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5 Ways to Manage Productivity While Working From Home
Lora LCVA • Jul 22, 2021
5 Ways to Manage Productivity While Working From Home
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many of us work, with a much higher proportion of us working from home. Even now as we (hopefully) come to the end of this time, many people will not be making a full return to the office, due to the increased popularity of hybrid working; a combination of working from and the office.
For many managing productivity can prove difficult when working from home, people may feel distracted, unmotivated, stressed and anxious when working from home. However, there are ways to keep on top of these feelings and stay productive when working from home.
1. Create a Functional Workspace
Creating optimal working conditions is essential in facilitating productivity. As appealing as working from a bed or sofa may sound having a dedicated quiet space, perhaps in another room can help create a psychological distinction between work and leisure.
The room should have a good amount of natural light, personally I find it helpful to be near a window as it gives me something to look at while I work. Working by a window may also have a positive effect on health and productivity. Lights act as our biggest cue for our internal body clocks, meaning to stay in sync with the external environment we need natural light. This allows our body to perform essential functions such as sleep at the best possible time. Other benefits include improved mood, attention span, less strain on the eyes and headaches associated with looking at computer screens for prolonged periods.
In this space clutter should be kept to a minimum, sticking with just the essentials for your working day, which may include a pens, a note pad for ideas, some snacks and a planner.
2. Plan, plan, plan
Creating a plan is a great way to manage stress and ensuring you complete tasks on time through knowing what exactly you need to do and when you need to do it.
This plan could be a weekly plan and/or a daily plan due to the unexpected nature of many modern job roles. Creating a plan prior to the day ahead will allow you to manage tasks and be ready to work on time knowing exactly what you are aiming to achieve. Planning to leave enough time to eat and get ready before working will also enable you to better ease yourself into the day and feel comfortable - in a professional mindset before your working day.
If your job gives you flexibility in when you work it is also a good idea to plan to work when you are at your most productive, some people are more productive earlier in the morning, where as some hit their productivity peak in the afternoon.
Planning breaks away from the screen is also important in order to destress and to give your eyes a rest after looking at a screen. Planning when to take these breaks will give you structure and something to work towards.
We'd also like to take a moment to announce that we are launching a brand new resource...Project Plan. Coming this August, it will be the perfect planning and organising tool you need for business! If you're interested in purchasing this, please register your interested here and we will contact you soon with more details!
3. Limit Distractions
Although working from home provides many benefits in terms of flexibility, no dreaded commute, and an overall better work life balance, working from home can also come with many distractions such as household responsibilities, your phone and social media apps.
Although social media is now a part of many jobs, it is important to not lose too much time to social media due to its addictive nature perpetuated without the boundaries set within an office. Therefore, to be the most productive you may need to set these boundaries yourself, for some people this may mean turning off notifications, logging out of personal social media accounts, or putting your phone in another room (if a phone is not required for your job).
You may also need to set boundaries within your household. This could mean asking others not to disturb you during working hours to be more productive. This could also mean ensuring you have time to take care of any household chores or responsibilities around your working hours.
4. Stay Connected
However, when working remotely, staying connected to colleagues is essential for productivity in order to ask quick clarifying questions you may ask in an office, providing explanations and training and holding remote team meetings which are essential in setting and meeting objectives as well as boosting team motivation.
Staying connected while working from home may require an intra organisational emailing system as well as cloud service such as one drive, in order to share current projects and information with colleagues. A group messaging service such as WhatsApp is a great way to ask those quick clarifying questions, or contact co-workers outside of working hours.
Zoom can be used for training purposes, catch ups and group meetings, but additionally is a great tool for building essential rapport with colleagues, making them feel comfortable in the team and therefore having more motivation and work productivity.
Read our previous log posts and learn how to work Zoom here and how to set up break out rooms in Zoom here.
5. A soundtrack to your day
Choosing music that matches the type of task you are working on can boost productivity. The iso principle is a technique used by therapists to alter the mood of a patient. This principle states that you should match music to how you are feeling, and then gradually alter to songs until they match your desired mood state.
This has been applied to productivity and would suggest that you should ease yourself into motivational music which will facilitate a productive state for the day. Other research has found that faster music can increase productivity, so why not jam out to some dance music while you work?
👇 The Key Takeaways:
- A functional workspace should be separate from where you relax, have lots of natural light and be tidy with everything you need for the day.
- To manage stress and get everything done, create structure through a plan for the day / week ahead, wake up with plenty of time, take regular breaks and if possible work when you’re most productive.
- Limit distractions and set boundaries for yourself. If you’re distracted by social media consider turning off notifications or keeping your phone in another room. Make sure household responsibilities are completed around work and communicate boundaries with other members of the household.
- Stay connected to colleagues and perform essential team functions and boost morale through communication and sharing services such as, email, cloud services, WhatsApp and Zoom.
- Use music to increase productivity and motivation through matching music to your desired mood.
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