Working from home has a lot of benefits, but it comes with downfalls as well. As much as it's nice to work or study from home on days where you just don’t want to leave the house, sometimes it feels lethargic working from home. As a company that works remotely, Plastk understands the trials and tribulations that come along with the #WFH life; that's why we’ve compiled a list of our most useful tips to stay productive. You can apply these tricks in all walks of life, whether you are a student, an employee or just a creative, these tips will motivate you to not only work harder, but also smarter. Of course, productivity is always useful as it means you are getting more done and at a higher quality - leaving you more time to do things that bring you joy. Getting tasks done with efficiency reduces anxiety around completing projects, hopefully making your job less stressful! Having a purpose also will help to alleviate stress in your personal and emotional life making life more enjoyable.
1. Write it Down
Writing down what you need to get done by the end of the day, goals you have, important reminders and general notes will tangibly help you organize your affairs for work or school. There exist a plethora of mediums that are easy to use, and it depends on your personal discretion for what works best for you. Whether that is a simple pen and paper or a computer software - note-taking is essential to staying productive and achieving your goals. Some incredibly user-friendly options are google planner, the notes app provided on your computer or your computer's calendar. By hand, you may choose a notepad or, more elaborate a daily planner. Daily planners are great as they break down a timeline of your tasks alongside a hierarchy of what is most important and what is left to be completed! This series of notes can also help you track your progress and let you be able to reflect on your past weeks of work.
Setting goals and rewarding yourself for meeting them is a great way to lift your spirits and make you feel accomplished at the end of the day. These goals can range from completing big projects to finishing a sentence in a difficult report. Similarly, the reward could be a nice snack in your kitchen or a 10-minute outdoor breather. Either way, setting attainable goals with incentives for yourself, is an awesome way of getting and feeling more productive, while rewarding yourself.
3. Set Deadlines
In unison with the tip above, setting deadlines for yourself is a direct way of keeping your work on track. Deadlines allow for a more concrete timeline of when you need to be productive. Of course, due dates are evident in most work and school schedules; having your own personal deadlines can put you at ease of knowing your work is completed before a way more harshly enforced deadline. Don’t over-do-it and set to quick of a timeline, that can easily wind up with you feeling overwhelmed and like you aren’t doing enough.
4. Say No!
Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Although it's understandable that you want to be available to show your superiors you are a capable employee, at times, saying yes to too many tasks just results in worse quality overall work! Setting boundaries and knowing your limits will relieve stress leading to more productive work. Having too many tasks to accomplish will leave you feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, but by taking on the right amount of work, you can show your bosses that you are a hard worker who produces good materials!
5. Figure out when you are the most productive
Depending on who you are, you likely know when you are the most productive. If you're a morning person, make sure you complete your most important tasks at the beginning of the day. If you are someone who takes a little longer waking up, then begin your day with benign tasks while you slowly garner the attention span to work on larger scale projects. You also need to investigate what elements make you more productive. If eating a nicer long lunch, allows you to work much harder after… do that! It's hard with the constructs we are narrowed into during our formative years to figure out what deviations from the norm work best for you.
7. Follow a routine
As the aforementioned tip elucidates, structure is incredibly important for staying productive. Having a routine that works for you is crucial to finding a balance between work and home life. Knowing what drives you to work your hardest, works best in repetition. Setting the alarm for the same time every morning, and allotting a lunch break each day will help you routine your work/study life. If you enjoy certain elements of your day, like your morning coffee, prioritize doing that every day - if it brings you joy, it's important. If your workday ends at 5pm, try your best to close your computer then, having a separation of work and life is very useful. A clear end time is great for productivity and helps to reduce zoom fatigue and exhaustion.
8. Hide Distractions
This one is arguably the most important and difficult productivity hack to perfect. In this new-age technology era, millions of distractions are at an arm's length with just a click of a button. Your electronic devices are incredibly distracting as hard as we try for them not to be. Try turning your phone on airplane mode when you are at work or putting it in another room. Another useful trick is to delete apps during the workweek that you spend too much time on. As hard as it is to limit your extracurricular screen time, not having them as distractions makes you much more productive in the long run. Also, tell your family or roommates that you are working and for them to distract you while you are busy.
9. Get those endorphins!
Working from home or just sitting at a desk all day, can make us feel as though we are idling insignificantly. Not to mention, the aches we get from sitting down for that long. Working out can include even a long walk to get your body moving and grooving. Endorphins will help you wake up and feel better about yourself. Feeling stagnant can make your day feel exhausting, and never-ending. So while it might not seem that exciting, working out and getting your muscles moving will help you be more productive.
10. Take Breaks
Breaks are incredibly important. Staring at your screen all day drains your energy. Although you might feel like you're doing good work when you're at your desk non-stop, overall, you are draining yourself. Standing up and going outside a few times a day is a great way to re-motivate and re-charge. Breaks have been shown in studies to minimize or prevent stress, improve performance throughout the day, and lessen the need for a long recuperation period at the end of the day.
11. Treat Yourself!
Treating yourself right and self-care should always take precedent. If you had a bad day at work or did poorly on an exam, do something that evening that makes you feel happy and comfortable. Doing acts like buying yourself a nice dinner boosts your mood and lessens your stress. Your mental health should come first, and knowing how to indulge, prioritizing yourself and making yourself happy are all crucial to productivity.
12. Don’t Multitask
Staying focused is challenging. Try not to multitask too much as it could easily lead to you putting in less effort into one of the tasks. Similarly, if working from home, try not to have loud background noises or to listen to music/watch tv while working. Because your brain can only focus on one item at a time, multitasking affects your efficiency and performance. When you try to do two things at the same time, your brain is unable to complete both jobs successfully.
13. Make the most of time-off
TGIF! Make sure to fill your weekends and evenings with as much fun and social activities that you can handle. Reconnecting with your circle over a nice meal is a great way to separate work from home. Make sure to enjoy your moments not spent working!
We really hope these tips prove themselves as useful. Whether you are a student, a work from home employee or in office, productivity is a special craft to master but making sure to not get too down on yourself is important too. Especially during these unprecedented times, finding motivation has been harder than ever before, so applying these tips and tricks might be a challenge to some. Plastk wants to remind everyone that productivity is always beneficial since it means you get more done with higher quality, which means you have more time to do the things you enjoy. Task completion anxiety is reduced when jobs are completed efficiently, making your job less stressful!
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Disclaimer: The content provided on the Plastk Financial Inc. Blog is information to help Canadians become financially literate and learn about credit. Plastk is not responsible for building or ruining an individual's credit score or credit rating. It is neither tax nor legal advice, is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast, research or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or to adopt any investment strategy. Tax, investment, credit inquiries, and all other decisions should be made, as appropriate, only with guidance from a qualified professional.
