bed, or comfy couch, studies and personal experience have shown that productivity tends to decrease when you are working from a location or physical position that you generally use to relax. Try to not take breaks at the desk or table where you need to be productive, and don’t expect to get much work done while lounging in bed.
2. Hold yourself to high standards
Working from home doesn’t mean that your normal deadlines will be going away, so you need to make sure you are continuing to hit all of them. Not having a boss or manager present causes some people to fall behind, but one of the best ways to keep yourself from getting complacent is to track all of your own progress. Write down goals and deadlines and make sure you are constantly working towards them in a timely manner. With big projects, it can help to break it down into smaller tasks that can be completed in a day or two.
3. Coordinate with your coworkers regularly
A major source of lost productivity comes from coworkers not being on the same page. Removing a physical location for people to communicate in makes it more difficult to organize with other people, but scheduling regular meetings and making sure everyone is present and engaged can help mitigate this.
4. Remove unnecessary distractions
With no one else to keep you focused, it takes a lot of discipline to know what might distract you in the future and prevent it from happening. This could come in the form of turning off your phone or disabling certain apps when you have a deadline coming up, blocking websites that you use to waste time, or even just removing distracting objects from your immediate vicinity. With smart phones being the largest source of distractions, Android devices have included a customizable “focus mode” that allows you to disable apps and notifications for a set amount of time. The latest iPhone update also includes a new focus feature to block distracting notifications and even allows you to remove pages from your home screen that contain non-essential apps while you are working.
5. Start with the small things (Snowball effect)
When you have large tasks or a lot of work ahead of you, it helps to start with the most basic ones to get in a productive mindset. This can apply to work (finishing your easiest tasks first) or even with everyday chores. If you have a busy day of work, some people find it helpful to do the dishes or clean their surroundings first. When you begin working and checking items off of your to-do list, it snowballs into increased productivity and makes you work harder to complete more tasks.
6. Maintain regular hours
One of the biggest temptations of working from home is to just drop work whenever you feel like taking a nap, starting a new show, etc. While relaxing is important, you should try to keep a regular schedule for work, sleep, and relaxation. When your work requires it, you can start your day a bit earlier or later but be sure to adjust the rest of your day so that you don’t end up working too much or too little. Other small things like creating a morning routine can help prepare you for the work day and keep your internal clock calibrated.
7. Take breaks
Working from home doesn’t mean working non-stop. Schedule regular breaks from your work and your computer screen and take them for the entire allotted time, every single day. This will help keep you from burning out and can actually increase your focus and productivity after you return from the break.
8. Participate in new activities
It is important to keep a schedule for your work life, but going out to try new activities, meet new people, or go new places can help break the monotony of work. As a bonus, this can also improve productivity and mood when you get back to work.
9. Be physically active
While it might be a bit cliché, moving around and “getting the blood pumping” actually has noticeable benefits for mood, health, and productivity. I personally have found that, rather than continuing to stare at a problem that has been stumping me, going for a walk or a light jog and returning after helps me get past it.
Conclusion
As much as we wish there was a comprehensive list of everything to do to be the best possible employee, everyone’s jobs and habits are different. This is a basic list that should help most people but it is by no means a recipe for success and you will most likely have to add or adjust your own tips depending on what kind of worker you are. If you know of any other advice that you would like to share or have any feedback on the ones we’ve compiled, we would love to hear about it in the comments below.
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