10 Ways to Improve Work From Home Productivity

Aug 30

BY MICHELLE KNIGHT

This is for you if you have found yourself working from home.

Maybe it was by choice. Maybe you decided to become an entrepreneur and set out on this great, big, beautiful adventure of working for yourself.

Maybe it was not by choice. Maybe it just happened, in the year 2020, in which you found yourself suddenly working from home.

Today, I want to talk about how to remain productive when you work from home, in the midst of the chaos. Especially if you have children and the distractions and all of the things.

I've been doing this for five years now, and I have a few things to say, specially 10 ways to improve your productivity while working from home.

MY WORK-FROM-HOME EXPERIENCE

A little backstory on my work-from-home-experience: I left my nine-to-five in 2016 to start my own business, which is this one here, Brandmerry.

At the time, I was at home with my son. It was just him and me as I was growing my business every single day of every single week so that we could replace my income and get it to where it is today.

So I know a thing or two about working from home with a baby, with a toddler, and now with a kiddo.

Now, I will be 100% transparent with you. Our lives have changed a lot in the last five years.

My husband is now home with us full-time as I was able to retire him from his job. So now my day-to-day looks very, very different. In fact, I am very rarely interrupted, which is kind of nice.

But I remember what it was like back in the days.

I've also found that it's actually a little harder to be productive today, and that is because now I've got a full eight hours.

Which I know, I'm sorry. If you don't have that, please don't be mad at me.

I was once where you are now.

But I have a full eight hours to work on my business every single day. When this first started, when we moved from living in our RV full-time, where I was juggling Wi-Fi and new locations, and moving around, to spending our time in our apartment, I struggled a lot.

I found that I was actually struggling to get things done because I had too much time. That when I used to have to focus on two-hour increments in the morning, in between nap time and after dinner, that I was able to actually be more productive.

That actually is a reference to Parkinson's Law, which says that we fill the space, so we will come up with a million things to do and a million different distractions if we've got the time to do it.

So I want to share with you ten ways to increase productivity.

Whether you've got a little-bitty pocket every single day to work on your business, or you're working from home for eight, maybe nine, if you're an entrepreneur, hours every single day, here are 10 ways to make sure that you are showing up as your most efficient self.

TEN WAYS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY WHEN WORKING FROM HOME

Number One: Create a Big Picture Goal

I talk about big-picture planning in this video right here, where I map out how to plan six months at a time in your business.

One of the things that I talk about in this video, as well as any of the yearly trainings that I host for my paying clients, is that you've got to start with the big picture.

You really have to understand what you're working towards. That's going to help you determine all the small things that you need to do to get there. If you don't know what you're working towards, then you'll sit in the overwhelm of "What do I need to do? What task is next, what requires my focus,” over and over again.

And you're going to find that you're actually not doing the things that are going to get you to the end result.

So I always recommend that you're super clear on the big-picture goal.

Maybe for you as an entrepreneur, that is the amount of money that you want to make for the year, the revenue for your business.

Maybe if you're working a nine-to-five, it's just your quarterly goals that you've set out with your supervisor.

Or if you're working on a project, maybe that project over the next 30 days is the big goal.

Regardless, you want to know that the actions that you're taking every day are ultimately leading to something. That's going to really help you in the little microplanning that is necessary for productivity.

Number Two: Have 3 Main Goals Every Week

The second thing that I recommend is a piggyback off of the first one, and that is to have three main goals every single week. Now, if the shit hits the fan, then you know that if you've done those three things, you've shown up as the best version of yourself.

Productivity does not mean just pushing and pushing and doing and doing. It means being efficient and doing the most productive things that are going to move you closer to your goals.

So when you're focused every week on three core elements, you'll feel good at the end of the week when things might not go as planned.

I recommend planning out your three core pieces every single week before the week even starts, which leads me to tip number three: prep your week on Sunday.

I absolutely swear by this.

Number Three: Prep Your Week on Sunday

Every single Sunday, I sit down with my Google Calendar, I look at my calendar on my wall, and I go into my task-management software, which you can use even if you're not an entrepreneur, and I look at what is happening that week.

When do I have calls?
When am I recording content?
When do I have meetings with my team?
What are some of the goals that I have for the week?
What big projects am I working on?
When am I going to work out?
When do I have an infrared sauna planned?
When do I have things on the schedule with my family?

Everything. I want to know what is happening that week. What that allows me to do is really kind of head in with a great mind space and I can also move things around based on my schedule.

For instance, if I thought that I was going to record a bunch of content one week, and then some of my clients were like, "Hey, we really need a session," I'm not going to have the capacity to record a bunch of content and show up and serve my clients at the highest level, so I want to rearrange my schedule to fit what's going on so that I can, once again, be my most productive and happy self.

So I spend every single Sunday looking at my calendar and planning out what's going to happen that week.

If there are gaps and spaces, I might plan something fun for myself like a pool day, infrared sauna, plan my workouts, all those different things.

