12 Powerful Tips to Help You Boost Your Productivity
If you work from home, you know that the dream of flexibility can quickly turn into a nightmare of distraction and an unhealthy work-life balance. Beat procrastination and stop succumbing to sometimes subtle obstacles that hinder your progress. When you’ve really got to get things done, here are some incredible productivity tips to help you stay on top of it!
Set aside a space. Create a designated space, preferably a room to be your workspace. That way, when you enter it, you know consciously what you’re there to do: go to work. Set your home office up in an area that will be away from the distractions of home. Set boundaries for those around you as well. Schedule your work time and make sure the kids and spouse know that you are unavailable for playing, chores, etc. during this time.
Invest in a good chair. Get a mesh backed or leather chair to support your back. It’s worth spending some money on.
Start the day properly. Take a shower, get dressed and have a good breakfast before you get down to work. This will help you get into the right mindset for work and create mental space between work/life.
Create productivity boosting rituals. Eat healthy. Keep nourishing snacks close. Have a pint of water by your desk all the time. Try and work up to drinking a few pints a day, if you don’t already. Keep your work area tidy – clutter free spaces make your day more productive. Create a schedule and give yourself a daily signal it’s time to start working.
Highlight your accomplishments. Surround yourself with the things you’ve done — diplomas, important photographs, and other reminders of your success.
Keep a notepad and pencil nearby. Jot down ideas for blog posts, projects, anything that springs to mind. Then have a pin board to stick them on. Look at it twice a week to refresh your mind of things that could be done sometime. Some of the best work you’ll ever do will come from random bits of inspiration.
Keep three lists. The first list has 3 things you will do today. The second is things you’d like to get done, but aren’t essential. The third is things that need to be done at some point. That way, you don’t waste your day twiddling your thumbs.
Don’t stop working if it’s a hard day. There’ll be times when you haven’t got any ideas, or just don’t feel productive. Train yourself to do some work anyway. It’s a short fall from “It’s just not happening at the moment” to “It’s a bit tough, I’ll stop for the day”. Next thing you know, you never seem to get anything done. If you need to, change your environment. Get out but don’t quit. Go to a coffee shop, the beach, anywhere you can get good work done for change. Carry sound canceling headphones to avoid distractions and lousy cafe playlists that run in loops.
Work in productive blocks of time. You can do 5 hours, in four blocks of an hour, with a 10 minute gap between each. For every hour you work, take a 10-minute break. If you do more than that, your attention might start to wander, you’ll be restless and your work won’t have it’s normal level of quality. Give yourself breaks. Your mind time to digest what it’s just done, then come back. You’ll improve the quality of what you produce a hundredfold.
Make time for people. When people ask, give them what you can. Respond in some way to every email. Say thank you a lot. Set online times to connect and engagement in a little chit chat. This will fuel you and keep you from feeling isolated.
Separate work and personal life. Don’t get sucked into working around the clock. If you are done for the day, don’t go back. Had a great new idea? Fantastic, write down the basics in a reminder note, and let it go. Use a separate phone for work and leisure.
Know when to stop. Set defined times when you’re going to work, and then when it passes, stop. Schedule your work, if possible, around your natural peak times – morning, noon, night. You can have a bit of leeway here, but make sure that you don’t end up letting work run your life.
Get sufficient sleep so you can function more effectively. Limit daytime napping if you don’t fall asleep until late at night. Cut out the caffeine and alcohol close to bedtime. Exercise regularly. And keep screens — televisions, smartphones and tablets — out of the bedroom if possible, and stop using them an hour or two before bedtime. The light they emit and the stimulation they provide may contribute to sleep problems.
You can’t function effectively if you are stretched too thin and tired.
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