10 Working from Home (WFH) Productivity Tips for Small Business Owners

Woman struggling to deal with her kids while working from home

The New Normal

Working remotely can be difficult! Your environment is full of distractions, making it challenging to concentrate on work.

For example, you could have to deal with visiting family, cleaning your home, doing laundry, feeding your dog, grocery shopping, and a mountain of work during work hours.

You can also find yourself putting in more hours. According to a recent study, full-time remote workers do an extra 26 hours of work per month, which adds an entire day’s worth of work to your monthly output.

As expected, as the number of working hours rises, so do the stress levels. According to a Ginger poll conducted during the pandemic, ninety-one per cent of employees working from home have experienced mild to serious stress.

So, each person who has shifted to remote working has had to determine the best times to work, the best locations to work from, what office supplies are needed, and how to draw the line between their business and personal lives.

Thus, since remote work is going nowhere, at least for the foreseeable future, you must be able to handle it.

 

10 Home Office Productivity Ideas That Keep You Inspired

It can be difficult for employees with remote work arrangements to remain productive while managing their day job responsibilities and family and home obligations.

The following ten tips can help you stay organised and deliver results while working from home:

 

1.   Begin Each Day with Introspection

Self-analysis might help you become more productive while working from home. Spend a few minutes in prayer and meditation in the morning. Your thoughts and actions will be in harmony, and you’ll be more prepared for the day.

You can start by listing your daily priorities in a journal. After that, decide how much of the overall task you plan to finish and by when and set small daily targets.

According to a recent study conducted by the Harvard Business School, 25 percent of those who practiced journaling had better performance than those who didn’t.

You can get in the appropriate frame of mind to accomplish your goals by blocking out a few minutes (even ten minutes) at the beginning of your day. It will help you gain perspective on your current situation, plans, and the necessary steps to get there.

2.   Maintain a Routine

Compared to working from a standard office setup, working from home allows more independence and freedom of movement. However, having a routine in place may help you follow this schedule.

By maintaining a routine, you’ll be able to work harder and be more motivated.

Making a mug of cappuccino in the morning, coming home after taking the dog for a stroll, taking a shower, applying makeup, and getting dressed are all examples of easy tasks that could count as examples of a routine.

 

3.   Plan “Meeting Time” and “Serious Work Time”

Maintain a timetable to increase productivity. You’ll be able to manage your job better this way. Consider the following elements as you plan your schedule:

  • The amount of work you typically do each day
  • When you are most productive during the day
  • Your spouse’s and your kids’ schedules, if they happen to be working.

It would help if you immersed yourself in your job during a set time to finish your most crucial duties without being distracted. Decide when you are most productive during the day and plan your most important tasks for that period.

Concentrate solely on the task at hand at that point.

If you want to get up early and start working, try to complete as much of the task in the morning so that you may reserve the rest of your day for less demanding work and arrange your meetings during that time.

 

4.   Start Batching Tasks

To increase productivity and efficiency, jobs of similar nature are grouped in a process called task batching.

You can manage the tasks at hand more effectively and produce better work by splitting a large project into smaller, more focused portions and classifying them according to similarity.

You could conveniently keep track of your progress by making a to-do list. The list can be created according to your preferences. However, critical tasks need to be prioritised and started immediately.

Check off or mark each task as you accomplish it to show that you are moving forward.

 

5.   Maintain a Dedicated Area of Work

The struggle to avoid distractions when working from home is one of the main challenges people have. However, there’s an easy solution to this problem.

Select a spot in your home where you can work without interfering with other family members’ lives and where you won’t be readily distracted by your surroundings. It will allow you to give your full attention to your task.

 

6.   Monitor Your Time

If managing time throughout the day is something you are struggling with, then the Pomodoro technique is perfect for you.

The Pomodoro technique which literally means “tomato,” divides a task into manageable chunks, usually 25 minutes each. This technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo, who named it after the tomato-shaped clock he used as an undergraduate.

If you want to understand how long each task takes and have a lot of repeated work, the Pomodoro technique can be helpful.

 

7.   Install Dependable Technology

There are quite a few benefits and drawbacks to working remotely. For instance, having a slow internet connection or using antiquated technology might stop you from working efficiently.

Similarly, if your computer occasionally stops and starts, you can lose momentum and unsaved data. So, the solution is to get a reliable internet connection and the latest tech you can afford.

However, it is necessary to extensively study the features, speed, and pricing before obtaining a robust network or a long-lasting system.

 

8.   Take a Stroll After Work

After you finish your day’s work, take advantage of the time you would have otherwise wasted travelling to and from work by leaving your house and going for a stroll. A sedentary lifestyle is a silent killer.

You typically work at your computer until your chores are finished; before you realise it, hours have passed, and it’s night. However, this problem is easily remedied.

Walking is considered one of the best exercises for boosting metabolism and overall energy levels. You should schedule at least one hour of exercise for yourself, and walking is a great way to begin.

 

9.   Implement Productivity Tools

Your laptop is your primary instrument for completing and managing tasks and your preferred contact method with co-workers and superiors.

You can now use various productivity tools, such as the meeting management program fellow, to increase efficiency and communication when working remotely. These solutions enable remote professionals to communicate with clients and co-workers efficiently.

You can also consider Todoist, an application that is well known for helping people complete tasks more quickly. Using this task manager, you can make to-do lists, work together across teams, and easily manage projects.

Trello is another app on the list; think of it as project management made simple! It is an all-in-one platform that can help you plan and master project management, delegate tasks to your team, and complete tasks quickly.

 

10.   Set Boundaries

A balance between work and home life is hard to strike, but it’s still harder for people working from home. If you feel like your home life bleeds into your workday, making it hard to concentrate, it’s time to set some ground rules for the adults, children, and even pets in your house.

You should also remove any distractions you have that make your work suffer.

You can start by setting some basic rules in the house:

  • If you have young kids in the house who need constant supervision, you should hire a helper or schedule activities in their day, so they are occupied during work hours.
  • If you are living with other adults, make sure they understand the rules too. Make a meeting board or put up a sign outside your door if you are in a meeting and establish firm boundaries so you can concentrate on your work instead.
  • Don’t forget to train your pet! Your furry friends can stay entertained with their favourite toys. They could pass the time by playing with interactive toys and chewing on some durable objects!

A pro suggestion for ensuring you can handle those work calls quietly is to keep your door closed.

 

The Bottom Line

Commuters experience daily physical and mental tiredness, making it challenging to participate in other activities. However, working from home relieves us of this weariness.

You can follow your passion while maintaining a healthy work-life balance by working from home. If you enjoy baking or cooking, go for it, and spend time doing what you want.

Similarly, if you like to play the guitar, you can do so by picking out fun songs or anything else that grabs your attention every day after work.

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