Remote work is often a delicate act of balance. The freedom of working from anywhere brings inevitable chaos, but we can take active steps to design an environment that empowers our productivity. 

Here are six simple tips to stay productive while working remotely:

1. Set a morning and evening routine

Make the most of your day with a morning routine that empowers you. Give yourself an hour to boost your energy and reflect on your goals for the coming day. 

You could follow the 20/20/20 formula: 20 minutes to move, 20 minutes to reflect, and 20 minutes to grow. Doing some light exercises first thing in the morning gets your energy flowing and boosts your dopamine and serotonin. Your enhanced focus can then be directed towards reflection, whether in the form of meditation, journaling, or even making plans for the coming day. Your last 20 minutes can then be used to work towards your goals – you could read a book, work on perfecting a new skill, study an online course, etc. 

Having an evening routine allows you to decompress and integrate all your thoughts. Plus, when you go to bed peacefully, you set yourself up for a great day tomorrow. This is especially important when working remotely, as it ensures you fully “turn off” from work mode.

Start your evening routine by turning off all your digital devices. You could also choose to meditate or journal. Write down a few things that you feel grateful for, as this will help you move into a more relaxed state of mind. 

2. Schedule everything in your calendar – including non-work-related activities

Forget your to-do list and put it all in your calendar instead. To-do lists help you organize your thoughts, but calendars direct your activity and define your productivity. Designing this external structure for your day allows you to free your mind and focus purely on the essentials. It will also help you balance your time between your life and work. 

Start by adding blocks of time for all the things that are important to you, even those that are unrelated to work (for example, going to the gym or running a personal errand). This will help you develop a clearer picture of the time you have available. Add all your tasks to your calendar, even simple activities such as “checking emails” can be allocated a 15-minute block each day. 

You can also use FLYDESK to share your workplace schedule with your teammates and facilitate collaboration.

3. Prioritize by importance and urgency 

You want to make your work-from-home schedule work for you. This means allocating your time in an effective manner to focus on what’s important and urgent first. Often, we get distracted by non-essential activities that drain our energy before we reach what’s most essential. 

As you review your daily priorities, make a note of what is most important, and what is most urgent. Tasks that are important and urgent get done first, whereas tasks that are not important and not urgent can often be discarded or delegated. The table above can help you discern between what’s essential and what’s not. 

For maximum productivity, highlight the task that’s most important and most urgent – this should be your first task for each day. 

4. Take regular breaks

   

It’s easy to get sucked into the habit of spending hours in front of your computer. However, time management is more about managing your energy. Keep your brain well-rested and refreshed and you’ll find your thoughts flow more smoothly, your tasks get done more efficiently, and your creative power will be replenished regularly. 

Going for a short stroll in nature can be very powerful. Even 10 minutes of silence among the trees can help you enter a state of peace that allows you to reorganize your thoughts. When you come back to your desk, you’ll feel refreshed and ready to tackle the next challenge. 

5. Make immediate decisions 

One of the biggest challenges in maintaining productivity is decision fatigue. As we make more and more decisions over the course of a day, our energy is depleted and we start to make poorer decisions. However, this can be overcome by learning to make decisions quickly yet effectively, so we can save our energy for the other tasks that we need to accomplish.

First, clearly define the issue you need to resolve. Then, estimate the amount of time you have to handle this situation, so you can develop a feasible plan. Also consider the amount of energy you have available so you don’t overextend yourself. Make your decision by considering these factors, then choose the option that gives you the highest payoff in all three areas.

6. Follow the Pareto Principle to generate maximum productivity with minimal work

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of our results stem from just 20% of our work. This means that we are actually investing quite a lot of time and energy into activities that aren’t bringing us the results we desire. Conversely, when we drop the 80% of tasks that are ineffective, we can focus on the effective 20% and accomplish much more in a shorter amount of time.

Start by making a list of all your daily actions, then highlight those that tend to bring you the best results. These should be your core actions of the day, everything else can be deprioritized. Leave yourself a little bit of time at the end of each day to tackle these less essential tasks. 

 

Are you feeling more confident about maximizing your potential while working remotely?  Get in touch with us and we can help you make the most of your remote work arrangement.