Scrambling to complete your work and meet deadlines? Wearing different clothes, answering the pile of emails and phone calls… you get the point I’m trying to make.
The goal of this article is to help you become more productive and efficient while working from home. Instead of trying different tricks and methods at once, find a few that you can implement for at least 21 days. But, why 21 days? Well, that’s the time it normally takes to form a new habit.
1. Get Moving!
Doing exercise alone isn’t enough for the body, it‘s almost as important for your mental wellbeing. According to Brain HQ, exercising has helped in reducing stress hormones while it also increases the growth factors in our brain that are necessary for new neuronal connections.
I’ve personally practice exercising in the morning versus exercising at night and I found that it works better for me in the morning. The motivation to go to the gym after having a long and busy day is hard to find. Despite that, the most important thing is that you’re consistent with your exercise routine.
2. Defeat Procrastination With the “2-Minute Rule”
If you’re familiar with the “2-Minute Rule”, it’ll seem simple to you, but it’s a trick that works to maintain a system of productivity.
It’s often referred to as completing any task that you think should take 2 minutes or less right away. The “2-Minute Rule” can also hurt your productivity if you don’t implement it carefully and take it at face value.
To use the “2-Minute Rule” properly, you must schedule a time to get your to-do list ready for the day in order. While building the to-do list, you have to find the small tasks that seem like they can be completed in 2 minutes or in a couple of minutes. Do them!
Make sure that you come back to your list consistently and finish it. Don’t get stuck in these small tasks and let them deranged your day by consuming more time than they should.
3. Delegate like a Boss
Do you ever find yourself wondering how you’re going to complete all the tasks in just one day?
I can bet that there are some low-value tasks that you could outsource. If you’re working in an eCommerce agency, things like product entries, running errands, or document formatting are all going to eat all that precious time you have during your day to get the important stuff done.
Fortunately, some great online services connect you with cheap labor and virtual assistants to get tedious tasks done so you can spend your time on the most important projects.
4. Learn to Say No
Throughout your day, different people and your colleagues will inevitably disrupt you to get your help. It’s so easy to say yes and make others feel good about you, but this is counterproductive. Learn to say no more often than saying yes to save your time for your highest leverage tasks.
Saying “No” to something is far easier than saying “done”, but there are different ways to achieve that end without being combative or gross.
When someone comes to you with a helping request, simply ask them to give you 10 minutes (or some random interval of time) to finish what you’re already working on. And then by the time you go to them to find out what help they wanted, they’ll usually have that figured out on their own.
5. Focus on One Thing at a Time
There’s no doubt that you heard multitasking is a productivity-killing approach. Too many people fall into this trap of doing several things at once so it supports repeating here to help you increase your productivity in the workplace.
Multitasking lowers a person’s IQ and reduces the performance with which you can complete any task. So would you do 3 things at the same time with mediocre results or just one 1 task with excellent results? It’s up to you now.