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At first, glance working from home might seem like the perfect way to boost productivity. Your environment is familiar, and everything you need is within arms reach for the most part. Your home seems like it might be the perfect environment for you to be productive. Until it’s seven in the evening and you have not made any more progress since you rolled out of bed this morning. Productivity is a hard enough feat for anyone under normal circumstances, but it can become increasingly difficult when you are in the comfort of your own home. Here are five strategies to combat the urge to be unproductive when working from home.
Remove Any Possible Distractions
The first step to remaining productive is to give yourself the best chance to do so. To do this you need to remove anything that might distract you from your work. This could mean muting notifications from Social Media and Messaging, closing and restricting access to sites that you know are distracting when you do work, and keeping everything that you need within close reach to minimize possible distractions.
Removing possible distractions, before they have the opportunity to distract you is the best way to maximize productivity. When you remove distractions you allow your mind to focus on one thing at a time which maximizes your potential to create the best possible product. By identifying what distracts you while you work and removing you can increase your productivity almost tenfold.
“Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.”
Dale Carnegie, American writer
2. Establish specific times for work and breaks
Establishing specific times for work and breaks achieves two things. One by knowing when you are going to be taking a break you give yourself something to work towards which can help you work harder because you have the promise of break time to look forward to.
Secondly establishing specific times for work lets your brain know when it should be productive and use the most energy, and when it can relax. This can also have the added benefit of helping you sleep better as well because your brain will know when it’s time to relax.
When you set specific times for work and play you boost your productivity because you allow your brain to make the most of its energy distraction and worry-free.
3. Designate a specific workspace within your house
Keeping with the theme of wiring your brain to associate specific conditions with productivity, designating a workspace in your house is important. Selecting a room or even just a corner of your house allows you to further your potential for completing your work or projects.
Having a specific workspace within your home makes it so your brain is primed and prepped for productivity whenever you enter a workspace. Your work scheduling style could also depend on whether you are a Maker or Manager. So take that into account when you are considering how to utilize your workspace and setting a work schedule.
4. Set specific goals you’d like to accomplish before the day is done
One of the best ways to productivity is to make a list of things to accomplish before the day is done. When you set specific goals around what you want to accomplish for the day you give yourself a clear idea of how you need to spend your time. You can prioritize tasks based on importance, the time needed for the task, and how the project might work with your strengths and weaknesses.
With all of these things taken into account, you can become more productive on a daily basis. Another strategy is to set both daily and weekly goals. Which will allow you to schedule your time even more effectively. Setting weekly goals allows you to set mini daily tasks around those goals to work on them a little more each day.
“There is no royal, flower-strewn path to success. And if there is, I have not found it. For if I have accomplished anything in life, it is because I have been willing to work hard.” ~ C.J. Walker
5. Create a schedule and stick to it
Finally, the best way to increase productivity is to set a schedule and stick to it. The best way to keep your work consistent and quality is to set a schedule that you can stick to. A schedule coupled with a designated room and a specific workspace can help create the best conditions for productive behavior, it also keeps your work and personal life from being to close to each other and disrupting the other in the process.
Conclusion
Being productive at home can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. By using these strategies you can be your most productive self even at home.