Last Updated on March 24, 2020 by christinabtv

5 Hacks For Instant Productivity While Working From Home. So you’re working from home, now? So many Americans are now faced with challenges like working from home, finding toilet paper, and trusting others not to get them sick. I can’t help much with the toilet paper (have you tried Amazon?) but I can help with ways to find productivity while working from home!

Here’s the thing- I use to be beyond disorganized when it came to productivity at home. Between my full time job and my online work (blog, youtube, Instagram) it can be VERY overwhelming. I was spinning my wheels and getting nowhere.

So I learned how to be productive. It’s really about creating new habits and getting organized. I’m still a work in progress but these are the 5 things that changed my productivity by ten-fold.

5 Hacks For Instant Productivity While Working From Home

It Starts With A Pen and Pad

Organization is key to being efficient and productive. I recommend using some type of agenda or calendar. There are electronic calendars on your phone that you can use. Personally, I like to write things down on paper. I love agenda’s that keep me on track.

Get Organized based on need:

My favorite agenda (helps with visualization and yearly goals. Based on the Law of Attraction)
Best budget/finance agenda
Fitness/Food agenda
Agenda Inserts (I use this to customize my Louis Vuitton agenda)

There’s Actually No Such Thing As Multitasking

I know, you’ve heard all your life of this multitasking system. Studies have shown it doesn’t work. The brain prefers to do one thing at a time. When you work on one specific task at hand and really focus on that your brain becomes “hyperfocused” and you become more productive.

So how do you prevent yourself from only accomplishing just one thing each day? This is where scheduling and self-discipline come into play. Create a schedule (This notepad summarizes everything on one page!) In your schedule create time blocks for tasks. If you think it’s going to take you one hour to answer and draft emails then give yourself one hour to do so on your schedule. After one hour, move on to the next item on your schedule.

If you do similar tasks in the same day, you will get more done

Who would’ve thought? When planning out your day or week in advance create a “brain dump.” This is where you write down everything you need to do. After this is complete, you can begin organizing those tasks into groups. Similar tasks should be put together and this is called “batching.”

For example, if I need to film a video I don’t just film one video. I batch together usually 3 videos and knock them all out in one sitting. Why? Because my brain is hyperfocused and is in “video making mode.” The same for creating blog posts. If I give myself 2 hours on my schedule for blog posts I don’t stop when one is completed. I create and draft as many blog posts I can at once.

Switching from different tasks creates confusion. Batch similar tasks and get better results.

Figure Out What Time You Do Your Best Work

Whenever you are most “on it” and most creative that’s the time you should be scheduling your most difficult task. Save the mundane tasks for when you have less energy.

For me, I’m most creative in the morning. I have a fresh head space. I like to knock out my to do list first thing in the morning, before lunch time. After lunch, I may be more mentally fatigued. Saving easier tasks for the afternoon is better for me. For example: emails, routine tasks like Pinterest scheduling, house chores like laundry etc.

Focus your most energetic time on the 20% of tasks that yield 80% of results.

Pick Your Top 3 Tasks That Must Get Done

A hack that I love and that works really well for me is to pick 3 tasks that MUST get done. It can even be a personal task (like if I don’t do laundry today I won’t have clean underwear).

So here is my process:

Pull out my agenda (while drinking my morning coffee)
Brain dump everything that needs to get done within the next few days
Organize my brain dump by similar tasks (so I can batch them)
Pick my top 3 tasks that need to get done that day and write them at the top
Create my schedule for the day making sure that I’m allotting time for the top 3 tasks
Making sure I’m putting my most creative tasks in the morning when I’m most energetic
Leaving more mundane tasks (Pinterest, emails, laundry) in the late afternoon when my brain is fried

You can even do your schedule the night before so that when you wake up in the morning you hit the ground running.

Don’t forget to add things to your schedule that need to get done but may not be work related i.e cooking, cleaning, laundry, gym. Or give yourself half a day every week to get all of this completed. For example: Wednesday from 2-5pm you are going to do laundry, meal prep, and clean the kitchen (see how I batched those similar items). Schedule it in a way that works for you!

Before You Go..Last Minute Tips

Schedule yourself a 30 minute to 1 hour lunch. It’s important that you eat and recharge.
Take small breaks throughout the day. Set a timer so you don’t get lost in time. Use that time to decompress by checking Instagram, or doing something for 5-10 minutes that makes you feel good (stretching, playing with your dogs, online shopping).
Not everything on your to do list will get complete. That’s ok. Your top 3 priorities are what you need to focus on. Move the items from your to do list that did not get completed to the next day and re-prioritize. Do this everyday.
This is trial and error. Don’t give up. Figure out which tips work for you and that you can utilize to make your days more productive!

Everything takes time to learn. It took me a really long time to get a hang of being productive (and I’m still learning). You will get there!

Check out my other posts about goals and productivity.

xoxo,

Christina

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