Working from Home? Know what you want to achieve.
by Karen Adamedes
Let's talk about productivity.
It really doesn’t matter if you work from home or at an office – if you don’t know what you want to achieve in a day, you’re not going to know if you’ve had a successful day or not. It helps to focus on these three key areas.
Know what you want to achieve
Knowing what you want to achieve will help you set your priorities.
If you make a not-so-quick check of social media here, order some shoes online (oh wait, that might be just me), and reply to a couple of text messages, you can find that hours have mysteriously vanished.
Duncan Young, Head of Workplace Health & Wellbeing at Lendlease in Australia, said to me, “Small positive steps can make a big difference over time. Be intentional with your time”. Duncan recommends spending some time each morning planning.
A plan will help you work out what you have to get done, what you’d like to work on, and the ‘wouldn’t it be amazing if I could do this too’ priorities for the day.
Know what your goals are and how much you have to do. This can help you refocus after interruptions and drag yourself back to your most important tasks after other distractions (phone calls, emails, and unavoidable meetings).
2. Set your priorities
This may fall into the too-much-information category, but I find that taking my morning shower is a good time to decide my top priorities for the day.
For others, taking a morning walk or getting dressed for the day are equally good times to think through the day ahead. Whatever works for you!
I’ve also found that writing a ‘Top Priorities’ list before I finish work for the day can set me up well for the following day. I know I am not going to forget anything important. This also helps me separate from work at the end of the day, and I don’t spend the evening thinking (quite so much) about the next day. I have a clear plan for what I need to focus on when I start work the next morning.
A tip from the Chief Operating Officer of a start-up who is constantly interrupted at the office is to make sure that on days you work from home, you have specific tasks to complete or conference calls scheduled. This helps, they said, by taking advantage of the quiet and avoiding the distractions of being at home.
3. Focus on outcomes
Wherever you are working, it pays to focus on the outcomes you want to achieve each day. You will better prioritize your time, help you avoid distractions, and at the end of the day (literally!) You will know you have been successful.
You can quit for the day feeling satisfied, pat yourself on the back, and know that you achieved what you wanted.
Karen