Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, many companies have had to adopt the remote work culture causing millions of employees to work from home for the first time.
Because no one saw this coming, it leaves a massive and disruptive shift in work environments. And as a result, both businesses and employees are unsure of what to expect.
For starters, working from home means you will no longer have to get up early to catch the bus or spend hours on the road. Instead, you have ample freedom and leisure to spend with your family.
However, as a remote business owner, you will be accountable for your time management and job efficiency, which is the biggest challenge you will face.
That is, you have a lot of distractions to cope with, which necessitates self-control. Family, friends, pets, social media, and various other things can all serve as distractions.
The real question is, how do you deal with distractions and improve your efficiency while working from home?
In this article, I cover 11 working from home tips to boost your efficiency as a remote worker.
11 Working from Home Tips to Improve Efficiency
1. Create a To-do list
Most remote workers find it challenging to adhere to the required work ethics strictly. They find themselves exploiting the flexible situation to do less work.
I believe this is not you. You want to be as productive as possible while enjoying yourself along the way.
It is essential to you as a business owner or remote worker to keep track of performance. But how do you do that when there are no set targets from the beginning?
Creating a daily to-do list is the first thing to do to boost your work-from-home efficiency. Improved efficiency means you can generate more revenue by accomplishing more and setting the pace for other team members.
Also, having such a list arranged in order of priority helps clarify your mind and set your subconscious to work on assigned tasks.
Creating a to-do list is a way of simplifying your goals and putting them into perspective. What do I want to achieve for today? For this week, month, or over the next quarter?
After creating your list, the next important thing is to get on with working on the list. After all, the tasks will not accomplish themselves.
You can put a tick in front of each item on the list after completing a task. This gives a feeling of accomplishment, pumps the right hormone into your system, and fuels your enthusiasm to match on.
Here’s a 5-point checklist to help you make the most of a to-do list.
- Create a daily to-do list the night before.
- Arrange the list in order of priority and importance
- Designate a time frame for each task
- Do the most important tasks first
- Check each item off the list upon completion.
2. Set up a Home-office
Imagine yourself behind a table in the office. What is the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet it is work-related.
Most office spaces are set up to limit distractions and maximize efficiency. They are such that when you get there in the morning, your mind is set upon accomplishing a string of work-related tasks.
You can also do the same while you work from home. Having a designated workstation helps you slide into a working mood easily and keep up work discipline while at home.
Staying in your bed or couch with your PC in front of you may seem enticing, but it’s not going to help you make the best use of your time.
Working from a dedicated workstation will boost your productivity and keep you organized.
Setting up a home office does not necessarily mean you need an extra room to dedicate to your work. It can be as simple as a table and chair in a well-lit corner of your room.
Are you still finding it difficult to create the perfect home office or workstation? Here are some tips to get you started.
- Keep it simple and comfortable.
- Remove all non-work-related items.
- Consider the source of lighting and airflow.
- Set it away from distractions and noise
- Make sure all needed materials are within reach
3. Maintain Consistent Working Hours
Two of the biggest challenges of working from home are; setting up the right work temperament and avoiding distractions.
You can overcome both challenges by maintaining consistent working hours. Working from home gives you the freedom to select when you want to work. However, this freedom is a double-edged sword. It can make or break you.
You can find yourself still in bed by 8 a.m. Something you usually would not do on a workday. And then you wake up to household chores, babysitting, and all whatnots.
By setting a time frame for work, your mind automatically enters into the right work mood when the time sets in. It prepares you to wake up early and get ready for the day.
It also keeps you concentrated on the job at hand during this period and enhances your productivity.
The good thing here is that you are not obligated to begin work at 8 a.m.; you have several options you can choose from depending on your schedule and lifestyle.
But don’t go overboard. Pick a time when you’re most productive and stick with it. Are you a night owl or an early bird?
Maintaining regular working hours can also help reduce distraction by letting the people around you know your work schedule. The kids might be like: oh, it’s 10 a.m, mum will be busy with work for the next 3 hours.
4. Invest in Remote Work Tools
Remote working is here to stay, and more companies are set to embrace this growing trend. The flexibility and relief from daily commutation are priceless.
Behind this boost are very crucial tools that have helped many remote workers maintain their productivity level.
Without the right planning and management tools, your overall efficiency as you work from home is not guaranteed.
