7 quick tips for staying productive when working at home this summer

Stay productive and show your employer you can indeed get things done from home this summer by using these tips to boost your personal productivity. You could even turn your work at-home time into an opportunity to build your career.

#1. Stick to a work-at-home daily schedule

Planning for success is your first step. This means setting a schedule.

As you likely already know, a daily work schedule gives you a framework for your day. It keeps you productive whether you’re at home or in an office. However, scheduling your workday at home depends on your job responsibilities as well as your home and parenting responsibilities.

Without kids at home

No kids at home? Your work-at-home work schedule could mimic your pre-pandemic work schedule pretty closely.

Set your start and end times and include time for short breaks and lunch. Yes, breaks are key.

According to recent research from the gig platform Airtasker, 37% of remote workers say that taking breaks is the top way to stay productive. And just under 33% say setting a schedule helps their productivity when working from home.

With kids at home

When you work from home with children underfoot, your schedule might look a little different.

If your children need supervision during the day, try alternating child-minding duties with your spouse. This could work if you must be available during traditional work hours.

If you’re solely responsible for your kids during the day, work while they sleep. And yes, this could mean getting up earlier than usual or staying up later.

For example, consider working between 5:00 am to 8:00 am while your kids are still sleeping. Spend time with the kids from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm. Then while they’re napping or watching television (TV Ontario has increased their daytime educational programs) work from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm. Then schedule kid/housework time until 8:00 pm and work again for a couple of hours before heading to bed. That’s seven hours of work time in one day.

Now it might take a few days to work out the best schedule for you and your family, but once you do, you’ll find your productivity soaring.

#2. Set daily work goals and household goals

When you work from home, your unfinished tasks and projects are all around you. And when you’re faced with job-related tasks you don’t particularly enjoy, it’s very easy to let your home projects take priority over your paid work. Don’t let it. You’re still on the payroll, and still owe your employer a good day’s work.

Instead, set daily work-related goals. These might be:

• A set number of sales calls
• Specific time at a task
• A Number of words written
• Goal for number of reports complete
• emails sent

Daily goal setting helps you stay on task and stay motivated.

And you can always make a prioritized list of your house chores and tackle it in your 15-minute breaks, lunch hours, or as a family-time project.

#3. Use technology

Staying productive when you work from home means staying on track communicating with coworkers or colleagues. Don’t let your workflow get bogged down waiting for project updates or critical information from your team.  Luckily, today’s technology offers several different tools to keep virtual teams connected.

For example, attend regular virtual meetings with Zoom to see your coworkers, share screens and discuss your current work.

Organize group tasks on Trello boards, or try a project management program like Asana or Airtable. Review and edit documents with a program like Google Docs or Microsoft Business.

Take action using these tools and show your employer you’re comfortable navigating technology to get your work done remotely.

#4. Plan your online entertainment time

Social media, news sites, and online gaming sites can be tempting productivity-killers. And yes, you might find it tougher to avoid these fun timewasters when working at home.

After all, your boss or co-workers aren’t there to check on your activities. You are solely responsible for staying on task. And it’s so tempting to check out your social media accounts and news stories – especially in the fast-paced changing news environment of the past few weeks.

Take action with a self-imposed restriction on your “fun” online time during work hours. Install a social media limiting app or a program like FocusMe or Freedom to help you limit your fun-time during your at-home workday. And then reward yourself with some social media and online entertainment once your work is done.

#5. Schedule personal calls for personal time

Another challenge to staying productive and focused when you work from home are interruptions from family and friends. Try to stick to the same rules you followed at the office when it comes to taking personal calls during your set work hours. Silent the ringer on your personal phone and/or return messages during your breaks.

It might take some time for the message to sink in, but when you treat your work-at-home time as legitimate work time, so will your friends and family.

#6. Batch your work

When you’re trying to boost your productivity at home, stay away from multi-tasking. Instead, try batching your work.

Batching refers to grouping similar tasks together and then focusing on completing them all at once, instead of jumping from task to task.

Batching works particularly well for at-home workers with children because you can “chunk” your day and work on batches based on what your kids are doing. For example, tackle tasks that require focus and quiet while your kids sleep. Then work on a small batch of less-intensive work for a time when the kids are occupied with quiet reading, watching television, or playing in your backyard.

Consider your regular daily tasks. Could they be batched and completed one day a week? For example, sending “touch-base” emails to clients. Even if they need to get sent on different days, you could draft all of them at once and then schedule them for delivery.

And if you’re hoping to carry on your work at home experience in the future, working out a good weekly “batching” routine can help you stay productive long-term.

#7. Set up an ergonomic home workspace

Maximizing your productivity also means creating an ergonomic home office or workspace. Doing so could help you avoid physical discomfort and the awkward posture that could evolve into a long-term issue, such as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). This is especially important if you plan to spend long hours in front of a laptop.

Your chair, computer desk/table, lighting, footrest, and even your mouse selection can impact your physical comfort. Adjust each to best suit your physical needs and encourage productivity.

Instead of dreading the days or weeks you’ll spend working from home, use these tips to make a plan to stay productive.  And remember, this could be your best opportunity to shine as a self-motivated and organized member of your organization.