Top Tips on How to be Productive when Working From Home

In order to be your most productive self when working from home, being mindful of how you focus your time and attention is the key to success. 

In today’s world, many people are unknowingly addicted to distraction, yet the impact distraction can have on your productivity can be catastrophic. 

Do you wake up and reach straight for your phone? 

You are not alone, 80% of us reach for our phone within 15 minutes of waking up. 

But by checking notifications on your phone right after waking means you won’t be your most productive self for the rest of the day. 

“The information overload that hits you before you’re fully awake interferes with your ability to prioritize tasks.” Says Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi. 

In other words, you are priming your brain for distraction for the rest of the day. 

Although social media, email and messaging apps on phones have many benefits, being mindful about your use of social media and dedicating time to check notifications will make a huge difference to your productivity. 

Apps such as Facebook have been specifically designed to work in a way that keeps you going back for more. Things like retweets, likes, and notifications cause the addictive feel-good hormone, dopamine, to be released in the human brain. 

“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works and I feel tremendous guilt,” Says Facebook’s former Vice President, Chamath Palihapitiya. 

So, how does this affect productivity? 

Well, on average, we experience an interruption every 8 minutes. In an eight hour day, that is about 60 interruptions. 

“Each time you get distracted it takes the brain 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to your original concentration,” says Gloria Mark, who studies digital distraction at the University of California. 

This means you are never working to your full potential and is why constant interruption is known to have the same effect as losing a whole night’s sleep in terms of how you focus and concentrate. 

The first step is to become more aware of these habits so you can develop strategies to change them. Whether you feel the need to reply to an email instantly or check your notifications every 10 minutes, you can proactively train your brain to work differently in time. 

“Being more productive starts with stopping behaviours that are holding you back.” 

The myth that lowers IQ by three times the level of smoking cannabis. 

While multitasking is looked at as a great skill to have, it’s just a myth. The human brain isn’t designed to work on two tasks at the same time, or even switch tasks very quickly. 

Although it may make you feel quite good and as though you are getting more done, the false sense of accomplishment is caused by the brain reacting to a new task by giving you a shot of dopamine. 

In actuality, multitasking causes your productivity to be cut by 40 percent, whilst also temporarily lowering your IQ to three times of someone who smokes cannabis. 

This will cause you to make 50% more errors and take you 50% longer to complete a single task.

The most productive way to work is to batch certain tasks together and focus on one batch at a time. For example, instead of replying to emails as they come in throughout the day, set a time slot to dedicate to this one task. 

Each time you switch task it takes approximately 25 minutes to get back to your full concentration and so if you are sporadically replying to emails throughout the day, you are never using your time well. 

The two-minute method for major productivity. 

Higher productivity doesn’t come from constant grind but comes from greater concentration. The world’s largest study on rest conducted by phycology expert and author of the art of rest, Claudia Hammond, found that including two minutes of rest a few times into your day will allow your brain to have higher levels of concentration for at least an hour after. 

Rest can be different for everyone but the top five include;
– Laying your head back on your chair and closing your eyes for two minutes.
– Looking out the window.
– Stretching
– Having a hot drink.
– Listening to some calm music.

(Things like reading or looking online doesn’t count as this can be counterproductive.) 

How to double or triple your chance of success. 

No matter what your intentions or how motivated you are, motivation is short-lived. If you actually want to get things done, you need to plan exactly when and how you are going to work on them. 

An incredible amount of studies have proven that deciding in advance EXACTLY how, when & where you will take specific actions to reach your goal can double or triple your chances for success. 

Now, of course, no matter what plan you set, sometimes things that are out of our control can crop up in life, but there are certain things you can include that would otherwise throw you off track. 

For example, shopping for, and preparing meals for the week ahead on a Sunday and then, each night noting down exactly what you are going to do at what times the next day. 

Above all, although you are working from home, it’s still nice to keep to a routine as much as possible with set work hours and a normal morning routine. 

Throughout the day, take a walk outside in the fresh air and try to keep your workplace separate from where you wind down, as this allows you the separation time. 

Another really great thing to do for your mental wellbeing is to join some online communities such as the female entrepreneur association and all be there for each other through this time. 

Love is the answer, right? 

Words by Sarah Jane Nyman 

The post Top Tips on How to be Productive when Working From Home appeared first on Female Entrepreneur Association.

from Female Entrepreneur Association https://femaleentrepreneurassociation.com/2020/04/top-tips-on-how-to-be-productive-when-working-from-home/