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More and more people are working from home. Telecommuting allows them to achieve a better balance between work and personal life, offering more flexible working hours and greater autonomy to organize their day. It avoids unnecessary commutes, saves valuable time, and increases productivity, reduces distractions, and increases job satisfaction. However, for those who have never done remote work, it can also become a huge challenge as it involves taking on new responsibilities and requiring being able to manage themselves effectively.
Here are Liberty Insurance’s top tips for improving productivity while working from home!
Set office hours
While it may be tempting to not set an alarm, if you want to be productive, you need to stick to a schedule. Since you’ll be working with other people and have to answer emails, join company chats, or answer video calls, it’s important to adjust your workday to your company’s business hours. Setting office hours also helps protect your personal life, preventing telecommuting from taking up every minute of your day.
Set up a dedicated workspace
The best way to be productive at home is to separate work and leisure spaces. If you have an office, it will be easier for you to adapt and focus. It is important to set up this space to make you feel comfortable. Remember that working in a pleasant and orderly environment will increase your productivity. If you can’t turn a room in your home into an office, at least make sure to use a desk. Avoid working from the couch as your brain immediately associates the space with relaxation and rest, disconnecting from your work and your productivity plummeting.
Establish a work routine
Even if you have a home office, you should follow a routine similar to the one you follow when you’re going to work. Don’t wear pajamas all day. Getting ready to get dressed as if you were going to the office will help your brain get ready to go into “work mode.” Make a routine like you do at the office: Plan short breaks and don’t sit in front of the computer to eat. These small breaks are important because they allow you to get back to work with more energy and fresh ideas. Avoid doing chores during your set office hours, as you will lose focus and work rhythm.
plan priorities
Working from home is different from working in the office, where project managers often have tighter control over day-to-day tasks to ensure that nothing important is left out. To be productive, you have to be your own boss, and that means learning to manage your time and self-regulate. Before starting work, take at least 10 minutes to organize your day. Check which tasks you have pending and organize them according to their priority. Try to be objective and don’t plan more tasks than you can do because you’ll end up overwhelmed and frustrated.
Make the most of your peak productivity
Your energy levels, motivation and focus will change throughout the day. When working remotely, it’s important to know when these productivity spikes occur so you can plan your schedule based on them. Most people are more productive in the morning, so it’s best to spend those hours on more complex projects that require more focus and energy. You can spend your less productive time on tasks that are more repetitive or require less mental effort, like checking work emails or planning tasks for tomorrow.
Avoid technical distractions
When you work from home, no one can control your work, so you end up with unproductive habits. To meet deadlines, you have to be disciplined: avoid checking personal information, surfing social networks, or reading the news during business hours. Little tricks, like logging out of your account, can act as a deterrent and prevent you from logging in automatically. You can also use the app to block access to social networks while you are working. If you want to go a step further, you can use an app like Strict Workflow to create a blacklist of sites you can’t access from Chrome for a specified period of time.
Use time management tools
If you’ve never worked from home, it may be difficult for you to focus on one task for the first few days, or you may find yourself less productive than you thought. In this case, a time management app can be your ally. Productivity apps, like RescueTime or Harverst, will help you monitor the time you put into each task, so you can detect black holes where time seems to disappear. You can also use a timer like TomatoTimer to schedule your most focused breaks.
Keep in touch with your colleagues
In order to work from home effectively, you must stay informed of all the changes happening in your company that could affect your projects. This means that you must maintain constant communication not only with your boss or project coordinator, but also with your closest colleagues. This systematic connection will help you perform your duties better and alleviate the loneliness and disconnection you may end up experiencing while working from home.
How do you stay productive with your kids at home?
If you have children, working from home can be twice as challenging because children are noisy and easily bored. Therefore, you should rely on your partner to share the burden of parenting-related tasks. Consider your daily schedule, be realistic and adjust to your needs. Remember, it’s better to cut hours off, but not to interrupt to get the most out of them, rather than to be frustrated by the fact that you need to stop what you’re doing to continue caring for your child.
A good option is to get up early to take advantage of the time when your child may still be sleeping. If your child is already at school, they may be taking an online class and will need to do their homework. You can use this time to complete the most complex tasks at work. Technology and video games can also be your allies. Don’t feel guilty about letting your kids use them while you work.
If you live with other people, including siblings, parents, or roommates, it’s important that they respect your work schedule and don’t bother you too often. Remember, it takes an average of 23 minutes for your brain to refocus and work at peak capacity after a distraction. So just because you work from home doesn’t mean you can.
Remember that working from home can be a great opportunity to develop new professional skills that will be useful in the future, while also demonstrating your commitment, value and dedication to the company.
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