I am not an expert at productivity. Not even close. I struggle with this all the time. However, I have found a few things that help me be more productive and I hope they help you too.
Most of these tips would be applicable to someone who works from home, because let's face it, it's difficult to get stuff done when there's a kitchen to clean and laundry to do. However, these tips would be helpful to anyone trying to be more productive.
1. Start your day early
It's important to wake up at a reasonable time. I notice that when I get up relatively early I get more done than I do when I sleep in. It is so easy to constantly hit snooze, but it ruins my productivity. I am not a morning person, at all, but I like to challenge myself to get up early and start my day off right. I get a lot more done when I do.
2. Get dressed for the day
This may sound silly, like of course I'm going to get dressed, however, I don't mean putting on some yoga pants and a tee shirt. I'm talking getting ready for the day. This means showering, putting on presentable clothes and doing your makeup, if that's what makes you feel good. This will make you feel better and feel like it's time to work. I notice that when I get ready for the day I get a lot more work done. It's easy to wear sweatpants and a tee shirt when you're working from home, but it's important not to. Dress as though you are meeting friends for lunch. Whatever makes you feel good is what will make you want to be more productive.
3. Have a designated work area
This doesn't necessarily have to be an office, just somewhere that is yours and preferably away from distractions, such as the tv. Again, when you're working from home is easy to get pulled into all the distractions, so when your work area is away from those distractions it will make getting your work done so much easier.
4. Play music
This is a hit and miss for me. It depends on what I'm doing. If I'm writing, I can't have music on, it distracts me. However, If I'm shopping for a client online or doing other things that don't require writing I love to have Pandora on. This is a great tip for cleaning as well. I love to have music on while I'm cleaning the house. It makes the time fly by.
5. Set a schedule
This doesn't have to be so in depth that everything is planned down to the minute, but have some sort of plan for your day. It could look as simple as this:
8:00 Wake up
-Eat
-Shower and get ready
9:30 Work
1:00 Lunch break
2:00 Work
5:00 Start dinner
You just want to have a general idea of what your day is going to look like. This way you're not putting off working and you set a time to get it all done. It's so important to have a schedule when you work from home. As I said above, it's easy to get sucked into every distraction imaginable. However, making a schedule will help distinguish when it's time to work.
Well there you have it, my five tips to being more productive. I hope this helped you if you're struggling with being productive and getting stuff done. I am still working on it myself, but these five things help me a lot with it. If you have any tips that help you get stuff done and be more productive, I would love to hear them! Comment below!
Thanks for reading!