15 MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY STEPS FOR SUCCESS
by: Remie Longbrake | published: February 12, 2023
Between mid-March and mid-May 2020, the percentage of U.S. employees working from home more than doubled, from 31% to 65%. That’s over 100 million more people working from home. And guess what? People prefer it. According to a recent survey from Gallup, “more than half of at-home workers say they would prefer to continue working remotely as much as possible once restrictions on businesses and school closures are lifted.” And according to the same survey, the majority of leaders and managers
say they’ll let their employees work remotely more often as a result of this experience.
Bottom line? Remote work is going to become the next normal—even as we move past the pandemic.
Since working from home is here to stay, it would be helpful to have a guide to help you stay focused and productive… Which is why I put this step-by-step guide for you. It’s filled with tips and strategies for boosting= work-from-home motivation and productivity.
So let’s get started!
1. Each day, write down your most important tasks
Refer to your master list to make your daily list. Then, get to work, starting with your highest priority task (which is often the one you least want to do). Keep your list with you and in plain view, checking your tasks off as you complete them. This will motivate you and give you a sense of control and accomplishment over your day.
If you want to add some structure to your list, use my 1–2–5 list-making method to prioritize your daily list in the following way: One Big Thing (OBT), 2 Medium Things (2MT) and 5 Little Things (5LT). Having a list is like having a second brain. And the structure that comes from knowing what needs to get done and how important each of those things is will provide you with focus. At a minimum, decide on one big thing you must accomplish today no matter what. Start your day with this and don’t let go until you’re done.
Yes—of course, you have more than one thing to do. You can get to everything else after you’ve crushed your one big thing for the day.
2. Make your list actionable
When you’re writing out your list of things to do, make them actionable by adding verbs: instead of writing, “Nora’s birthday gift,” write “Select and order Stacey’s birthday gift on Amazon.” Instead of writing, “Report,” write, “Complete page one of report.”
In addition to that, include how long you expect to spend on the task off to the side in parenthesis or write it into the task itself: “Spend 30 minutes writing page one of report.”
3. Use time blocking
If you don’t control your time, your time will control you… That’s why time blocking is the single most effective productivity tool in your arsenal. Time blocking is the productivity practice of plugging everything you need to get done on a given day into a time-slot on your calendar. When you’re working from home, it might be even more important to use time blocking to schedule your day, because you’re the only one holding yourself accountable.
Here’s how it works: You divide your day into blocks of time. Each time block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task, or a group of related tasks—like those you might find under a big project with lots of action items.
The purpose of time blocking is to keep you focused on working on the
specific tasks you’ve blocked away time to work on—and only those tasks.
4. Set regular working hours
Do yourself a favor: set regular working hours for yourself. And stick with those hours as much as possible. You want to be able to train yourself to develop the habit of being productive while working from home. Setting regular hours will help you do that.
Also, your family will eventually begin to understand you’re serious about keeping a structured schedule—even while working from home—and they’ll eventually learn to respect your schedule enough not to disturb you during those hours. If you work with teams of people, let them know what your working hours are, and set “away” notifications on your group collaboration programs if you feel others might benefit from knowing you’re away from your desk at the moment.
5. Exercise
Speaking of managing your energy—there’s no better way to boost it than exercise. If you’re an adult, exercise is not optional. It’s a must. It’ll reduce your stress, increase your energy, and give you a sense of wellbeing. Not to mention, you’ll live longer. Exercise at least three days a week.
6. Manage your energy
When you work on the most important thing on your agenda when you have the least amount of energy, your results will suffer. But it’s what most people do. They piss away their most productive hours by scrolling social media, ordering shit on Amazon, and checking email. Stop that. Identify your Peak Performance Period (PPP)—which is a 3—5 hour window when you have the highest amount of energy, willpower, motivation and mental clarity. This is the time of day when you should be working on your most important stuff. My PPP is in the morning, between 7:00AM — 12PM. Yours will differ, but it’s important to figure it out because it’ll have a major impact on your success regardless of what you do.
7. Remember to stay inspired
The best way to maintain work-at-home motivation is to keep your WHY front and center. Your WHY is your purpose—it’s the reason you do the work you do. My WHY is to inspire and empower people everywhere so that they can improve their lives and achieve their goals.
