More of us are working at home than ever before, but very few of us have honestly got the hang of it yet. Working from home does require a degree more self-control than working in an office environment. After all, without your boss breathing down your neck, it can be tempting to take an extra few minutes at lunch, or catch up on that television series that you missed whilst answering emails. Sure, it’s alright to be a little lenient with ourselves from time to time, but sometimes productivity has to come first. We’ve collated some tips on how to boost your productivity whilst working from home.
Improve Your Concentration
The key to productivity is simple: being able to concentrate. In this modern world, we are constantly distracted by incoming emails, pinging mobile phones, and the almost constant allure of social media. Being able to concentrate through these isn’t a gift that some of us are just born with, it requires knowledge of the right techniques, as well as the willpower to practice them.
There is a huge selection of techniques out there and each one will suit a different person. The Pomodoro technique is popular as it breaks your day down into 20-minute chunks of intense work, followed by five-minute breaks to do with what you will. There are concentration techniques that focus on your mental state too. Although these concentration techniques are designed for poker tournaments, they work just as well at your office desk. Unfortunately for those looking for a quick fix, the most important tip on the list is one that requires forward planning: getting a good night’s sleep.
Sleeping Properly
There’s no way to trick this technique, you’ve just got to work at it. Some people are blessed with the ability to roll into bed at 10pm, fall asleep as soon as their head hits the pillow and wake up feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 6am, ready for work. Unfortunately for most of us, we aren’t those people, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work towards being like them.
The biggest mistake that most of us make is using our phones in bed. Not only is social media, checking emails, or even just texting very mentally stimulating, the blue light on our phones can actually interfere with our circadian rhythms. The blue light from the screens tricks our eyes into thinking it’s daylight, which wakes up our brains, making it really difficult to get a restful night’s sleep. Sure, there are blue light blockers out there, but they don’t block all of the blue light, so it’s better to turn off all screens an hour before you want to sleep at least.
Finally, if you’re the kind of person who stays up at night because you’re anxious about the next day then take a diary to bed. Some people will want to to write in it every night, others will just want to write anything bothering them in it before they go to sleep. It’s a real anxiety killer and might be the thing that really makes a difference to how soundly you sleep.
Make Time For Mindfulness
The final point is that some of us drive ourselves crazy with the need to be productive, to a point where we simply cannot be productive any more. This stage is called burnout and it can be tricky to remedy, though not impossible.
A simple way to stave off burnout is to make time for mindfulness in your working day. This could be as simple as factoring in 5 minutes every couple of hours to pause and meditate, or you might find a mindfulness walk at lunchtime more helpful. Take yourself outside for half an hour and focus on what each of your senses can feel one by one. Of course, we’d all like a beautiful green setting just outside our house, but even a walk around the block, listening to the pigeons, smelling the wet grass and feeling a cool breeze on your skin can help you to feel instantly grounded and ready for whatever lies ahead that afternoon.