How to Maximise Efficiency While Working From Home
Whether you’re making the most of a new flexible work policy or have left the office hub for good, shifting to a work from home environment can be an exciting yet daunting move. While studies have shown that employees are more productive when working from home, newfound obstacles and distractions can arise that weren’t commonplace in the office.
When getting started, it’s vital to set yourself in the best stead possible to maximise efficiency and productivity. Here are my top tips that will allow you to do just that.
Connect and collaborate with the right tech tools
One of the best things about being in the physical workplace is that you can easily pop by a colleague’s desk to ask a quick question or float some ideas around with a coworker while you grab a coffee. Not to mention, physical meetings and brainstorming sessions are often key in driving projects forward.
While working from home, you need to be able to recreate these in-person instances as best as possible. That means leveraging collaboration and communication tools that allow you to get in touch with colleagues and work together without relying on sending a formal-sounding email.
Use tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Meets, Google Drive, Trello, and Microsoft Teams to stay connected and work collaboratively with multiple people, in real time. This way, you can get instant insights into the progress of projects, bounce ideas off your team, and still have those spontaneous chats that prove to be so beneficial while in the office.
Spruce up your home office set-up
Sitting yourself down in a spot that’s designated to work has significant psychological impact for home workers, as it allows you to get into the work-mode headspace. Your brain associates places like the kitchen and bedroom with the activities that you do in those areas - so while it might be tempting to start working from under your duvet, this won’t do wonders for your productivity!
A separate desk or room that’s designated just for working is perfect, and will help you avoid distractions. You can add in elements that make it a pleasant spot to work from too, such as photos, artwork, or plants. In fact, research has shown that having plants in your workspace boosts your ability to stay concentrated. Make sure sure you have enough space on your desk or table for it to not feel cluttered, and that it gets some natural light throughout the day. If it has a nice view - even better!
It’ll also pay dividends to invest now in an ergonomic chair if you don’t already have one. The last thing you want while trying to concentrate is to be plagued by aches and pains from sitting in an uncomfortable chair or being hunched over a desk.
Get Your Priorities Straight
I’m a big fan of lists. When you are constantly spinning plates it’s a natural instinct to write down everything that is expected of you and by what time. Personally, I have a big white board in my work space that I am forever populating with ‘deliverables’.
But with so much to do, it’s all too easy to cherry pick the simplest/ the most exciting/ the least daunting tasks and, before you know it, the dog starts whining for his supper and you realise - it’s seven o’clock! (Just me? *Insert something more relatable for the dogless*)
That’s why I’ve had to start prioritising. Some people say - only set out to achieve three things on any given work day. For me, that’s a little limiting and it doesn’t account for the size of the jobs in question (because my lists have lists of their own).
What I do recommend is to have all of your to-do tasks right where you can see them, be it on a white - board, post-it notes, or neatly scrolled in a pristine desk diary, and then rank them in terms of importance. You may have a great day where you get through all your ‘ones’ by lunchtime and then it’s on to your ‘twos’. But make sure that you are always focusing on the most pressing task at hand.
Often, I like to update my lists at bedtime so I don’t lie awake at night mentally compiling the next day’s activities (I’ll tell you about my insomnia another time - we just met) and then decide in the morning where my priorities should be.
Routine is key
With the new found flexibility of working from home and the blurred lines it can create, it’s not uncommon for the usual workday routine to get thrown out of the window. In fact, it’s proven that home workers put in more hours than their office-based counterparts, and the biggest challenge for them is unplugging after work. This can easily lead to burnout and be counterproductive for productivity levels.
Make sure you carve out time on each side of your working day to do non-work related activities. As easy as it is to just move your laptop to the couch and keep answering emails all night, this won’t help you recharge and come back fresh the next day. Taking a full lunch hour away from your desk can also help boost focus and attention levels during the afternoon.
You could even use the time you’d normally spend commuting to do something active. Regular exercise improves memory and strengthens attention, so this is a no brainer if you want to work as efficiently as possible!
Remote work opens a whole host of doors when it comes to taking control over your own schedule and environment. But like anything worth doing, it takes work to make it work. With these top tips you can immediately start making the most of the benefits of working from home and hitting your productivity goals.