When people first start working from home, they tend to be overjoyed at the uptick in daily personal freedoms. The small stuff, really: being able to work in whatever clothes you want, taking frequent strolls around the home to break up the workday, and perching your laptop on your stomach as you work from the couch. But those liberties can start to wear thin, and – worse yet – they can have a disruptive effect on your productivity.
If you’re working from home, you need to resist the magnetic pull of the couch. You need concrete ways to stay focused and stay motivated. Luckily, with a few productivity hacks, you can not only avoid the “work-from-home slump” but improve upon your in-office productivity levels. Here’s how!
Keep A “Normal” Routine
The first thing any remote worker will tell you is that routine is king. The built-in routine of a day in the office includes getting dressed, commuting, water cooler chats, and coffee breaks in addition to work. These small daily rituals work to scaffold your day, giving it necessary structure.
In the absence of that, anything can happen. You can roll out of bed an hour late, skip straight to lunch before getting dressed, and eventually taking a shower. How can you expect to stick to a work schedule when the rest of your day is so random?
There’s A Time And Place
Set up a dedicated workspace. Find a quiet, uninterrupted part of the home for your desk, keeping on hand everything you need during a workday: your computer, phone, notebook, pens, etc.
You can also establish dedicated work hours. Although your in-office routine may have been 9-5, at-home work is a good opportunity to question that conventional wisdom and decide what’s right for you. Maybe you do your best work in the afternoons, evening or even nights. If possible, orient your workday to optimize your most productive hours.
Enable Yourself With The Right Software
You don’t have to go it alone. Productivity tools like automation software and workflow platforms can help you increase your productivity without burning out.
If you work in sales or as part of an outbound call center operation, use progressive dialing software, queue-based lead routing, and voicemail drop to automate the process. If you’re a developer, use code review tools, pair programming, and automated QA testing. Virtually every modern work position has automated tools at its disposal these days.
Blacklist Distractions
Another way to leverage technology to increase productivity is to use a distraction blacklist app. Choose the websites that are the greatest time-sucks for you (social media sites tend to be the main culprits) and blacklist them during work hours, so you are unable to reach them. Part of remaining productive when working from home, after all, is removing access to unproductive activities. Now, if only there were an app that kept you from opening and closing the fridge door every fifteen minutes!
WFH Productivity Is Still Possible
You may face a slightly more uphill battle trying to be productive at home, but it’s certainly doable. Once you get into a groove that works for you, with software that aids you through the workday, your productivity will soar.
