Work From Home Issues: Effortlessly Improve Your Productivity Today!

It's not that long ago "work from home" was sold as the entrepreneur's dream.

"Work from home, get stuff done while wearing your pyjamas, take as many breaks and naps as you want. All you need is your laptop and Wi-Fi", said almost every ad, every guru, every online promotion. Maybe not in those specific words, but those were certainly some of the benefits, even if not explicitly stated.

Then, Covid-19 happened... Many people had to work from home - and most of them discovered that it's not all it's cracked up to be.

For some going to work was as much for the social interaction as for the actual job. Now that's replaced by isolation. And that can be quite disorienting when trying to keep some sort of normalcy in the day-to-day.

A lot of people reading this email - and that may include you - either have a day job and are currently looking to build another income stream, or are building a full-time online income.

Either way, you're probably doing it from home, and if it's not your first day, you're probably already aware that maintaining a productive environment is challenging.

I'd like to share things that work for me when it comes my home office environment.

By the way, it's critically important that you pay close attention to this. Because your work environment can not only affect your decision-making and performance... but mood and even physical health as well.

#1 - Have Structure To Your Day

You don't need to get up at "0-dark-thirty" - we're all created differently... If you're not the one to naturally get up at 5:00 am and you function best after midnight, why bother trying to make yourself into something you're not?

But you do need to have a routine. If you prefer to sleep until noon and work in the afternoon and evening, that's fine. But do it with purpose, and make every day the same. Structure and routine are what give your brain peace and order. Once you don't have to think about what you're doing for the day and when you're doing it, you'll find that your productivity soars.

By the way, if you're reluctant to have a "routine" because you think it'll stifle your creativity, don't be. In fact, most of the time training yourself to create at a specific time of day actually helps your creativity.

And do get dressed! While it's a cute cliché, working in your pyjamas hurts your productivity. If you leave them on, that serves as a subconscious cue to your brain that you're still in "relax" mode, not "work" mode.

#2 - Have a Professional Space

Make it dedicated too, if possible. Meaning, it's a place where you just work. Even if you have a small house or an apartment, figure out a way to have a corner where all you do is work.

If you use your laptop to relax, stop now. Make it your work tool and get a tablet instead for watching Youtube videos, reading articles, and browsing the Interweeb.

And on your workspace, be it a desk or table, you should only keep work related stuff in your field of vision. When you do this, you'll find your ability to focus grows exponentially.

The reason this works is because we only have a very limited amount of working memory available to us at any given time, and if it's constantly flooded with input that's not relevant to what you're trying to do, you're going to have trouble focusing.

#3 - Know, At All Times, What You Should Be Doing

The best way to start the day is to hit the ground running with a clear action plan.

The trick is to create it the night before. Then, when you wake up and start the day, you don't have to wonder, and you don't have to decide anything. Forget about email for the first couple of hours of the day. Just blast through your task list. And when you're done with at least 2 of your most important items, then you can pause and look at email, and make sure you're not missing anything that needs attention.

You should also prioritize. For example, if you have a day job and are building a side business, you could decide that the first couple of hours of every work day belong to you. During those 2 hours every day, you work hard on things that will move the needle in your own business.

Then, you go to work - whatever that means these days, maybe you just log in and stay in place. But that's beside the point. When you work at your day job, you do it with confidence and peace... because you've already invested 2 hours into building your own business.

I use three tools every day to make sure I focus and work on the tasks that matter most:

1 - Brendon Burchard's High Performance Planner. This is not just a datebook, it's a well laid out planner that forces you to face your goals and purpose on a daily basis. If I don't fill it out, I'm lost for the day... You can find the High Performance Planner on Amazon. I recommend the yearly bundle of 6 books. It's less expensive than buying the planners individually, and you have enough for a whole year.

2 - KanbanFlow (free version).  KanbanFlow.com  It's a Lean project management tool with an intuitive user interface that's quick & easy to learn and use. The Kanban board provides a clear overview of your current tasks & projects. You can set Pomodoro timers to force focus and also add deadlines to your tasks. Very useful...

3 - Simpleology (Lite - free version). Simpleology.com  Simpleology let's you do a brain dump so that you can prioritize and not forget any of the tasks or projects that you have in mind for the next day, week or year. This ability to purge your mind will allow you to be more focused and productive on a daily basis. TIP: to access the "free forever" version, just move your mouse off the page and a pop-up will appear to sign up for the Lite version.

And in the end...

While work from home isn't all it's cracked up to be, there are quite a few things you can do starting today that will make you more productive and happy.

And, if you do this right, it will also let you work fewer hours!

 

 

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