When working from home, you need to learn to avoid what we call "home-based work ADD"! One of the hardest parts of working remotely is staying focused and productive. You are in a new environment where you can stop what you are doing to grab a snack, grab coffee, check Facebook, do laundry, load the dishwasher, water the flowers, and on and on it goes with no manager looking over your shoulder to keep you on track or meeting deadlines.
Your own mind can be your biggest distraction when working from home. A few tips are:
1) Set Timed, Short Term Goals - what do you want to get done in the next 30 min to 1 hr and stay on task to hit that goal.
2) Don't Let Social Media Distract You - Change the settings on your smart phone to turn off or silence notifications for Facebook and other social media while you are working,
3) Find a Way to Ignore Pets - Our pets are wonderful and many crave attention. However, every time your pet takes your attention away from work is a minute or minutes that are totally unproductive from a work perspective. If you can, find a way to keep your pets in another room, in a kennel, etc. while you are working. That doesn't mean ignore them for for 8 or 9 hours of the day like you were gone for the day. However, it does mean ignoring them for a couple hours at a time and then give them attention when you break for coffee or just to walk around. Another tip is you may be doing a lot of video or telephone calls or conferences. You need to keep your pets from being a distraction for others both visually and audibly. Barking in the background or moving across the screen behind you can be a real problem for others on these conferences, even if you are tuning them out.
Working from home during this COVID-19 outbreak or really during any other time can be weird or rewarding. A large part of making the most out of it largely depends on how well you can manage and maintain your focus.
Want to see more articles and tips for small business and home-based work productivity? See our latest Productivity articles at https://www.trigger-switch.com/news/categories/productivity.
Have other ideas or tips for working from home or remotely? Send me an email to scott.roy@trigger-switch.com, and we will gladly look at including it in a future Tips article and be sure to mention you and your business with link in the article.
Thanks,
Scott Roy
Trigger-Switch Executive Consultant