How to Keep Productive for World Productivity Day
Staying productive can be challenging, especially, when working from home, or your routine has been thrown off. When your productivity levels are affected, it can have a huge impact on your mental health, and it can cause or worsen anxiety, burn out and stress.
I have included 8 tips below that are proven to increase productivity, focus, and help you achieve your best productive life.
Make friends with routine. Routine is your ally turned best friend. As tempting as it will be to lie in, or spend the best part of the day in pyjamas or sweat pants, this will make you feel sluggish and you’ll lose most of the day before you even get started. If you’re working from home, If you’re working from home, this means that you gain an hour or two from not having to commute, so spend it wisely. Spending this time planning, meditating, or with your family will release endorphins and make you feel positive, energised and ready to face the day.
Destination workstation. Having a home office, or somewhere you can work quietly, without disruption is important. It will make you feel more focused, and will allow your brain to switch on and off from work. If you’re working from home, try and stay in one place, as this will make it easier to separate work and home life. But if you are remote working, shake things up by exploring new places to help increase creativity. And under no circumstances should you work from your bed. Your brain will start to associate your bedroom with work time, making it harder to switch off at night time, making for a disrupted, and bad night’s sleep.
No phone at home. Limit phone use during the day for personal reasons. You wouldn’t be allowed on social media in the office, so don’t do it when working remotely. Remove apps that are distracting, such as games and social media platforms, and you can reinstall them in the evenings, but try and stick to good habits. And I couldn’t recommend leaving your phone in the other room more overnight. This will give your brain breathing space to relax, and wake up.
Educate yourself. Working from home gives you a little more flexibility around the content you consume. But, rather than filling your head space with anxiety driven social media posts, use the time for personal and professional development. There are tons of free resources available. Listen to webinars, sign up to online workshops, or subscribe to a podcast, and work and learn at the same time. Your productivity levels are about to go through the roof!
Break it up. Staring at a screen all day isn’t good for anything. Regular breaks not only help your eyes, they are also good for clearing your head, reflecting and readjusting your perspective. If you are having a mental block, take a break for half an hour and give yourself some thinking time. You can return with a new outlook and may even have some new, great ideas! I also recommend regular stretching to prevent upper body stiffness, and to increase blood flow.
Eat me, drink me. Eating well is always important, but especially when working from home. Swap the packet of crisps with mixed nuts, and your third coffee for a glass of water. Bad snacking habits will make you tired and unmotivated, and too much sugar is bad for concentration levels. When remote working, rather than grab a go, try and pack a small packed lunch. This will make sure you eat healthy, and save money. Small changes in diet and hydration will leave you feeling instantly refreshed, awake and focused.
Be the person with the plan. Planning your day, or your week helps you to set achievable goals, track your success and develop new ideas. Planning is also great for emptying your mind, leaving space for thoughts and idea development. I also recommend making a ‘Not to do list’, consisting of bad habits, such as lying in, scrolling on Facebook or working from the sofa, to help you stay on track and maintain high levels of productivity. This will make you feel great at the end of the week.
Hold yourself accountable. Loneliness can creep in quickly when working from home. Naturally, we thrive in social situations, so our motivation can plummet when we are on our own. Find an accountability partner, either a friend, colleague or family member, to help keep each other on track, to manage each other's mental health and check in with each other. Having someone you can talk to, and someone who understands will keep you going, even on the worst days.
Overall, working from home or remote working does have its ups and downs, and pros and cons. But what’s imperative, is that you get up, show up and mo
Written by Hayley Smith
I am the Director of Boxed Out PR, a PR company specialising in lifestyle PR, and working with purposeful companies. I am also the Deputy Head of PR of Pride in London, and I run FlowAid, campaigning for free sanitary products for homeless women and I sit on a task force to tackle period poverty in the UK. I am an Elle UK female entrepreneur 23 under 30, and was Amor Magazine's 30 Under 30 in 2018. I am a TEDx speaker.