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Are you working on being more productive at home? After working from home, and for myself exclusively for the past year, I have picked up some simple tricks to be more productive at home!
With all the distractions that come from being at home, sometimes it can be hard to sit down and get right to work!
So in this blog post, I’m going over 6 simple things that I do to be more productive at home!
Before you get into the tips, enter your email below for a free daily planner!
1- Be specific about your tasks.
It’s important that you are specific about the tasks you have on your to-do list. You don’t just want to write down “work on blog”. That’s way too vague and can be overwhelming.
How do you know when to cross “work on blog” off your list? Do you just respond to comments and consider that done? Write an entire blog post? Do general blog maintenance?
A task this vague and large may also overwhelm you, making it harder to get started and killing your productivity.
To help yourself be more productive, make the tasks easier by breaking them down. So, “work on blog” turns into:
- Respond to comments
- Update plugins
- Outline one blog post
Now you know exactly what you need to do, and it becomes easier to know when to cross those things off your list!
2- Do your hardest task first.
Procrastination is something we all do. And one of the things we usually put off till “later” is the hardest task on our list. And usually “later” turns into “never” or “right before it’s due”.
So in order to make your life more simple, choose the hardest task first. It sounds like a simple and obvious thing to do, but of course, it’s more difficult to actually do.
But, if you use the first method to break down the task at hand into smaller bite-sized tasks, it may make it a little bit more manageable to do.
What I tend to do, and I’m sure many others do this as well, is we don’t worry about just step one of the tasks, we also think about steps 2-8. Which overwhelms us and makes us want to put the task off till a later date.
So in order to be more productive, do the hardest task first, break it down into steps and then you can focus on everything else that’s easier later!
3- Track the time your work.
If you work from home, it can be hard to know when it’s time to start work, and end work. It can also be difficult to know when it’s time to put one task down and work on another.
If you tend to have a long to-do list but find yourself hyper-focusing on one task all day long and not having time for any of the others, it may be time to track your day.
I use a technique called the Pomodoro Technique to time track my day. You work in short, 25-minute bursts and take 5-minute breaks in between. Once you work 4 “Pomodoros” then, take a longer break.
The times you work and break can be adjusted to fit your needs.
I find this really helpful because I either work for too long on a task or can’t get myself to focus at all. So if one thing you struggle with is getting started or focusing on tasks like I do, this method may also help you out too.
Because if you don’t feel like getting started, you can set a timer for just 5 minutes.
Try to get yourself working a short amount of time and see how you feel after. Chances are, you’ll likely be able to work for long after that!
I highly recommend using this method, and even downloading a free app to help you keep track! I have one on my phone and I love it!
4- Have a morning routine.
Your mornings set your mood for the whole day, so having a morning routine is probably the most important thing you can do.
You can either write it down and keep track in a bullet journal or somewhere similar, or you can just follow a plan in your head.
I personally like to write down my routines so I don’t forget any steps of it, and then I can check off each task as it’s done.
This will help you be more productive by getting you into the right mindset to start your day! If you need help getting started with a morning routine, check out these 64 ideas I wrote about here!
5- Schedule a day for each task.
If you want to be super productive, batch your work and schedule out days for tasks you do often.
For example, if you write a blog post a week, schedule that out to sit down and write every Monday. Every Tuesday, respond to comments. Every Sunday, create pins and social media content.
Whatever tasks take a long time and that you do each and every week, create a set day to do them! This will help you plan everything into a schedule, get into a solid routine, and help you be more productive!
Because you won’t need to spend time each day thinking about what you want to do if it’s already planned into your weekly schedule!
6- Use a planner of some sort.
In order to be more productive and keep track of to-do lists and important tasks, make sure you have some sort of organizational system. This can come in the form of a digital planner, checklist, app, or physical planner.
I recommend trying out a few different methods for tracking what you need to do, so you can see what really works best for you. For some, it will be time-blocking in Google Calendar, others may like to use a to-do list phone app. For me, I prefer a physical planner.
Everyone keeps track of important tasks differently, and you may not know which one you like just yet! However, don’t use a mixture of these methods all at once.
If you decide to use Google Calendar and a regular planner all at the same time, you may end up leaving yourself more confused than when you started! Too many tracking methods can mean you’ll leave an important date in one, forget to write it on the other, and miss an important deadline!
So take one method, try it out, and if you like it stick with it!
Conclusion
I hope you found these 6 simple methods helpful in making your day more productive! Time management and using methods to be more productive take time to figure out.
Everyone has different ways to be more productive, so don’t be discouraged if these don’t work for you right away!
Make sure you keep at them and modify them as needed to fit what works for you!
Starting a new habit, like being more productive, can be difficult to do at first, so don’t give up!
About the author: Hey! My name is Sarah, I’m a blogger and YouTuber over at Sarah Marie. I blog about productivity, mindset, manifestation, and blogging tips! On my YouTube channel, I mainly cover social media and Pinterest marketing! You can find me at my socials here: Blog, YouTube, Twitter
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