4 Ways To Stay Productive While Working From Home

To all the people working from home — how are you holding up?! I’ll say it right now, staying productive while working from home was so much easier when it wasn’t 80 degrees and sunny.

The struggle to stay focused and motivated (when all you want to do is lay out by the pool and maaybe have a marg) isn’t easy, let me tell ya. 😂

The common question, “how to stay productive while working from home” has been circulating around a lot lately. This is a very relevant topic for me, not just because of the ongoing work from home order, but because I am officially self employed! 🎉 (goodbye 9am-5pm!)

It is easy to put off tasks and get distracted while working from home (or for yourself) because no one is there to hold you accountable.

In other words, your success falls primarily on your own self-discipline.

This post is going to show you how to stay productive while working from home and how you can apply them to your daily routine.

Before we get started…. Have you been trying to leave the 9am-5pm life but don’t know where to start? Let me help you!

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Alright, let’s get started. Here are the 4 tips on how to stay productive while working from home.

1. Hold Yourself Accountable

When you are working from home or for yourself, you might not have anyone following up on you, which can make it easy to put things off. Change this!

Finish every day by writing a progress report. Recap on everything you accomplished that day. Talk about your goals for the next work day and bring up any questions, challenges, or ideas you might have.

This doesn’t have to be lengthy, it just has to be done.

Having a designated person to show your progress report to can also be very rewarding. Whether it is a friend, spouse or manager, sharing your progress can motivate you to accomplish your daily tasks efficiently. This isn’t necessary, but can be very beneficial.

If you don’t have anyone to share it with, consider sharing it with me! I am a real person and would love to hear how things are working for you.

2. Follow the Ivy Lee Method

If you are looking for a more efficient way to work, I recommend looking into the Ivy Lee Method.

The Ivy Lee Method: Focus on 6 tasks and only 6 tasks.

At the end of each work day write down the six most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. No more than six.
Prioritize those six items in order of their true importance.
When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first tasks. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
Repeat this process every working day.

I swear by this method. If you follow it with discipline, you will accomplish what you need to. No more overwhelming yourself with 20+ things on your to do list….

3. Start With a Challenge

This is reinforcing the Ivy Lee method, but start each morning doing the hardest thing on your list. It is kind of like the “let’s just get this over with” mentality (but a little less negative).

When you accomplish the most challenging (and rewarding) thing on your list, you are setting the tone to your day. You put your brain in “work-mode” and ready to take on more tasks rather than procrastinating difficult tasks.

4. Goodbye Distractions

When you are working on a project, work on JUST that project. I know it can be difficult but don’t pick up your phone, respond to that text or browse Amazon. Eliminate all distractions and stop trying to multitask.

The most successful way I have done this is the 30 minute method. I set a timer for 30 minutes and work on my designated task non stop. No distractions, no looking at other projects, no side tasks. Just the one project I have. (You will be surprised how fast 30 minutes goes when you are focused on your work)

When the 30 minutes is up, take 3-5 minutes to yourself. Consider this your “break” then once thats up, start another 30 minute timer. Repeat this until you completed the task.

I hope these 4 productivity tips help you answer the question on how to stay productive while working from home. Check out more posts you might like below!

4 Ways To Stay Productive While Working From Home