Introduction
If you’re working from home, then your ability to get lots done and stay on
task is going to have a huge, direct impact on your lifestyle and happiness.
Finish early and you have the option to simply head downstairs, make a cup
of coffee and start relaxing! There’s no commute, no boss looking over your
shoulder, and no requirement to work set hours (so long as the work gets
done). Heck, you could even put that extra time to good use by starting a
side project, further developing your skills, etc.
Then there’s the fact that working from home can mean working in your
perfect work environment, near to the people you love, and with the
freedom to come and go as you please – or even to completely change your
work hours!
But if you don’t have the discipline and motivation to actually get work done,
then it can be a completely different story. Now you’re more likely to find the
experience highly stressful and overwhelming: you might well find yourself
with a huge list of tasks that you have no idea how to tackle. The line
between downtime and work might have become blurred, and you might be
constantly working late, forgetting to shave, and generally failing to maintain
a work-life balance.
Read on and you’ll discover 21 productivity tips, hacks, and ideas that can
make a huge difference. They have been organized into categories for your convenience.
1. Eat the Frog
Eating the frog is an expression that comes from a Mark Twain quote: “If it is
your job to eat a frog, then you should do that first thing in the morning. If it is
your job to eat two frogs, then you should eat the biggest, ugliest one first.”
What this tells us, is that it is sensible to tackle the biggest and most difficult
project first. By doing that, you make sure that you have provided the
maximum value each day, and you do the hardest work while you have the most energy and resolve.
2. Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese term that comes from the country’s manufacturing
industry. This term refers to the process of making lots of tiny changes to
a process, in order to see a large cumulative benefit over time.
For example, if your computer currently take 5 minutes to boot up, and you
start it up twice a day, that means you’re losing 10 minutes of productive time
daily. Either you could use that time to do something else (make a call for
instance), or you could upgrade your computer. Either way, you might now
only spend 2 minutes booting up.
That’s now reduced your wasted time from 50 minutes a week (200 minutes per
month) to 14 minutes per week (56 minutes per month). That’s a gigantic
difference. Changing the order you complete tasks can have a similar impact.
3. The One Minute Rule
This rule states that we should always complete tasks immediately if they
will take less than one minute. This removes them from our mind, meaning that they aren’t hanging over us and causing stress.
4. The 80/20 Law
The 80/20 law tells us that 80% of your yield will come from 20% of your
work. The key to being as effective as possible then, is to identify that crucial
20% that is going to result in the most profit.
5. Pomodoro
The Pomodoro technique is a technique that involves setting timers for when
to work and when to take a break. This structured approach ensures you get
a break (removing the urge to procrastinate) but allows you to carefully define when and for how long.
6. RescueTime
RescueTime is an app that you can use in order to monitor just how much time
you spend on each task during the day. They say that “that which is monitored,
improves.” In other words, when you see where your time is actually going, you
will be given greater control over how to spend said time.
7. Todoist
Todoist is a to do app. This app makes it very easy to create new tasks
thanks to a powerful natural language engine: you can make the tasks by
speaking just as your normally would! It also offers a lot of integration
with other powerful apps and tools.
8. Apple Watch
An Apple Watch is a surprisingly powerful tool for productivity. Not only does it
allow you to get notifications on your wrist (meaning your phone can stayfirmly in your pocket), but it can even let you add todo items and more to
your wrist, making sure that they are always easily accessible.
9. Notion
Described by some as a “second brain,” Notion is an extremely powerful
note-taking app that lets you create web pages, tables, lists, embedded
images and videos, and MUCH more. It’s extremely flexible and easy to use,it.
10. Freedom
Freedom is an app that will allow you to block specific apps and websites on
your computer. This is powerful stuff for those who find themselves
distracted by Facebook or other websites when they’re meant to be working! .
See next post for next part.
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