8. Use daily rituals
The startup ritual primes your mind to crush the day. The shut-down ritual helps you ease-out of the workday. Examples of startup rituals are things like: going for a walk before starting your work, journaling,
envisioning your day, saying affirmations, or engaging in a healthy morning routine at home prior to beginning your work. The goal is to prime your mind to get into work-mode, which is something that can be especially challenging while working from home.
Another challenge for people, is transitioning from “work” to “home” when your work and your home are under the same roof. Having a regular shutdown ritual can help ease you out of work-mode. I like to shut my laptop, shout out “I’m done” and then go change my clothes. Whichever way you do it, having a start-up + shut-down ritual can help you create a nice mental distinction between “working” at home and “being” at home.
9. Implement systems
There are two types of systems: 1) habit systems and 2) automated systems.
- Habit systems: These types of systems are rituals or routines that help you attain your long-term goals or maintain ongoing goals. This includes things like working out at the same time each day, spending 10 minutes meditating, taking a quick stretch break every hour, or setting a 10-minute timer to quickly tidy-up your workspace. It also includes things like blocking off 3 hours in the morning to do deep work, or having a designated day of the week to take meetings and return phone calls. Design and develop systems and habits around a few key areas of your life and put those actions on autopilot.
- Automated systems: These types of systems are about automating tasks to save time. If you lead or manage teams or employees, think about recurring tasks you might be able to systemize or automate. For example, I record a lot of audio content—audiobooks and audio summaries, podcast episodes and other audio training content—and I’ve got a specific way in which I like to have all that audio content edited. Since I hate doing the editing myself, I hire people to do it for me. But every time I hire a new audio producer/editor to help me with this process, I need to teach them exactly how I like to have my audio content edited and delivered. This means I need to block out at least two hours to teach them exactly what to do, and then subsequently make myself available for the inevitable flurry of follow-up questions my new hire will have later on. This really isn’t a good use of my time.
10. Think action first
Keep that in mind when you don’t feel inspired or when you’re experiencing a lack of motivation. When you feel tired, or uninspired, it can be easy to toss your hands up in the air and say, “Screw it, I’ll get to
this later”. And to then go play with the kids. Or proceed to binge-watch Breaking Bad— or Tiger King—on Netflix. When you feel the impulse to procrastinate, count down from five and take immediate action. Once you start moving, the motivation will follow… But if you remain static, you’ll remain sluggish. And if you remain sluggish, you won’t succeed.
11. Imagining your future self
Here’s a quick tip to help you beat procrastination while working from home—or while working from anywhere for that matter: Ask yourself what your future self would think if you procrastinate today.
How does procrastinating today, impact you tomorrow?
Learn to lean-in to the temporary pain of discipline today, so that you can enjoy the long-term rewards down the road.
12. Use a do not disturb sign
Distractions are expensive—every time you’re distracted from something you’re working on, it takes 20ish minutes to regain your focus when you return to work. Do yourself a favor and make yourself distraction-resistant by shutting your office door and putting a post-it note or sign of some kind on the outside of it that tells your family or any other potential disturbers that you can’t be disrupted from X time to X time.
I’d also suggest placing a pen and pad of post-its or a notepad outside your door with clearly written instructions, informing a potential disturber that you need to focus until Whatever-O’clock, and cannot be disturbed until then. Ask them to use the notepad to leave you a message if they’d like to. Let them know you’ll get to it when you’re free.
13. Take regular breaks
Grab a timer and take a 5-minute break every 30 minutes, or a 10-minute break every hour. It’s not as much about the length of time between your breaks, as it is about taking the breaks themselves.
5 minutes to stand, stretch, and drink a glass of water can do wonders for your focus and productivity.
14. Check email no more than 3 times per day
Unless it’s part of your job description to be in constant contact, then you don’t need to be in constant contact. Assistants, secretaries, technical support staff—email is integral to roles like these.
Everyone else: check email no more than 3 times a day. The best way to do this is to create blocks of time in your calendar in which you’ll check and respond to emails.
15. Find an accountability partner
When you have a workout partner or a trainer to hold you accountable, you’re more likely to workout when you don’t want to. Implementing this idea in the workplace works the same way: find someone to log into Zoom with and it’ll help you stay in your seat—and stay focused as a result.
If you’re an employee, business owner, or an entrepreneur, you can use these tips to boost your own focus and productivity. If you’re a leader or manager of teams, you can use this guide for both you and your team.
Stay focused!