Did you know that 24% of full-time workers in the United States worked from home at least some of the time in 2019?
That percentage has risen since, and will likely continue to do so in the coming years.
Working from home can open a whole new world of possibilities.
It gives you far more freedom, allows you to work whenever and wherever you want, and build your schedule in a way that works best for you.
That said working from home isn’t easier for everyone, and if your productivity skills are lacking, you’ll find it harder to get your work done away from the traditional office setting.
The good news is, your levels of focus and productivity aren’t set in stone. You can always improve!
To help you do this, we’ve put together the ultimate guide to working from home, including everything from tips for productivity to how to focus better.
To learn how to boost your productivity today, just keep reading.
1. Have a Designated Workspace
One of the most impactful things you can do to become more productive is to create a designated workspace within your home.
Now, there’s a caveat – do not work in bed or on your couch.
Why? Well, human beings are creatures of habit.
Your brain is a powerful machine, designed to make tasks as easy as possible for your body to accomplish.
To do this, it creates associations between certain tasks and environments, helping you to get into the correct “mode” depending on your circumstances.
By attempting to work in bed, for example, you’re confusing your brain because it associates your bed with sleep.
When you do this, you not only decrease your productivity levels but you can also disrupt your sleep patterns.
This is because, done enough times, your brain will create an association between your bedroom and working.
And the next time you lie down to go to sleep, you’ll find that your brain simply won’t shut off.
This is why it’s so important that you have a workspace away from your relaxation spaces.
If you don’t have the budget or space for a full home office, you can work at your dining table or designate a corner of your living room for work.
As long as you’re working in the same place every day, you’re headed in the right direction.
2. Prioritize Your Tasks
The first thing you do in the morning or last thing you do before bed should be to make a to do list for the day (or the following day).
If you’re a fan of lists, you can include everything that you hope to get done during the day, but you need to put them in order of priority.
Tasks that require your immediate attention should be at the top of the list and done first.
It can be tempting to mark off unimportant tasks first, as they’re typically easier to complete, but remember that it’s always best to “eat the frog.”
Eating the frog means tackling the most difficult task of the day first. Is there a task that you have no motivation to do?
One that you would gladly procrastinate on?
That’s the one that needs to be number one on your to do list.
Pro tip: don’t overdo it with your to do list.
It’s easy to write down every single thing you have to do in the near future and hope to get it all done in a day but this is setting yourself up for failure.
Keep your list to five items or less and you’ll avoid asking too much of yourself and feeling the disappointment that comes with an incomplete list.
3. Make a Schedule
Once you have your to do list, it’s time to build your schedule.
This can be done in a paper planner or in your phone or computer calendar, as long as you have something to refer to throughout the day.
Give yourself a certain amount of time for each task and block it off in your calendar.
Be realistic, don’t expect yourself to get the most difficult task of the day done in half an hour.
But do set deadlines and stick to them, they will help you stay on task by giving you a limited amount of time to get things done.
Schedule your most difficult tasks when you have the most energy and leave the unimportant tasks and busy work for the afternoon slump.
We’ll dive deeper into this concept later, but conquering your most difficult task when you have the most energy is the key to good time management.
Start your day off by getting your most dreaded task out of the way and you’ll have more energy and motivation to check everything else off the list.
4. Take Advantage of Focus Tools
When you work from home, eliminating distractions completely is borderline impossible.
Because even if you’re in the zone in terms of focus, you can’t control what others in your house are doing.
If you have children, this task becomes even more difficult.
This is where focus tools come in! First, it’s wise to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones.
They’re excellent for when you’re doing deep work, or those tasks that require intense focus. When you’re wearing them, you can listen to podcasts, music designed to promote focus, even white noise, whatever works best for you.
If you have a habit of browsing social media or other time-wasting websites when you should be working, install a plug-in on your browser that will allow you to block these sites within a certain window of time during the day.
Believe it or not, you can also use CBD to increase your focus and boost productivity. CBD can relieve stress and anxiety, improve sleep, and decrease pain, all of which will increase your energy levels and ability to concentrate.
If you’re interested, you can come see more from 3Chi.
5. Get More Exercise
Health organizations such as the CDC and the American Heart Association recommend that, as adults, we get a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week.