- Home technology tools: this set of tools are the foundation of an efficient work from home schedule tablet. They include a good PC, tablet headset, printer, and wifi router.
- Communication tools: communicating with the team, asking for feedback, and having meetings similar to that of the office space are made possible using Slack, Skype, Zoom, Google hangout, and Microsoft teams.
- Planners and time management tools: help you schedule your tasks and track time spent on each task. Examples include Timely, Teamwork, Evernote, etc.
- Collaboration tools: a good example is Slack. It’s a real-time collaboration platform that helps teams to function on the same rhythm at all times. Statistics have shown that such collaborations are vital for team success.
- Project management tools: if you are responsible for managing other employees, keeping track of their progress and productivity is essential. Asana, Monday, Trello, Basecamp, or Todoist can assist you in achieving this.
Content calendar software like ContentCal are also another set of tools you might need in your work suite, specifically if you are a content creator or marketer.
5. Use an online Invoicing app
If you are managing a business, you know how overwhelming it could be handling several clients and handling team members while keeping a clear focus on things that matter.
Making sure that bills and payments are accurate and on time is no easy task. If you are like many other business owners, I bet you’ll also dread this vital aspect of your work.
The solution is for you to make the transition online invoicing. This can be your most crucial business decision because it takes the headache of sending bills and monitoring payments off your shoulder.
An invoicing app like InvoiceNG can help you automate your business’s invoicing aspect and ensure you get paid faster. You can set up automatic invoice reminders for clients before due dates and get paid quickly.
Online invoicing also ensures better organization. You can automate the whole process of creating, sending, and monitoring invoices while you concentrate on other things.
With a single click, you can easily keep track of which invoices are sent, paid, or outstanding. You can maintain a professional outlook while eliminating errors and the resultant cost of the traditional invoicing system. Invoicely, QuickBooks, Wave, and Harvest are some top invoicing apps you can check out.
6. Take Short Breaks at Intervals
I know you want to be as efficient as possible by making the most of your work hours. However, you should not overdo it.
Working from home can make you want to work more instead of less. Taking breaks is necessary and doesn’t make you any less productive.
Even in the traditional office setting, sitting at a workstation for 8 hours non-stop is a recipe for inefficiency. You might spend more time being tagged ‘busy’ without much to show for it.
It’s best to work at time-bound intervals. Let’s say, 2-3 hours of work with 15-30 minutes periodic breaks.
Regular breathers are good for your overall efficiency. It helps you blow off steam, prevents fatigue, and relaxes your brain function.
You can avoid mistakes due to fatigue and magnify your creative energy by engaging in suitable activities during break intervals. So, what do you do during this period?
- Take a nap
- Play with your pet
- Walk around
- Listen to music
- Surf the internet
- Take lunch
Regular breaks are essential. However, taking undue breaks or overextending the allocated time will not help you get much done.
So, stick to the schedule and don’t indulge in getting off work any more than necessary.
7. Exercise Regularly
Sitting behind a desk for long hours may sometimes not get the job done. You might be experiencing a creative block or just not motivated to continue.
What do you do then? You can try out any of the following activities.
- Yoga and meditation
- Taking regular strolls
- Walking your dog around the neighborhood
- Listening to music and dancing
- Engaging in light exercise and aerobics
For maximum efficiency, regular exercise should be part of your work-from-home schedule. Cultivating such a habit ensures your creative juice keeps flowing and you never run out of steam.
Exercise is not only about physical health. It also boosts your mental faculties by increasing blood flow to the brain and stimulating the production of more endorphins: the happiness and motivation hormone.
You can make regular exercise part of your daily routine by engaging in yoga-related activities in the morning and taking a stroll in the evening.
The morning routine prepares you for the day ahead, helps you maintain a sharp mind, and keeps you alert throughout the day.
The evening walk is more of a relaxation mechanism. It helps you relieve the day’s stress and keeps you in shape to make the most of your work-at-home schedule.
8. Socialize with Colleagues
Most people who work from home complain of isolation, loneliness, or boredom. It’s especially true for those who are just transitioning to this new model of work.
The workplace is very vital to our social life. Most of our productive days are spent there. That’s why companies and businesses try to make employees as comfortable and happy as possible.
It is not easy staying away from those you have built connections with over the years. Your best friend might be someone at the office, and you are used to seeing them every day.
