5 Tips to increase Productivity at Home

Due to recent circumstances, we all are working from home in some shape or form, for a few days or even weeks by now. Naturally, this is the time to leverage all available digital tools and rely on the company culture to come through now.

Ad-hoc meetings or just having a friendly chat with a co-worker are hard to come by at home, so there will be times when you feel alone, left out, or just need information and don’t know how to get it. Sometimes all at once. So what can you do?

While I would say I’m a pretty efficient introvert and don’t mind the extra time to myself, but it’s still tough to keep the level of efficiency high after the initial days. Here are five tips that I use to keep the day productive and also fun.

Make a minimum list of tasks you want to accomplish each day

It’s tough to keep productivity up when you are alone. Usually, people interact with you, give you tasks in the moment, or just come by your office. While this is ultimately a distraction, it helps to keep busy during the day. So if that breaks away, make sure to write down what is the minimum number of tasks or achievements that you have to reach until you can say that it was a productive day. I usually do this the evening before the next day. This could mean you make a checklist of things and cross them off as you do them. It could be that you put calendar blocks for specific tasks in or use apps like Google Keep, Trello, or Evernote.

So, no matter the day, you will always have a sense of accomplishment that will also automatically spark new motivation to keep going and taking on more.

Know your work rhythm

What do I mean by that? You will know this about yourself; there are times and phases during the day that you are exceptionally productive, creative, or focused. This will be essential to know about yourself when working from home.

Somewhere between 8 am — 9 am, I’ll have little tasks that get me in working mode and wake me up, basically.

I also know that my deep-work and creative focus is at the highest between 9 am -11 am. So I’ll make sure to have important or complicated tasks ready for that time window. I would also schedule essential meetings in that time frame to be my most creative in terms of brainstorming sessions or clarifying complicated subject matters, and so on.

Between 11 am — 2 pm, I usually work on daily tasks, emails, and firefighting if necessary. I often skip lunch, because that keeps me focused and doesn’t give me a downtime in the middle of the day.

Between 2 pm — 6 pm is still enough time to get smaller things done, prepared for the next day, or scheduled to be done when necessary. This is also a time for soft topic meetings or collective discussions, nothing too heavy or new. I mean, sure, it’s not like I turn off during that time, but overall I know that I might have a good day, but generally, that time works better for other things.

Some people even use alarm clocks for setting themselves signals for those times, but your day might look totally different. I also have most of my best ideas between 10 pm — 11 pm so that I might take a few more notes about that time as well, both for work and also private things.

Make room for creativity

Conversations, interactions, and little chats during the day are usually enough to keep your motivation and creativity high during the day. But now you are alone, so no one to turn to unless you start a chat or a hangouts’ session directly. Apart from that, what can you do?

I like to doodle a lot at home, maybe play a few chords on the guitar or sing along the radio (what is usually not well-received in the office). These little islands of creativity actually help keep you sane and put your brain into another mode, even if only for a short while.

We all know that moment after a long and important meeting, that relieving sigh, when it’s over but also the stress if you have to work on tasks, agenda, or anything related directly. Taking five minutes before continuing your work, to change your state of mind, giving your brain a moment to breathe, you will find that your thoughts will already be cleared up with a more distant and holistic view of the matter. At least, that works for me — you might have other outlets that work better for you, like doing a quick jog through the apartment or something similar.

Use if as an opportunity for change

We all have those small and nasty habits that we wish to abandon at some point, but we don’t get a chance. You always wanted to try less coffee or more water and tea? You keep going to the same food chain and would love to cook for yourself but don’t have the time or energy to do so? Now it’s your chance for change!

For example, I’m a heavy coffee drinker, and I love it. But I wouldn’t mind a few days more without it since I normally don’t drink coffee during the weekend. Interestingly, I don’t even own a coffee maker or have coffee at home, so now I finally get to change my behavior, even if it’s just for a limited time, but I have the room and freedom to do so, with my new work environment. I currently just consume water and green tea, and it’s heaven.

Maybe you would like to go for a walk after lunch? Well, as long as you are alone, this should still be a valid option, but don’t go with a group of people ;-)

But yeah, there is a lot of habits that we might be able to change for the better or experiment with during this time at home. Anything you might want to change? Leave a comment below; I’m actually pretty curious about this topic.

Use Social Media to keep informed and inspired

Did you know, today (20th of March, 2020) is the #InternationalDayofHappiness ? Since Social Media is a big part of my professional and private life, I find that especially in these circumstances, there are even more people taking part in communities, sharing their feelings, or entertaining content, and that’s also a great way to stay connected.

It’s a great way to stay on top of the news but also get a general feel about the situation and what other people think about it. I assure you, you are not alone with your opinion.

It doesn’t matter if it’s WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Facebook, or TikTok — people continue to create great content and will inspire you to do the same or at least make you smile. So use this time to connect not only with your co-workers who usually sit right beside you but with people all around the globe.

That’s it

I hope you could take something useful out of these tips or maybe you are already on top of everything. What are your tips for creating the right atmosphere at home to be productive? Feel free to share them in the comments below. Make sure to @ someone who might need some tips for their day as well.

Take care and stay healthy,

Sebastian

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.