In order to maintain good health, you should already be doing this.
However, many of us neglect physical activity because we say that we’re too busy to fit it into our schedules.
This might seem like a good excuse, but it’s actually extremely counterproductive.
By living a sedentary lifestyle, you’re depriving yourself of one of the most effective productivity tools there is.
This is why one of the best tips for productivity we can give you is to schedule a midday workout into your day.
Don’t think that you have to drive to the gym, exercise, and drive back before you can get back to work (unless you want to!).
Your workouts can be something as simple as going for a walk around your neighborhood or completing a quick yoga session on the floor behind your desk.
When you’re feeling sluggish or unfocused, get your body moving and your blood pumping, you’ll feel the difference immediately.
6. Set Goals and Celebrate Reaching Them
Goal setting is a fantastic way to increase motivation and learn how to be productive at home.
When setting your goals, give yourself a variety of timelines.
Certain goals should be able to be reached within a few days, while others might take a month, and others a year.
Keep your goals in a visible place, whether on a sticky note on the wall behind your computer, on the front page of your planner, or in a digital document that you look at often.
Remind yourself of where you are and where you want to be at least once a day to motivate and center yourself.
Now, setting goals is just the first step. In order for goal setting to be an effective means of building motivation, you also need to celebrate reaching them.
If you neglect to reward yourself for reaching your goals, you’ll struggle to maintain your enthusiasm for them down the road.
So often we get caught in the day-to-day grind.
We reach a goal and instantly move on to the next one, not acknowledging our progress. Stop doing this to yourself!
When you reach a goal, take a moment of genuine celebration. Acknowledge and appreciate your own success.
If it was a difficult goal to reach, have an actual celebration, whether that be taking yourself out to dinner or rewarding yourself with a new pair of shoes.
There’s no wrong answer, whatever motivates you most is the right choice.
7. Leave Procrastination in the Past
Procrastination is productivity’s biggest enemy.
It can cause you to waste valuable time and energy, leaving you struggling to complete tasks when you aren’t as sharp as you were when you started.
Falling victim to procrastination can happen in both your personal and professional life, and though it’s tough to overcome, it’s not impossible.
And learning to avoid procrastination is essential if you truly want to hone your productivity skills.
Procrastination is most often a result of boredom or overwhelm.
So, to combat it, break up difficult or disinteresting tasks with smaller activities that you find interesting or entertaining.
You might schedule an hour’s worth of work on a tough task, then give yourself a fifteen-minute break to journal, go for a walk, or check your email.
When in doubt, just start. Tell yourself that you’re going to work on this task, uninterrupted, for ten minutes. Set a timer and start working.
More often than not, you’ll find that you’ve built up a rhythm in your ten minutes of work and are prepared to keep going and conquer the task.
8. Start Your Day Early
It’s no coincidence that, while the most successful people have varying schedules, the majority have one thing in common: they wake up early.
Even if you’re a night owl, your brain is at its sharpest and most productive in the morning hours.
As the day progresses, you slowly lose energy, which in turn drains you of your productivity and focus.
Take full advantage of the additional sharpness the morning offers by getting up and starting your day early!
You’ll be amazed by how much more creative and concentrated you are when you do so.
If you’re not a morning person, try waking up 30 minutes earlier than your usual wake up time.
Do this for a few days, then bump the time up another 30 minutes.
Before you know it, you’ll have more than enough time and energy in the morning to get everything you need to do done.
That said, you don’t have to get straight to work if you don’t want to.
In fact, it’s a good idea to spend some time on yourself first thing in the morning.
Set your intentions for the day, center yourself, enjoy a nice breakfast or go for a walk.
Starting your day on your own terms will set you up for a better day overall.
Boost Your Productivity Skills to Become a Better You
One of the best parts about honing your productivity skills is that the self-discipline and focus you’ll build along the way will translate to every other facet of your life.
Not only will you be a more productive employee or entrepreneur, but you’ll also be better equipped to conquer any challenge that life throws your way.
In addition, you can put your newfound skills to use in pursuing hobbies such as learning a new language or musical instrument – there’s no downside to bettering yourself.
Interested in learning more about making positive changes in your life through self-improvement?
Take a look at our blog!