Whether you like it or not, remote work is here to stay. In 2019, most of the people working from home were doing so because they want options and flexibility. Due to the recent pandemic, tens of thousands of people are now forced to work from home.
If you’re in this boat, you may find yourself struggling for more time to accomplish your work tasks and side project or hobby. We want to help by looking at several ways you can make the most of your time when you work from home.
Please note that our tips focus on managing time, not unnecessary crunching. Ask any employee or employer that was forced to crunch if they think it was a good decision. Many people will tell you no, and for a good reason. If you spread yourself too thin, you could face the consequences when you eventually burn out. You may feel good about getting everything done, but you’ll pay for it with your psychical and mental health.
Now, let’s look at several tips that will help you make the most of your time when you’re stuck working at home!
Set Realistic Expectations
The first thing you need to do is plan your day. Planning requires you to consider what you need to work on both personally and professionally and setting realistic expectations. You might sit down and think that you can write 3 posts in a day for your blog, but that’s not healthy or realistic.
You would be hard-pressed to find someone who works on their own website full-time and writes 3 thoughtful, interesting posts a day. Instead, the content will appear mass-manufactured, which is a big no-no if you want people to care about what you have to say.
Managing your tasks and schedule throughout the day will help you stay productive and in control of the situation.
Sit down and write down what you want to accomplish for the day, week, and month. Once you understand what you need to accomplish, you can experiment with the time you’re available, instead of loading yourself up with no clear path out in sight.
Make Communication a Priority
Very few people get to the top by themselves. It’s usually a joint effort by several folks, and if you’re in this situation, you need to make communication a priority. You can’t talk to everyone around the office like you used to, but there are plenty of workarounds.
You can download a chat application, send a text message, or even use good old’ fashioned email to talk to people joining you on your journey. There are going to be situations where communicating efficiently will save you time, money, and energy.
Mastering communication is beneficial to the success of your project and your ability to manage time. If you can get everyone involved on the same page and communicate daily, you’ll spend far less time getting everyone caught up and more time getting things done.
Another way you can streamline your communication is with weekly meetings. These events give you time to look at the big picture and work out an actionable plan with your co-workers or partners.
Learn How to Disconnect
According to Buffer, 22% of remote workers struggle with unplugging when they work from home. Do you find yourself trying to pursue your hobbies and interests, but can’t stop thinking about what you need to do next when you get online? If so, you likely fall into this group.
You have to learn how to disconnect from your job and spend time doing things you love. It’s also a good idea to avoid email, professional social media accounts, and non-vital business text messages.
Believe it or not, you’re wasting precious time when you obsess over your phone and email inbox. Checking your Slack every 5 minutes at 11 pm doesn’t make sense, right? You know that there’s no one online, and everything is done for the day, yet you keep checking.
Does this sound like something you would do? You may struggle with disconnecting, especially during particularly stressful times, such as a looming deadline. You can automate some social media tasks, but when it comes to your behavior, practice makes perfect. You have to rely on your planning and make communication a priority if you want to peacefully log out of your professional accounts every night.
Conclusion
The stereotypes of remote workers not having real jobs are gone, but that realization has left some people unsure of what to do to improve their efficiency.
Use the tips we provided today to get the most out of your time and live life to the fullest. You’ll find that after you get used to these habits, they will become second nature. As a result, you can accomplish more, while spending less time sitting at your computer.