More and more people work from home and adopt this as a lifestyle. Given the state of emergency and isolation decreed by the government, even more companies have chosen to work remotely as a preventive measure from COVID-19.
Although, unlike a conventional job, it offers you more freedoms, working from home implies commitment and a lot of discipline if what you want is to have a successful business, profitable and lasting over time. However, sometimes labor productivity can be affected by multiple factors, which in the long run can cause damage to the overall performance.
Rutgers Law School professor Ari Afilalo has definitive data that paints a very different picture and indicates it’s time once and for all to embrace and enable the benefits of working from home.
The vast majority of entrepreneurs and business owners who work from home, work on average up to 3 overtime hours a day. But, you don’t have to be a geniuses to know that being productive at work doesn’t strictly have to do with the number of hours worked or the time spent in office. Ari Afilalo, professor of law and specialist in international trade law, explained that the results of remote working can be encouraging.
For example, Ari Afilalo works as an expert in international trade law, which allows him to offer his clients planning services for the international expansion of their business, encompassing all the services and tasks that derive from both the implementation of their company in another state, all from the comfort of his home.
In his experience, being productive is all about the results obtained by working, and the way in which time is managed to obtain good results. Even if you spend all day glued to the computer that does not ensure that your productivity and performance is higher. In fact, it can be detrimental to the health and the state of the person, constantly working overtime.
Not giving up at work speaks to us of an inefficient personal and corporate organization that clearly hurts and goes against the desired success. Therefore, Ari Afilalo recommends the following tips for a better level of productivity and goal fulfillment.
Tips to increase productivity
Often the reason why people do not perform well at work is because they do not know how to organize and manage their time to achieve the results they want. So, being organized should be one of the priorities of every worker, especially if you want to do it from home.
1) Comfortable space
The workplace should be dedicated solely for work, and other places in the house, such as the sofa, bedroom or kitchen, should be avoided for work, as this can be a distraction. It is important to be able to set limits that separate personal and work life.
To that space, add a neat and clean work table where you feel comfortable working. Remember that you will spend many hours in that place, so the most convenient thing is to have a comfortable chair, where you can have a good posture and work at ease.
Having a well-acclimatized space is essential, because if it is very hot or cold, working there will be an unpleasant experience and most likely you’ll want to get out of that place as soon as possible. Good lighting should never be overlooked, preferably it is natural and does not emit reflections on the computer, and in case you work at night you can use a cold white light lamp that allows you to work more comfortably.
Keep the computer organized too, remember that if this is your instrument to work with, then the most convenient thing is that it encourages you to be more efficient. Why spend hours searching for a file, when you can find it in a minute in an organized space?
2) Routines
It is important to maintain a certain regularity in the way in which one works and in the hours in which it is done, in this way, the body adapts and knows when it is time to work and rest. In order to be more productive, you should establish a schedule that suits your needs, including not only time spent at work, but also time spent on leisure or rest. Also, add a time of day to exercise.
You may find it hard to adjust at first and may have to try various routines until you find the right one. Once established, it will be easier for you to be motivated and more productive at work.
3) Planning
Other tools to be more productive that you can use is task planning. Sometimes it can be difficult to get started when you have a lot of things to do, but with daily planning that problem can be easily solved.
In fact, these ideas for improving productivity can be applied not just to job duties. A good way to do this is to organize the next day before bed, including a list of specific things to do when you get up. In this way, you will not only have an order, but you will wake up knowing how to do everything and you will not waste time thinking where to start.
Of course, it is convenient that before organizing the day to day, you have a weekly schedule so that you can distribute all the tasks in an equitable way 7 days a week. In the same way, it can also be done on a monthly basis and that way you can see the progress of the tasks. Establish an order according to your priorities.
4) Having the right technology
It is important to have a good Internet service that does not affect the network connection and limit the progress of the projects. As well as placing alarms at adequate times to observe the cell phone, having a laptop in good condition and having the necessary logistics according to the profession and type of activity, such as Office packages or platforms that allow you greater concentration and effectiveness, such as: Slack, Trello, Zoom, Skype among others.