You can even go as far as something I've been doing lately which is actually writing out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and my main goals for each day, which is incredibly helpful.

Number Four: Use a Task Management Tool

Now, this is really popular with entrepreneurs and small-business owners because you're the one that is saying, "This is what we're doing every week, and this is how often I need to check in on my accounting and this is what I need to do this."

A task-management software is really great at setting up recurring tasks and deadlines. But I’ve got to be honest, even if you're not an entrepreneur starting your own business, I recommend using this just in your day-to-day life.

I started doing this when we were traveling in our RV, which we did from 2019 until 2020.

I would plan out where we were going and the things that I needed to do for each of those locations. I use task management for when we need to pay bills, when we have recurring tasks on automate, dentists, all those different things. I set them up in my task-management planner so I don't forget about them.

So whether you are running your own business, which this is non-negotiable, you need a task-management planner or you're not and you just want to organize your day-to-day, I highly, highly recommend. You don't know what you don't know, and there's a lot floating around in your head, probably, that is really bogging you down and making you feel overwhelmed.

So I'm a big fan of just getting all of that out into a task-management planner, maybe into an idea dump, and assigning it later so it's not just living in your head and popping up every once in a while, distracting you. You've got it scheduled. You've got a plan in place.

The task management planner that I love to use is called ClickUp.

Number Five: Use Your Calendar

Use your calendar, please.

Now, you might be like, "Michelle, you're using a task-management calendar and a regular calendar?" I absolutely am.

My regular calendar is to make sure that those priorities, the calls that I have with my clients, the doctor's appointments, the infrared sauna, my workouts, happy hour with the girls, are all on my calendar. That is the priority.

That's what I look at first for the week.

Then I schedule all my individual tasks in between them. So I am a big fan of utilizing your Google Calendar, making sure that the things that you need to do are on there. And honestly, I find that my Google Calendar best serves me in making sure that I am taking care of myself, that I'm scheduling the things that are important for my well-being, which make me the most productive version of myself.

If you're running on empty, there's no way that you're going to be able to show up as the best version of yourself.

There's no way that you're going to be able to show up and be productive in the work that you're doing.

You've got to take care of yourself. It’s one of the most important parts of being productive with the work that you're doing.

I will use my calendar to schedule my workouts every day.
I use it to schedule individual things that I'm doing, chiropractor visits, family time.

Yes, I put family time and date night on my calendar because if I don't, I'll schedule something else to go there, and then I'll be mad at myself.

Use your calendar. Embrace it. You all have one. You've got it on your phone, got it on a tablet, got it on a computer, got it on your watch, maybe you like a physical planner.

Just make sure that you're scheduling that time: that priority time, the time that you're taking care of yourself.

Number Six: Set Some Boundaries

Speaking of taking care of yourself, you need to set some boundaries, boo.

Oh my gosh, I am not going to say this is the easiest thing. In fact, I'm not even going to promise you that I'm going to help you all set your boundaries here.

I actually have an entire podcast about it, on the Beautiful Climb podcast.

But if you want to get anything done, if you want to take time for yourself, want to get your work done at home, you need to set boundaries: most likely, specifically with your family.

Let's just be honest, right? Whether you've got your spouse, your partner, your roommate, your parents, your kids, you need to set boundaries.

I remember in 2020, when we moved from our RV into my parents' house temporarily, before moving into this apartment, we were trying to juggle, "Do we go back out on the road? What is happening?" And I had to set some boundaries with my parents.

I was like, "I'm working right now. Don't open that door."

It doesn't matter if they're older than you or younger than you, you need to set clear boundaries.

Now, this is going to come from experience. It's going to take time. I remember when I first started my business, my son was really young. I mean, he was like eight months old, so I couldn't really explain to him what boundaries were.

But I started putting these boundaries in place with myself, reminding myself that it was important to have uninterrupted time, that he was totally okay playing on the floor with toys while I wrote an email, I didn't need to hold him every five seconds. Or sometimes, I'd even put them on my back during nap time, if he was fussy, and stand and write an email. But it was all about me really understanding that I needed the time to work on my business, to do the tasks at hand, and also take care of myself.

So even today, my husband is home full-time with us and I have very clear boundaries in place of, "I need uninterrupted time in the morning so I can work out." My son is old enough now to understand that you don't interrupt Mommy when she's on the Peloton. So, he lies on the floor next to me. Will read a book. Pretends to be an Avenger in the same room.

And these boundaries only come from our next tip, which is communicating.

Number Seven: Communicate

You've got to communicate what you want. If you need the space to work on your business, if you need uninterrupted time if you need time to take care of yourself, first, schedule it.

Make it a priority, and then have conversations with the people that you love, that you need that time, whether that's uninterrupted or minimized interruptions.

As someone who's been working at home with their son for a very long time, I'm going to say accidents happen. But the majority of the time, we understand when I've got coaching calls or I'm recording a podcast, that we've got these clear boundaries in place.

