How To Be Productive When The Organization Isn’t

Productivity, for many employees and employers, is not just a tag but a core signal. Better and improved productivity is the heart and essence of the success of any workplace. 

The COVID 19 pandemic has pushed thousands and millions of people into work from home opportunity, including those who have never done anything like it before. Without deliberate actions from both employees and the organization, working remotely especially during stressful and chaotic times can leave everyone feeling a bit isolated, unmotivated, distracted and stressed out. 

Here, we are not talking about the usual remote working scenario as work and life are colliding in ways that can be hard to manage even for the best of employees.  In this article, we are going to talk about some of the means and approaches that can bring productivity in a person and his organization, especially when certain challenges are in the way. 

How to be Office Productive In 7 Steps:

1. Setting Up Your Priorities 
2. Confine Your Workstation
3. Batch-Out The Same Tasks
4. Focus On One Thing At A Time
5. Work Early And Only For Few Hours
6. Listen To Productive Sounds Or Music
7. Templates Are Your Best Friend 

#1 – Setting Up Your Priorities

While working remotely, it is important for you to be the leader in yourself and take all the necessary steps required to get things done on time. Setting up your priorities and daily encouragement in any form can save you and your organization from great frustration and loss. 

Because things around us are changing quickly for uncontrollable reasons, you have to become realistic about what you can and cannot achieve depending on your household’s situation.  Try not to overcommit with the work and only go for achieving productivity standards that are realistic and safe. 

Usually, remote workers have peacefulness, fewer interruptions and a large time frame to get the task done but for many, taking care of house, kids, spouse and working at the same time can be indifferent.  To increase your productivity, get your bulk work done during off-hours instead of traditional daytime routine, get a 15-minute break every hour, give some time to your family or simply take a mental break by doing what you love. 

#2 – Confine Your Workstation

As a remote worker, you should have a confined workplace at your house. Having an interplanetary for your productivity means there should be no intrusion into your projects so you can commit and stay focused on getting your work done in time. 

Keep a workroom or designated desk to complete the tasks without sitting in front of a TV or on your kitchen table. If you don’t have any spare room, go with the area of your house with less traffic where you have little to almost zero distractions (particularly during working hours). 

#3 – Have All The Necessary Tools And Equipment

Owning all the necessary tools and equipment to get the job done is also very important to stay productive while working at home. Doing so will allow you to perform your duties much more efficiently and on time. Ask your manager or supervisor to provide you with the modern, high-quality equipment and packages so you can make a massive difference to your organization and save your time without compromising productivity. 

#4 – Limit Your Distractions And Commotions

When working from home, everything from pets, household chores, spouse, kids, TV, cooking and uninvited visitors can be a source of distraction from work. If you are a parent working from home, limiting all the distractions can be hard with numerous factors involved such as kids and routine house chores. 

To deal with such situations and improve your productivity, try to implement certain boundaries around your instituted workplace. Keep the door close and put a “do not disturb sign” outside that door and make your family members understand your work-related duties. If nothing works, invest in some good noise-cancelling headphones to block out all the unnecessary noises from outside. 

#5 – Take Help From Nature

The most unique way to improve your productivity with a home-based job is to bring the outdoors in your workstation. Nature, especially plants and natural sunlight have amazing benefits over your thoughts, feelings and actions.  Work in an area where you have access to ample sunlight. Natural light has proven to have a positive impact on your anxiety and productivity.  

Many pieces of research prove that people who work around plants and flowers are more productive and are always the best when it comes to giving new ideas. Have plants near your designated workplace to keep your attention from drifting apart. 

#6 – Batch-Out The Same Tasks

Batching is an amazing choice for people who wish to improve productivity while having a pre-set, pre-maintained mind frame for their routine chores. An example can be fiver selling where you can group out similar tasks like scheduling the number of tasks for the week, preparing drafts for the projects and writing the actual content.  

While planning your day always remember to batch the same tasks together to make your work process more smooth and easy. 

#7 – Focus On One Thing At A Time

The biggest thing we have learned from being a remote worker for so many years is to have as fewer distractions as possible and only one task at hand. There is no need to work on ten projects at once. Never run after your status or quantity of the submitted projects, simply work on one thing at a time with all the focus and attention you have until you are done and ready to take on other assignments. 

#8 – Work Early And Only For Few Hours 

Another great tip from us would be to get into work during the early hours of the day. You can work in the quiet morning hours before your kids wake up and the chaos begins. Early working hours are always serene and peaceful, and you can work without much focus and no distractions. 

Working for a few hours only can be a good option (depending on the nature of your job). Many organizations don’t worry about the number of hours you work from home but only for the amount of work you accomplish. To achieve this goal, always layout your plan, write up a pitch and get to it as soon as possible. This tip will help you crank out your work on time, and you will know when it’s time to stop working for the day. 

#9 – Listen To Productive Sounds Or Music

Music can be the best way to stay productive and maintain focus on important tasks during work from home online. However, we are still open to the fact that every person is different and so they might have to experiment with different things before finding the right kind of music that helps stay focused. You can use various tools and programs available online to listen to scientifically driven music in order to improve your attentiveness. 

#10 – Templates Are Your Best Friend

To get done with the work faster, you can opt for using templates for your daily projects and assignments. Templates are usually fill in the blank kind of document that is easy to use for projects with a more or less similar pattern.

For example, if your job is to send email updates on a regular basis, you can make a template and save your precious time. The same rule applies over spreadsheets, presentations and product reviews. 

#11 – Online Scheduling Applications For Meetings

Meetings and group work sessions are a part of routine work even in a work-from-home environment. It can become a nightmare for you and your productivity if you have other remote team members from different time zones. The most sensible decisions here would be to start using scheduling applications to accomplish your tasks without any glitches or errors. 

When you do have meetings (with or without scheduling applications), make sure they are highly productive. The biggest problem with telecommuting and working remotely is the weekly meetings where similar workers are involved that don’t necessarily have to be there. Sign out of group chats and look for the ones where everyone else is willing to use time and efforts to discuss/solve problems that are a hindrance towards your progress. 

#12 – Reattach To Your Work Everyday

Once you are done with your work, it may be hard to find any motivation to carry on with the projects every morning. Before starting your day, take a brief amount of time to reattach to your work by thinking about your constant accomplishments and flow of positive things in your life. Evoke your goals and priorities to push-start your productivity. Doing so will not only help you make a mental plan to achieve your objectives but also make you alert of your resources that are required to boost your success. 

#13 – Do Everything Related To Your Goals And Objectives

Before starting on a new task, project or assignment, make sure that it is linked to your long-term accomplishments and objectives. If there is a strong connection between the task and your goals, then carry on with the work otherwise give it to another team member or simply eliminate it from your to-do-list. 

Final Thoughts

There you go. These are some of our fail-safe strategies that you can implement in your life and day-to-day remote working to become more productive. Know that there is no sure short way for becoming more productive. Instead, there are certain habits that need to be implemented for better and proficient results. 

Build some of these habits and take the right steps towards becoming the most productive worker of your organization today!