Five Tips for Staying Productive While Working from Home

Whether you joined the workforce before COVID or entered during the ‘new normal,’ chances are you have experience working from home (WFH). While WFH has so many benefits, it can also have its drawbacks.

Are you someone who is unmotivated from home? Or maybe you lack the boundaries and find yourself logging on early and signing off late. Do you get distracted by household chores (which maybe occasionally include catching up on Bravo), or do the dishes pile up while you've turned your home into "the office?"

Despite working in tech, 2020 was the first time I found myself working from home—and with a four-year-old, no less. I had no boundaries, no schedule, and was flying by the seat of my pants! Over the years, however, I’ve picked up some key insights that have helped transform my WFH chaos into a more balanced, hybrid work experience. So, I’m sharing my top five work-from-home productivity tips below!

1. List your daily priorities: I break my priorities into the three areas below. First, are my non-negotiables. These are tasks that must be completed for me to move on to the next phase of my day. It's also important to note that these are not tasks you do without thought. If you are someone who naturally wakes up at 5 am or drinks plenty of water without a second thought, these tasks do not need to be on your list. Some examples for the morning may include going for a run, reading your bible, or packing your child's lunch. Then, during the day, your non-negotiables may change to reading all your emails, sharing your daily updates, or even blocking off time to eat lunch. What are things that absolutely have to get done during each portion of your day? Keep this list short and stick to it. Second, I start my day by listing my Most Important Tasks (MITs). This list is even shorter! These tasks are the day's raison d'être. If nothing else gets done, by God these two to five things will. For me, these are usually timebound tasks: I have a deadline to get a presentation done, a meeting needs to be scheduled, I must have a babysitter for the weekend. If your list starts to grow beyond five items, I encourage you to re-evaluate whether that is because you have procrastinated, you're putting too much weight on items that can be knocked out tomorrow if all else fails, or your workload is truly unmanageable. As someone dedicated to my job and accounts, it often feels that if I don't get those meeting notes recapped or respond immediately to a Slack message, I'm a failure. I'm here to remind you, that there are very few of us whose jobs are actually saving lives (and to those I admire greatly). If you can't cut down your list, ask yourself: is my job performance impacted if I do this tomorrow instead of today? If the answer is no, take it off of your MITs and put it on your To-do list. This brings me to my last priority: Daily To-dos. These are items that you'd like to accomplish. If you don't get to them, they may turn into an MIT tomorrow. Everyone knows what a to-do list is, but I'm asking you to frame it outside of your MITs and non-negotiables and see where that takes you!

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

2. Section your day: Have you heard of the separation of church and state? For us work-from-homers, we need a separation of work and life. I encourage you to section your day in a way that is meaningful to YOU. I bucket my day into "morning," "daytime," and "evening." By mentally compartmentalizing parts of my day, I'm able to manage the tasks I must accomplish during each of these times. Does that mean I can't answer an email before my "morning" phase is over? No, but it does mean some non-negotiables and MITs need to be prioritized over that email. To illustrate this, I've shared an example of how this might look for me. Now, I understand that a lot of these tasks may seem silly to list out and although these are vague for the sake of being an example, some of these "silly" things are tasks I am bad at prioritizing. So, I actually do have "Make bed" as a morning task. I do not start my work day until I complete all the tasks in my morning bucket.

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

3. Create an office: If there's one thing I've learned, it's that I need a "space" for work. Whether that's a small desk in your bedroom or a dining room table between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm (substitute your schedule), that is "workspace." Why is this important? You're able to remove yourself from this space and enjoy your lunch without having one hand on the keyboard. You're prepared to be "camera on" as needed without rushing to move around and clear off your background. You can keep all your tech accessories and pens and Post-its ready to go (even if they get tossed in a basket at the end of the workday). During my first year working from home, I utilized my rental's small dining room table for an office! And, while the wooden chair wasn't giving the skyline views and luxurious office setting of Suits or Mad Men, I did have a "work basket." This is where I kept all my must-haves to stay organized and focused during the day: colored pens, my planner, notebooks, highlighters, and even a picture frame that used to live on my desk! At the end of the workday, I'd pack away each of these items and place the basket on my bar cart until the next day.
   

4. Get dressed: Yes, this might illicit "booing" from those who love the casual state of work-from-home. But I find "getting dressed" every morning to not only help get my day going, but also put me in the mindset for "work" as opposed to lazing around the house or doing chores, and, as someone in a client-facing role, I find so much peace in knowing I'm ready to rock and roll if I'm thrown on a last minute Zoom call. As with all my tips, I encourage you to make this your own. While on my "office days," I might curl my hair and put on a full face of makeup, I usually keep things more lowkey to maximize my efficiency from home. For me, this means tinted sunscreen (because we do not skip sunscreen in this house!!), eyebrow gel, a light smattering of mascara, and a headband to give the aura of someone who tried but, in actuality, only spent about five minutes in the bathroom (including two to brush my teeth).
   

   
   

5. Evening prep: Maybe you have courteous co-workers or clients who give advance notice before throwing a meeting on your calendar. But, that's rarely been the case for me! As part of my evening routine, I review my calendar for the following day. It's important for me to know how many meetings to expect, who is attending them, what tasks are due, and when I have flexibility in my schedule. While this sounds like "work" is encroaching on my "life," this is a perfect example of how using 5-10 minutes of my time for "work" helps me find a better balance in life. This keeps me from questioning my outfit choice, encourages me to book that morning workout class, or even prompts me to schedule lunch with a friend or mentor. I wholeheartedly believe the adage that failing to plan is planning to fail, and in prepping for my day the evening before, I'm saving groggy (not morning person) me from 6 AM stress, anxiety, and confusion!

   
   
   
   

   These tips have made my WFH days both productive and fulfilling. What are some strategies that work for you at home? How long did it take to fit them into your routine? Share your tips in the comments below!