And you know what? This is helpful not just for the productivity of your work, but for relationships overall.

So make sure that you're clear on the boundaries that you need to set and then communicate with the ones that you love.

They don't know if you don't tell them. Don't assume that they know.

And sit down and have these conversations. Say, "This is what we're working towards," circle back to the big picture. "This is the time that I need to do X, Y, and Z. Thank you so much, how can I return the favor?"

Number Eight: Get Ready Every Single Day

Please get ready, every single day.

I have clothes on right now. They're not the fanciest clothes. They're not a button-down shirt and some trousers and some shoes. I don't wear shoes at home, but I'm not in my pajamas. I'm not in yoga pants.

I love you, I do. I know that you are so comfy in your yoga pants, but you might be too comfy.

You've got to get yourself dressed. This is one of the easiest productivity tips ever.

I have a rule that I put on pants with a button or a dress. I very rarely wear dresses, so it's mostly pants with a button. Those can be really comfy shorts with a button, nice jeans with a button.

But I'm putting myself into the mindset of "Get shit done."

If I'm in my loungewear, if I'm in my baggy sweater and I'm really, really comfy, I'm just going to be kind of there. Kind of focused, kind of not, super chill.

We've got to elevate our energy a little bit, which is one of the reasons I love working out before I start my day, but I also love to get dressed.

Again, I'm not saying to do your hair, do your makeup, do the whole thing.

Really, all I'm saying is put on pants with a button 🤣

Number Nine: Minimize Distractions

Now, I know that you are going to have these boundaries in place. You're going to communicate with the ones that you love, and you're going to start to minimize some distractions.

But you most likely distract yourself more than anyone ever will.

You have tabs open, you are on Facebook. That Facebook tab is always open. You are scrolling Instagram every time you have a quick break. You're checking in on something because you have notifications on. You're checking your email every 10 minutes.

You are distracting yourself.

Set clear boundaries with yourself. This is going to help you laser in and focus on the task that you're doing.

I run my entire business online. The only way that I get clients is through online marketing, yet I am only on social media once, twice max, every single day. I do not keep my Facebook tab open. I do not have Facebook notifications set on my phone. I do not have Instagram notifications set on my phone. They will distract me. That notification comes in, I'm going to stop what I'm doing and be like, "Oh, what's going on?"

I have zero notifications. I don't even have email notifications on my phone because I have very specific times throughout the day where I'm checking my email.

If you're really stressed out about this, put an "away" message up that says, "I only check my email this time and this time. I will be getting back to you within 24 to 48 hours."

It's amazing when you set these boundaries for yourself that you're going to notice that you're able to focus even more.

A really great exercise is to write down, as you're going through your day-to-day over the next two or three days, every time you're distracted. And then figure out ways where you can minimize those distractions so you can really focus on what you need to do.

Number Ten: Change Your Scenery

You already have all the other things in place and you're still sitting there like, "Michelle, I have my button pants on. I've minimized distractions, but I'm not feeling the creative juices."

Change your scenery.

I learned about this one kind of on accident with my son when he was little. I noticed that if I was trying to work and he was fussy, we were just battling the entire time.

And when I would change our scenery, when we went for a walk and I’d record an email that I wanted to write or we’d grab a snack and play outside in the grass so I could plan my schedule or we’d spend our day at the coffee shop so he could play and I’d sit and work.

Anytime that I shifted our scenery, I found that our energy shifted, which meant our productivity shifted.

Don't keep pushing your head against the wall over and over again, trying to focus. Sometimes, just go outside.

I really loved this when we started traveling full-time when we would go to a different place, and I loved it because I noticed that every time we went to a new location, the scenery would reignite me.

It's one of the reasons I love traveling. Anytime I'm kind of in a slump, creatively, I'm like, "Let's book a trip." I know that that's not possible for everyone, just at the drop of a hat, so just consider going for a walk, going outside, going to the coffee shop. Go to a wine bar and work. Order a salad and a glass of wine and get some shit done.

CONCLUSION

I hope that this was incredibly helpful for you. I know it was a lot of information. There were 10 tips to increase productivity.

I hope that most of them were new to you, things that you've never tried, and ones that you're eager to get started on today.

And remember, I don't believe that productivity is just working yourself into the ground. It's being the most effective and the most efficient at what you're doing.

And what you're doing is moving you towards your goals.

Sometimes that looks like your priority and where you want to be your most productive is self-care, and sometimes that looks like it's what you're doing with your work.

If you are an online entrepreneur thinking of starting your own business, I'd love to invite you to check out my free marketing class, where I'm actually teaching you how to be more productive with your content creation and with your marketing without relying on social media because as I mentioned, it’s very distracting.

Go to brandmerry.com/marketing to check that out and watch your free training.

P.S. Have you tuned in to The Brandmerry podcast? I release new episodes every Thursday on topics around branding and marketing! Check out past episodes and be sure to subscribe at brandmerry.com/podcast