Working from home has its own set of benefits. You don’t have to spend time for travel and can easily go to work the moment you get out of bed. However, one of the biggest challenges of a work-from-home setup is that it is so easy to be distracted and lose focus. You might suddenly find yourself itching to clean your room or do small chores around the house when you’re supposed to working. Learning how to be productive and efficient is important for anyone working remotely.  With that, here are some helpful tips that can help increase your productivity at home.

 

Designate a working area

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One of the biggest mistakes remote workers do is setting up their workspace on their couch or bed. It’s undeniable that it’s comfortable to work this way. However, this practice is not particularly the best in ensuring your productivity and efficiency. Your mind is conditioned that the bed is the place where you sleep. It associates the bedroom with rest, comfort, and relaxation. So when you bring your work with you to bed, your brain might not be in the best position to be creative, productive, and focused. Instead, you might even find yourself sleepy or drowsy even when you try your best to focus on work. 

To prevent yourself from unintentionally napping or sleeping in the middle of work, it is best to have a designated working area in your home. It doesn’t always have to be a complete home office. You can turn a small nook into your workstation equipped with the right tools to keep you focused to work. Consider investing in your table, chair, and lighting to make sure that your workspace is comfortable while you work for long periods of time.

 

Learn how to stay focused

There are tons of small distractions when you’re at home. You have a TV in the living room where you binge-watch series, a full kitchen to make amazing home-cooked meals, a whole house to clean and maintain, and social media that can quickly peel your eyes away from work. 

In order to increase your productivity, it is important to know how to stay focused amidst the wave of distractions at home. One way to keep yourself focused on the task at hand is to eliminate every possible distraction you may have while working. If you find yourself glancing at your phone ever so often, it is best to keep it away from you when you start working on your tasks. Instead of keeping it with you, put it on your nightstand or somewhere that is not within arm’s reach of your workstation. If you take frequent coffee or bathroom breaks, make sure to brew yourself a carafe and go to the bathroom before you start working for the day. The goal is to minimize the times you spend away from your table to prevent losing your focus.

 

Keep track of your time

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Knowing how you spend your day is one way to boost your productivity and efficiency. Learning time management in and outside of work can significantly help the way you utilize each passing minute. To do this, start by tracking the time you spend on your day-to-day activities. 

Aside from work-related tasks, you can also keep track of the time you spend on meals, exercise, and the like. You’ll find out that you unnoticeably spend an hour eating your breakfast when you can actually do it in 30 minutes. Knowing which tasks take you the most time can also help you prioritize these and ensure that you finish them first before moving on to less important or urgent matters. Learning how time management strategies will not only keep you productive and efficient at work but will also free up your time for more important and relevant activities after work hours. 

 

Avoid multitasking

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Many believe that multitasking allows them to finish multiple tasks. However, it does the complete opposite for the most part. Working on multiple tasks and projects simultaneously can negatively affect your productivity as it prevents you from keeping your focus on one task. Let’s say you taking in phone calls and then answering emails at the same time. Your thinking process goes from one task to another which can even mess up the way you are doing your job. Instead of multitasking, spend your time working and completing one task at a time before moving on to the next. 

Maintain a healthy lifestyle

Your mental and physical well-being is an important factor when it comes to your productivity. It’s going to be hard to focus on tasks when you are feeling ill or unwell. In order to ensure your productivity at work, it is crucial to practice a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Make it a habit to start and end your day right. Establish a routine on how you get yourself ready to work. Whether it’s a short coffee break in the morning, a quick yoga and breathing exercise, or a light breakfast. At the end of the day, allow yourself to sit down and relax. Get enough rest and sleep in order to wake up refreshed the next day. Doing this can become a long-term productivity hack that will ensure you are working to the best of your ability all the time. 

 

Want to know more about productivity strategies? Sidekicks is an on-demand virtual company and we’re eager to help visionaries and entrepreneurs like you. Get a free ebook and learn more about how we can help you by signing up for our newsletter. We also offer a free 30-minute consultation if you prefer something more personal.

 

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