How to increase productivity whilst working from home!
Since the pandemic, many companies have transitioned into a hybrid work setting. For many, this is the perfect balance - it allows you to spend time at home with loved ones whilst also enabling social interaction from a workplace.
However, getting into the routine of working from home can be hard sometimes and finding productivity difficult to maintain consistently.
Here are some of my favourite productivity hacks to help you feel focused and allow you to maximise your time.
A Clean & Comfortable Workspace
Have a dedicated workspace and make sure it's clear. I'm not talking about Marie Kondo, but just avoid having lots of stuff on your desk and things around you that can easily create distraction. Seeing that pile of laundry that isn’t going to fold itself is just a distraction waiting to happen. If you’ve left the washing up ready to do and Mary Poppins isn’t loitering around ready to clean, you may find yourself ‘just’ doing it.
A comfortable workspace will make it easier to sit and stay focused. Your well-kept workspace should also be set up to be a good fit for you. A decent chair with back support, your screen at eye level and an arm’s length away from your eyes, is going to make you more comfortable, and therefore, more productive. Let's face it, being hunched over and sitting at your desk for 40+ hours a week is not ideal for your body.
Also a quick tip: if you don't have this set-up, check with your workplace about what they can do to support you.
Pomodoro Technique
Pomodoro technique is a time management method you may have heard people talking about. It was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s (fun fact; it comes from the Italian word for tomato after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer Cirillo used as a university student).
Pomodoro Technique is a system where you work in 25-minute blocks separated by 5 minute breaks. After about 4 Pomodoro’s you can take a longer break. It can be useful when you've got complex and desk-style tasks to complete.
This is the timer I use! https://pomofocus.io .
This technique increases productivity whilst working at home by giving you a sense of urgency, and allowing you to focus on one thing at a time. The enforced breaks equally increase productivity when you’re working from home because it makes you take a considered pause, getting away from your screen is the key here.
Remove distractions
Doing household chores whilst working from home is one of the benefits of working from home right? Just popping the washing on between meetings! However, the problem comes when doing the washing up, emptying the dishwasher, putting your clothes on to wash, and cleaning the bathroom becomes a distraction from doing work.
So if you want to increase your productivity whilst working from home - have a set time to do chores and other household ‘distractions’. Whether it’s ‘between meetings’ putting your washing on, or when you break for lunch, or ‘before you go to bed’ making sure the kitchen is clean and the dishes are away, sticking to a time-frame like this will help you maintain your productivity at home.
In addition to physical distractions, turn off your notifications! This not only applies to your phone, but your laptop too - think e-mail notifications, teams’,slack messages. Even better, if you have the habit of picking up your phone mindlessly, put it out of reach! You may surprise yourself with the amount of times your arm goes to pat down where your phone is normally kept! Another perk of this technique is that it helps you to set boundaries and not reply to people immediately.
Set boundaries
It's easy to work overtime whilst you're remote working, finishing at 5:00 o'clock can easily bleed into finishing at 5:45 or 6:15. Make sure you switch off and that you're not checking emails at 9:00 o'clock at night or first thing in the morning.
When you wake up, go for a walk and get some fresh air. When you finish, take yourself away from your desk to give yourself a physical break. All of this will enhance your productivity whilst working from home.
Furthermore, recognise how exhausting being on Zoom all day can be. Set boundaries with how many meetings you're going to be in and whether you need your camera on for all of them.
A rogue option
Work elsewhere for a couple of hours. The number of working spaces popping up everywhere in the world is increasing. A change of scenery can make a big difference to enhancing your productivity.
A couple of options are;
Coffee shops
The local library
Co-working spaces
They all vary in price of course, the cheapest being the library (usually free). Coworking spaces range but you can get around £20+ a day pay-as-you-go in London.
Need help setting some better habits to enhance your life? Apply to work with me 1:1.
Sarah is a Career Change Coach. She helps women breakthrough and pivot in their career. Whether you're not networking, developing your own work or side hustle! Stop feeling like you don’t know where to start and reach out!
Sarah has a Masters in Psychology and is both accredited by and a member of the British Psychological Society. She has experience working with the military and corporate sector in recovery, transition, leadership, and mentoring.
