27th July 2020
3 ways to increase productivity while working from home
As someone who works from home regularly, I didn’t expect that my productivity would change by working from home full time. I expected to have much more time for myself and my family by cutting out commuting time and had grand plans of all the extra things I would manage to get done due to the extra free time. But that’s not exactly how it all panned out.
We’re not just working from home. We’re working from home in an upside-down world while trying to juggle personal and work life. This means many of us are jumping between tasks as we muddle our way through endless to do lists. But switching between tasks can cost up to 40% of productive time.
In this article, Luciana Paulise outlines 3 ways to increase productivity while working from home.
From the Article:
Avoid multitasking: the cost of switching from one task to the other can be up to 40%. A research shows that people spend on average nearly 10 minutes on switches caused by alerts, and spend another 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the type of interruption) before returning to focused activity on the disrupted task. Almost 30 minutes are spent to get back into the flow to accomplish a task.
Multitasking also drops the IQ, similar to what you see in individuals who skip a night of sleep or who smoke marijuana, and increases the production of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Sometimes you don’t even realize. For instance, while you are working on a presentation, you receive an email, and you reply it right away. Then, by the way, you take a peek at your LinkedIn messages. That is multitasking too. You are going to another task without getting the first one done.
These three simultaneous tasks may take 120 minutes to accomplish. But if instead, you focus on finishing the presentation (maybe 60 minutes), then check your emails and replying to each of them (20 minutes) and finally take a sneak peek at social media (5 minutes). You will save 40 minutes, enhance the quality of your work and reduce your stress to enjoy your family time.
Make conscious choices about where to focus and do one task a time. And in case you do get distracted, adapt. Just take advantage of the interruption, move your break a little earlier, and try to stay on the next sprint for a more extended period.
Get the full article online: 3 Steps To Increase Productivity Working From Home.
Make sure to explore Inspiring Workplace’s other content and insights about productivity and performance.