Five Ways to Be Productive at Home

To help you engage in a productive workflow in order to meet your goals, we have handcrafted a list of hacks and strategies you can implement into your daily routine. This list includes the latest tools to help you achieve each tip so that your day is as efficient as possible. 

Ready? Let’s do it!

Transitioning from your bed to your computer can be challenging. We no longer have the satisfaction of fully waking up on our commute, while listening to our favorite podcast with a coffee in hand. We have to be in control of our morning and that means diving into our to-do list. 

Photo by Dillon Shook on Unsplash

Starting off sluggish will take over your motivation. Start your day how you want to finish - strong. 

Need a hand? These tools can help: 

• Rise 
• Step Out! 
• CARROT Alarm
• SpeakToSnooze
• Sleep Cycle  

What better way to start working at home than working on the atmosphere and attitude geared towards the day ahead? Reward yourself with comfort and a clear mind when occupying your own space and choose a dedicated workspace. This does not give you the green light to work from bed. 

Although 80% of young professionals admit to working from their bed, your brain will misinterpret a place of sleep for a place to work and in the long run, it will be harder for you to fall asleep. According to a Harvard study, “keeping computers, TVs, and work materials out of the room will strengthen the mental association between your bedroom and sleep.”

Even though you might not be in front of co-workers or clients, dressing properly can put you in the right mindset. Wearing house clothes has a high probability of restricting inspiration. Dress smart casual - pretend it’s Friday at your workplace ;)

With the right atmosphere and attitude, you have an effective way to work at home. To stimulate your senses further, here are playlists to get you engaged with your tasks. As research shows, even surgeons who listen to music helped them operate with higher accuracy and more efficiently. 

If music helps them save lives, music can help your workflow. 

Productivity Mix for Work & Study from Spotify

Check out our shortlist of the essentials:

• Productivity Tunes
• Productivity Mix for Work and Study
• Video Game Masterpiece
• Video Game Soundtracks

Working or studying from home means you’re your own boss for accomplishing objectives. That’s why it’s valuable to break up your day so you don’t burn out or lose focus. To win the day, create personal tasks to help you switch gears ever so often. This could mean using your dishwasher or washing machine as a time breaker. 

Sometimes this also means saving work calls for the afternoon. Even if you’re a morning person, diligently allowing yourself to “wake up” can put your mornings at ease to complete other important work objectives. 

To make it easy for yourself, check out these helpful tools: 

• Zoom 
• Unroll.me
• Productive App
• Any.do
• Alfred 

Productive App from Productive Press Kit

Planning ahead gets you ahead. A plan is a pathway that puts you in a better position to achieve goals. Creating a plan means you have your mindset on success. Spending valuable time creating a plan will ultimately save you time because, in return, your decision-making process will be more efficient. 

A plan lets you see where stability lacks within your day or organization. When a plan is not set in place, unforeseen events will create havoc. Go old school with a pen and paper to plan your day/week, or use more elaborate tools to create a three-year marketing plan or a crisis communication plan. 

That way, whenever a competitor launches a new product, you have the answers to adjust your plans accordingly for the best execution. As they say, successful businesses are 1% idea and 99% execution. 

The accomplishment of one plan is always followed by another plan. This is a cycle that starts promptly with a different objective in mind. 

Trello Board

To make it easier, we have listed what you need to help you implement successful plans for your teammates, co-workers, and yourself: 

• Doodle
• Trello 
• Google Calendar 
• CoSchedule 
• Smartsheet 

Social media has a unique way of captivating us with content that (most of the time) has nothing to do with the task at hand. I applaud the UX, but let’s be honest - social media can be a detriment to our productivity. Even if we are reliant on social media (ex: digital marketers and social media managers) to advance our careers, there are many ways to tune out unnecessary content. 

1. Don’t save login information. Rather than closing Instagram or Facebook on Google Chrome, take time to hit the logout button. It’s a cumbersome moment, but that’s the point. Since programs make it easy, it is up to you to onboard the challenge. OR, work in incognito mode (press Ctrl + Shift + N ). 
2. Mute notifications on your phone and tablet. Devices make it easy to customize which notifications you want to receive and how you want to receive them. Take advantage of these features. The goal is to clear up and quiet down unnecessary phone activity. 
3. Use apps and plug-ins to help you disconnect. Ironic or worth it? You can be the judge.

If you’re ready to tune out but need that extra push, have a look at these resources: 

• Forest
• Freedom 
• Space 
• Focus Booster

Forest App from Forest Press Kit

In this new era of working, work doesn’t just happen at the office. Adjusting to the movement and using these tweaks can have a big impact on your day-to-day life. However, the greatest strength of working from home is that you get to define your style, experience, ambiance and working hours. You are the boss and you are in control, so do what fits you best. ​

Harbour.Space is a university of adaptability. Among other things, this means that we don't just prepare our students for one set path, but for several possible scenarios. For us, it's important to have the ability to produce, create, and grow in different situations and circumstances. Check out our programs to see how you can start opening the doors of your professional future.