No more dinners night out, sports days, group trips, and other social activities to relieve work stress and ensure team building.
The good news is that you can still stay connected and have fun with colleagues as you work from home. With a bit of creativity, you can still have much fun fare like you are used to at the office.
Here are some activities to put on your schedule to help you have fun with your colleagues.
- Hold virtual lunch breaks
- Celebrate milestones together
- Create non-work-related channels
- Host virtual parties on special days
- Set up a virtual yoga or exercise session
- Do more video calls/conferencing
- Take a virtual tour of your colleagues’ home
9. Create a Reward System
Getting out of bed each morning, preparing for the day’s job, taking care of family needs, and getting to work on your daily goals within the same four walls every day can be uninspiring.
That is why you need all the motivation you can get as you work from home. Producing excellent results despite all the challenges that abound is not a small feat. You are terrific.
Now say it to yourself with the personal pronoun- I’m terrific. Aren’t you happy and smiling as you say this? That’s self-motivation at work.
It’s good for your mental health, work efficiency, and you always need it. You can take it to another level by creating a reward system to keep yourself motivated at all times.
It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. It can be as simple as treating yourself to your favorite meal after achieving a daily or weekly milestone.
The idea is simple. Your brain is wired to win, and it will always look for avenues to do so. By creating a system of rewards for yourself, you give yourself more chances to win and achieve your goals.
Are you looking for creative ways to reward yourself? Try these out.
- Go camping (in your backyard)
- Buy yourself something nice
- Play an online game
- Listen to your favorite music album
- Take a selfie
- Enjoy a nice glass of wine
- Re-watch your favorite movie
- Enjoy a home-spa day
- Subscribe to premium Netflix membership
- Relax and have a lazy lie-in
- Read a book
10. Stay off Social Media
For you to fully understand how social media can be time-consuming, consider the following statistics:
- Approximately one billion hours of youtube videos are watched across the world every day.
- In 2020, the average person had 8.6 social media accounts.
- Facebook, as the leading social media network, enjoys 2.7 billion monthly active users.
- From the age of 16 onward, the average person will spend 36.5 days a year on social networks.
Most people begin and end their day on one social media platform or the other. It is distracting and robs you of the vital time to get essential work done.
It’s all good if creating content for social media is part of your job description. Otherwise, you don’t have to spend most of your working time looking up posts, reading articles, or commenting on social media.
What if you cannot resist peeping at your phone each time a new notification pops up? Then, it’s time to invest in site blocking apps.
While some apps prevent you from logging in at set periods, others simply lock you out entirely until the next day after spending the maximum amount of set time on designated apps.
Let’s say you decide to spend just 20 minutes on Facebook each day. The moment you are a second off that limit, you are automatically locked out of that app till the next day.
11. Eat well, Sleep well
Staying on a healthy diet is essential if you are to be at your best while working from home.
You must eat nutritious food that aids your efficiency and resist the urge to visit the kitchen now and then. It’s work from home, not from the kitchen.
At the office, your diet is usually restricted to what is available. But staying at home can give you more access to those special homemade meals your stomach craves.
You should do well to resist it. It is time-wasting, distracting, and may reduce your overall efficiency in the long haul.
So, keep it simple. Eat healthily and do it on a routine. A balanced mix of whole grains, vegetables, protein, and fruits will give you the needed energy supply for maximum efficiency.
And don’t forget to drink lots of water. Some prefer to keep a bottle of water or fresh juice beside them while they work. You can also try it out.
Just as you eat well, you should also get enough sleep. You might find yourself not getting enough sleep despite working from home.
It’s not good for your health. And if it’s not good for your health, it’s not good for your work. You need enough sleep to maintain a healthy mind and a healthy mind to produce the best results.
The key to getting the required amount of sleep is going to bed early, preferably at a set time. And if your work demand or time zone difference will not allow this, consider taking short naps more often.
Conclusion
Working from your comfort zone, avoiding the morning and evening traffic, and spending more time with your loved ones may sound like a dream come true for most people. Nevertheless, it comes with some set of challenges.
It requires self-discipline for you to be as productive and efficient as possible while working from home. Discipline to plan, stick to the plan, and avoid distraction.
The tips provided in this article are sure to help you produce excellent results by staying disciplined and motivated as you navigate your work-from-home routine.
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