Productivity Techniques For Working at Home

With uncertainties all around us, working at home is the new norm.

But many people are finding that work at home is remarkably different from the office setting that we’re used to.

Working from home presents various distractions, from kids, pets, or even just the ability to do virtually whatever we want without bosses and colleagues looking over our shoulder.

While we might feel good about this, some of us might want to focus and give work their all – and you’re going to need good productivity techniques for that. This article will talk about the best productivity techniques that you can use for working at home.

Five Productivity Techniques That Actually Work

Scheduling

Scheduling is a tried and true method of making sure that we are productive.

How often did we have full intention of working for the day, only to lose an untold number of hours with distractions because we couldn’t remember exactly what was so important to accomplish that day?

Scheduling helps you maintain clarity in your goal.

You might already know that you should work on a task on that day, but if you don’t jot it down, the various distractions around us will more often than not make us forget. Or worse – we wouldn’t be able to find the time while working at home.

Thus, make sure to schedule your tasks ahead of time. Mark out the days and hours you’re supposed to work on something and then commit to it.

Task Batching

Another tried and true productivity method is to batch similar tasks together and do them all at once.

For example, schedule all of your communications either at the beginning or end of your workday. This includes emails that you have to send, calls you have to return, or memos that you have to compose.

Task batching helps you avoid the change of mindset necessary for tackling different tasks throughout the day and instead guarantees a smooth and consistent workflow.

Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique contains the secret of deep concentration. It involves setting a timer for short bursts of deep, distraction-free work (usually 25 minutes), followed by short breaks to refresh the mind (usually 5 minutes).

The original technique used a kitchen timer to block the focus of the hour (hence the name, which is Italian for tomato – the shape of the kitchen timer that the discoverer used), but nowadays, you can find an app or website for Pomodoro timing.

Don’t Break the Chain Technique

Productive tasks that get repeated every day should be turned into a habit. Unlike conscious effort, habit takes little to no mental energy to perform, and you can still turn out pretty high-level output if you’ve mastered what it is you do.

One of the best ways to make a habit stick is simply by doing it every day, without exception. The more you perform a specific task repeatedly, the more the neural pathways in your brain strengthen performing that particular task.

Soon, concentrating deeply at certain times of the day will become second nature to you because of the habits you’ve built.

Journaling

Journaling is also another proven method that you can be more mindful of your productivity. This activity involves regularly filling in a notebook with narratives of your thoughts, activities, or plans about a certain topic – in this case, about your productivity.

Regular journaling allows you to be more introspective about your daily activities. Looking back, you can much easily see patterns that you can capitalize on and realize areas for improvement in your work.

Not to mention, journaling can be a very relaxing and creative pursuit for many people, also adding a cathartic effect to the mix.

Productivity Techniques to Help You Work Better at Home

Working from home can present different problems compared to office work – but with the right practices, you can overcome the distractions and even be more productive than you were in an office. These methods should help you achieve that goal.