Working from home is a natural part of life for many business professionals. Some prefer to take their laptops to coffee shops or libraries to conduct their days of work. No matter where your remote work lifestyle takes you, it’s wise to come up with ways to stay productive. After all, with no one looking over your shoulder, it can sometimes get a little too easy to slack off.
What steps can you take to ensure that you remain productive while working remotely? Here are four productivity hacks for remote workers:
1. Take regular breaks.
By no means are we suggesting that you use your ability to work from home to slack off. However, it’s important that we remind the busy-body in you that you need to take breaks. Many remote workers assume that, since they have no defined schedule, they can charge through the day in order to complete work early. This can lead to burn out. On Forbes.com, Caroline Castrillon stresses that working non-stop make you feel drained.
“Not taking frequent breaks can cause muscle and joint problems and even cause repetitive strain injuries,” she explains, “Pausing throughout the day boosts our energy, improves our focus, increases our motivation and makes us more effective. Get in the routine of taking a 5 to 7-minute break every hour. Then focus on an activity that allows you to disconnect from your computer mentally and physically.”
2. Prepare meals the night before.
Who doesn’t love a good time-saving tip? By preparing your meals the night before, you won’t have to take up any of your work day with cooking. When your meals need to be made, they cut into your non-working hours, giving you less of a break. It will provide you with tremendous ease to simply be able to eat, and not cook, during your lunch break.
“When you're in your own home, it can be tempting to spend time preparing a nice breakfast and lunch for yourself, chopping and cooking included,” admits Kayla Schilthuis-Ihrig on HubSpot.com, “Don't use precious minutes making your food the day of work — cook it the night before. Preparing food ahead of time ensures you can use your meal times to eat and that you aren't performing non-work tasks that spend energy better used at your desk.”
3. De-clutter your home office.
Just because you’re working from home, it doesn’t have to look like it. Sometimes, the comforts of home can lull us into complacency and even laziness. Tidy up your work area and remove unnecessary distractions. Place an emphasis on “tidy” and make sure your work station is organized. Castrillon informs us that a cluttered work area can clutter the brain.
“A study conducted by researchers at UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families (CELF) identified a direct link between the stress hormone cortisol and clutter,” she writes, “And another report found that people with extremely cluttered homes are 77% more likely to be overweight. Organize your home office by getting rid of paper, trash, and any other unnecessary items.”
4. Accept payments on the go!
Did you know that with Unity Payments’ Virtual Terminals, you can turn your computer or mobile phone into a credit card terminal? To learn all about how to use this service to accept payments remotely, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-800-661-3761 or email us at info@unitypayments.ca to learn more!
