While many of us adapted quickly to remote working, many more found ourselves overwhelmed by the distractions of working from home. Even those who have returned to a regular workplace can rarely say that their productivity is at its optimum level.
With this in mind, we have three amazing and effective tips that will help you stay not only productive, but feel calm and relaxed in what can be a stressful environment. Implement these ideas into your work life, and watch your productivity soar.
1. Plan a Day in Advance
We all have too much on our to do list, yet we still keep adding to it while telling ourselves that this will definitely be the day it all gets done. Then, when we fail to tick off every item we feel bad. Ask yourself what a winning day looks like and how you would feel at the end of that day. Asking that question helps you to focus on the tasks that will make you feel the most satisfied having completed. Create your to do list with no more than three essential tasks and everything else is just icing on the cake.
You should also prep your day the evening before so that you are ready to hit the ground running. If you have to leave the house for work, set out the clothes that you want to wear the following day. Unless you buy lunch, have food ready to go as well. Having a seamless morning instead of a last-minute rush sets you up for a positive and productive workday.
2. Stop Trying to Multitask
Easier said than done when you work from home, as there can be plenty of distractions. Even if you don’t have family members or pets taking your attention, the temptation to focus on more than one thing at a time can be hard to resist. You may feel that trying to complete two work tasks simultaneously is efficient, but it will end up taking longer if you are not fully focused.
Even worse is the impulse to mix a leisure activity with a work task. Browsing social media, watching videos or playing at the best online casinos Canada are all things that will drastically reduce your productivity. If you want to visit CasinoPilot for top online casinos in Canada, set aside dedicated break times and stick to them. Work time is for work only.
3. Ditch the Meetings
This is one for the managers, as employees rarely have much say in the matter. We have known this for a while, but it clearly bears repeating - most workers spend too much time in meetings and it has a detrimental effect on their output. One way to streamline meetings is to always make sure there is a proper agenda for each and every one of them.
An agenda covers the content of the meeting and the desired outcome. Writing up an agenda helps to clarify if a meeting really needs to be scheduled, or if it can be done via a quick phone call or email. Meetings with an agenda are also more efficient and effective.
Bonus: Tackle Big Tasks Head-On
It can be tempting to get smaller busywork tasks done and put off larger jobs for later. As a result we may already be fatigued by the time we reluctantly get round to a large project, and invariably it ends up bleeding into the next day. As with anything, the hardest part is starting - so face that daunting task first thing and it will feel much less formidable by lunch time.