Home Office Productivity: What You Need to Know Today [Infographic]

Alan Rita — August 14, 2017

— August 14, 2017

Considering the ever growing amount of workers who decided to ditch conventional 9-to-5 office work to venture into the entrepreneurial approach or simply to experience how it feels to work as a freelancer, one issue proves to be the Achilles’ Toe for them: how to manage their time properly. It’s tempting, no doubt, to be able to turn on the TV, to stream movies online, or to do endless gaming sessions while “working” at home as no one is around to control what we are doing; although, these harmful habits translate in the following inconveniences:

• Lack of productivity
• Sleep deprivation
• Delayed work
• Unpunctuality
• Stress

Why does this happen? Consider this scenario: Since you can submit your work anytime you want within a 24-hour span; it’s relaxing to acknowledge that you can manage your time as it suits you best. Many workers may procrastinate, as they feel tired due to their previous 8-hour work routine, thus delaying the work to get done in the last 2-4 hours of the day. Perhaps the first day the outcome proves to be just a couple of unanswered emails, but as weeks go by of this sustained habit, we can end up with tons of unfinished work that we need to sort out the sooner, the better. Therefore, all the inconveniences explained above will likely happen all in once.

Embracing a Productivity Mindset

Becoming a productive person isn’t as impossible as it may seem in first place. It’s all about defining the goals you desire to pursue, then trace the proper strategy – with a time span for making them a reality.

Start by boosting your self-confidence: if you have the chance to dream about something, then it means that very thing is within your reach. Believing that you are fully capable of turning chances into success is the first step you need to take for reaching your full potential.

This, undoubtedly, leads us to the second step in this stairway to success: be persistent. Not everything will turn out to be as you desire at the first chance. Embrace failure as a learning experience and challenge yourself to do it better the next chance you got. To do so, you also need a critical approach to reality, avoiding the impact of other’s opinions to chop your chances of fulfilling your dreams.

The third step towards a productivity mindset is to create a routine. To turn your to-do tasks into habits, as it’s the fastest way in which you can boost your productivity. Sit down and note all the tasks you need to complete within a day, then arrange them according to not only to your work demands but also balancing them with your own lifestyle. Allow yourself time to relax, like reading a book, taking a 1-2-hour daily walk, etc.

Make Time Management Your Best Friend

One of the most frustrating aspects of working at home is when you realize that you couldn’t complete what was expected from you in the time you had available for such task. But what about what happened in the process? Did you lose precious moments because you couldn’t get that email you were expecting, or because your printer didn’t work?

Photo courtesy of Startup Stock Photos

Office inconveniences are to be expected, though it’s human negligence the first cause of an untidy agenda. Consider how much time do we lose in trying login passwords for the different tools, social media, software, etc. we need to manage within a day. If you happen to work for a corporation that might not be an issue as commonly you are instructed to share your passwords with your coworkers or superiors for easy data access but at home? No one but you knows which password you used. This is where SSO Software (Single Sign-On Software) can be the best solution you can acquire these days.

Imagine you can control all your tools with just one “master password”, but instead of worrying about the possibility of that password to be hacked, the software that manages such credentials also implements a multi-factor authentication or features identity management/access control. Sounds good, right? More information on this behalf can be seen in this infographic courtesy of Avatier.

Measure your Accomplishments

The best way to track what you are doing wrong is by measuring your daily activities as part of an overall milestone you assign to yourself. Set time for each activity and push yourself to commit to that very agenda. It may be tiring during the first attempts, although you will get the benefits of improving your daily productivity in no-time.

In case you feel worried about your habit of neglecting paperwork, you can simply grab one of the multiple time-management assistant software that happens to be the internet and program alarms and reminders for the tasks you know you need to get done. Sort them according to a priority rank; and by the end of the week, sit down to check how much did you complete along the expected timelines.

Be realistic about the goals you set: some tasks do not only depend on your input; you either need feedback from your working partners or providers might experience delays that can affect the result of what you want to produce. Instead, relax and put your energy into what you can do for a change. Not only your monthly income will feel the benefits of an improved work routine, but also your mind and body will thank you for reducing your current stress levels.

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