15 Work from home productivity tips

Work from home productivity is something we’ve all struggled with at least once in our remote work careers.

Remote employees often face isolation and inability to find motivation or to disconnect after work, while remote managers find it difficult to measure work from home productivity. 

To help you design a more effective work from home routine and thrive in a remote work environment, we’ve compiled a list of 15 work from home productivity tips. 

Here are the steps to get you started on your most productive work from home plan. 

Tip #1: Organize your home office space

Much of your general motivation and productivity depends on your surroundings. 

Therefore, your first step is to set up an official home office space and keep it clean and organized. 

If you can, designate an entire room in your home for your office. If not, try to reserve a quiet and distraction-free spot for your desk. 

Make sure to keep your work space clean and organized to ensure maximum focus and productivity. 

Tip #2: Set boundaries with people in your home

To be at your most productive when working from home, you need to create a quiet work environment without disruptions.

To create such an environment in your home office, it’s paramount to communicate clear boundaries with people around you.  

This is especially important for parents with smaller children or pets that need more attention. 

If you’re a parent or a pet owner, you can schedule parenting and petsitting shifts or hire a professional babysitter or pet sitter.   

People with adult roommates can share schedules with each other to make sure everyone gets quiet time to work. 

Tip #3: Manage notifications

Preventing distractions coming from work apps is another important point to address for optimum work from home productivity. 

Make sure to eliminate all unnecessary notifications, as consistent interruptions can seriously damage your focus and productivity. 

Here are some steps you can take to better manage distractions:

• Pause notifications in your business messaging app when you need extra focus. 
• Set a notification schedule based on your regular work schedule.
• Mute specific channels or DMs for a certain period of time.

Tip #4: Work during your most productive hours

Working from home is perfect for utilizing your personal productivity hours, as you can have more flexibility in how you organize your workday. 

Since you don’t necessarily start to work as soon as you wake up, you can take time to better analyze your day to see when you are most productive.   

You can test this over a week and use the results to organize your workday around your peak productivity hours. 

By following your natural productivity cycle, you can better plan when to do your most demanding tasks and better optimize your work from home productivity, in general. 

Tip #5: Do the most demanding task first

Apply the popular “Eat the frog” method to help you increase your productivity when working from home. 

Instead of putting off your most difficult task, tackle it first, and you’ll have so much more cognitive bandwidth for the rest of the day. 

This way, you won’t risk putting off other tasks because you’re dreading that one scary task lingering at the back of your mind. 

You can also apply the knowledge from our previous work from home productivity tip and work on the big task when you’re most productive in a day. 

Tip #6: Ask for feedback     

Getting regular feedback on your performance can help you get a better understanding of how the work you do contributes to the larger mission of your team and company. 

This insight can help you feel more motivated and productive even on those days when working from home gets really mundane. 

Therefore, if it’s not already a common practice in your company, be sure to ask your manager for regular feedback to improve your performance and productivity when working from home. 

Tip #7: Overcome procrastination

Wondering what to do on those days you feel especially unmotivated to start a task?

Just — do something. 

“Do something” is a popular method for overcoming procrastination, championed by a New York Times best-selling author, Mark Manson.

The technique suggests that action is both the cause and effect of motivation. 

So, to improve your work from home productivity, you need to take action, no matter how small.

The momentum will eventually build up leading to more and better work as the day goes on. 

Tip #8: Make working from home fun

To make up for the lack of interaction with coworkers and foster motivation, try introducing some healthy competition. 

Organize an accountability challenge with your favorite teammate. You can track each other’s progress and chat over video about it during breaks.

That way, you can help keep each other on track, while having fun and socializing. 

Tip #9: Schedule regular video chats with teammates

Overcome work from home isolation, improve collaboration, and strengthen your work relationships through regular virtual get-togethers with your teammates. 

Organize weekly video chats over a video conferencing platform to stay connected, or use this time to collaborate on a shared project.  

Tip #10: Actively participate in virtual meetings

As the latest meeting statistics show, people working from home often find themselves disengaging and daydreaming during longer virtual meetings. 

To break these bad habits and improve your work from home productivity, try to be more intentional about your engagement in virtual meetings. 

• Go over the meeting agenda beforehand to prepare your talking points. 
• Openly share your ideas and progress with your team. 
• Ask questions and engage in problem-solving.  

Tip #11: Communicate effectively

Effective communication can raise your productivity by 25%.

To improve your work from home communication and productivity, consider applying the following elements of effective communication:

• Regularly initiate communication with your teammates and managers.
• Improve your work message skills.
• Learn to be more assertive.
• Overcommunicate. 
• Use emojis to communicate tone.

Tip #12: Stick to your schedule 

When you work from home you may often feel like you’re underperforming simply because you’re away from the formal work environment. 

This may lead to overworking and even burnout. 

To avoid this, you can establish a process to help you keep to the schedule.

• Organize your work hours around your most productive time in the day. 
• Keep a to-do list with clear priorities for each day. 
• Schedule fun activities after work to unplug easier.   

Tip #13: Take regular breaks

A recent study shows that active breaks outside raise your productivity by 45%. 

For optimum work from home productivity, you need to get up from your desk and stretch, at least every hour. 

Moreover, it’s also a great practice to incorporate one longer break you’ll spend outside. A quick walk in the fresh air can help you recharge and feel energized throughout the day. 

Tip #14: Try meal prepping

Meal prepping is a great way to save time and cognitive resources during long workweeks.

Instead of interrupting deep work sessions to prepare a meal each day, try preparing batches of healthy food options in advance. 

Store them in food storage containers and enjoy a different mix each day — without having to waste time deciding on a meal and preparing or ordering one each time you’re hungry. 

Tip #15: Take care of your health 

Your mental and physical well-being are some of the key factors affecting your productivity. 

To perform better at work and maintain high productivity when working from home, don’t give in to unhealthy habits. 

Create a simple healthy routine that will include:

• Getting enough sleep 
• A daily walk outside 
• Eating at least one healthy meal per day 
• Calling a friend or spending quality time with your family 

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