alittlebitsocial2 On average, it has been found that people who work from home tend to be more productive, not less productive, than their office-inhabiting counterparts. That said, it’s far from impossible that some of you might be having trouble working from home with the efficiency you want, whether due to a difficult transition to a new working life or because standards have slipped over time. Here, we’ll look at a few tips to help you improve your productivity when working from home.
Have a clear (but adjustable) schedule
Flexible working has a lot of pros and cons. The freedom to work when you want is, undoubtedly, a massive benefit to those who cannot work productively during regular work hours. However, letting your working day be too flexible can be a significant problem, too. It’s a good idea to set a scheduled time that you’re going to sit down and work every day. You should also break your day into time blocks to fit all of your various work tasks into that day by making sure you schedule time for them. With time blocks, you can move them around to make sure that you’re able to make space should new work come up, but you can make sure you’re not spilling over into non-work time, ruining your work-life balance.
Ensure the appropriate work environment
That aforementioned work-life balance is the key. If you cannot maintain the boundary between your working and home life, the two can blend into one. You will lose productivity but also have more trouble relaxing during your time off. To that end, make sure that you create authentic, functioning home workspaces that allow you some separation from the rest of the home. Setting boundaries with your family or others you live with is also crucial. They have to know that they can’t just freely interrupt you when you’re trying to do your work.
Know where your time should be spent
If you’re managing your workload entirely, it’s a good idea to break your day up into the various tasks and duties you have to fulfil. Some will be more important than others, while others might not need to be done immediately or even today. You can ensure you’re not spending all of your productive hours on tasks that can wait with the help of work priority tools. You can sort your tasks by urgency and importance, ensuring you spend time on the essential work for your role. A to-do list can be helpful, but you want to ensure that you’re not clogging it up with tasks that don’t need to be done just yet.
With the tips above, you can ensure that you can get on the ball and stay on the ball when your working day begins at home. There may be other challenges that you need to address, but the above tips can help just about anyone up their productivity.