5 Tips To Help You Stay Productive When Working From Home
All around the world people are working from home at a higher and higher rate. The spread of technology has made remote employees a favorite for many companies. The fact that the exchange rate of the US dollar is favorable in most countries allows companies to increase their profit margins without sacrificing quality of work.
But some people have trouble staying productive when they are working at home either because of lack of a boss being physically present or there are too many distractions. While some people aren’t cut out for working from home, others just need a few pointers. The following are some ways to help you stay productive when working from home.
Set an Agenda
Writing down an agenda for the next day during the waning hours of working is a must when working from home. This will allow you to set a schedule and prioritize everything that you have to do. Without writing down an agenda either in a notebook or online it becomes easy to forget certain tasks or deadlines that have to be met.
This also helps hold yourself accountable on a daily basis and gives you a great idea of just how much work you can complete in a given day. This agenda can be set by your boss but if you are a freelancer you can set it yourself!
Kid Free or Pet Free Zone
The fact is that kids and pets can be devastating to productivity when working from home. Designating a room or area as a distraction free zone is important as an attention craving child or dog can halt work. Spouse free zones might be a tough sell but making sure that everyone in the home respects your time for work is important.
Getting in 8 hours of work when being constantly bothered can lead to “working” for 12 hours just to get the appropriate amount of work done. Home offices are perfect as working in a common area or kitchen is just asking for distraction.
Realistic Goals are Key
Setting goals for each day is a great way to stay motivated while working. Making sure these goals are realistic is also important as nothing kills motivation quicker than realizing you aren’t going to achieve the goal regardless of how fast or efficient you work.
This might take some time to figure out how much work you can get done in a day so writing down how long certain tasks take can help out with this. This will help you set the agenda that was mentioned above. Don’t try to fit 15 hours of work in to a regular day as this just sets you up for failure.
Block Certain Websites
Everyone has that one website that can derail productivity for hours or even for the day. Whether it is a coupon website that has incredible deals or a social media website you can’t get enough of it is important to block these during work hours. Some companies implement time tracking software that takes screenshots to see where the employee is spending their time. This can be a great way to chart how much time is wasted weekly even if you work for yourself.
The numbers might shock you as you might spend a full day of working hours weekly on these websites. For freelancers this can impact their income immensely and for those working for someone else this can impact numbers which are scrutinized in nearly every industry.
Try To Stick To The Same Routine Daily
The same routine can help boost productivity almost instantly. This could be waking up early and starting to work immediately. This routine will help you dive right into work without wondering what you are going to do next. This routine should include times to check emails hourly as an email from a client or boss can halt productivity. Those people who wake up early can get a full day’s worth of work done at a reasonable hour then can have the rest of the day free.
As you can see the most important thing to do when working from home is to mimic a regular work environment. Those who work from home can actually be more productive as the distractions of pointless meetings or a chatty coworker are completely eliminated.
What are some things that you do to boost productivity when working from home?
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