WFH Grind & Productivity Hacks
Hey all,
Been experimenting with my WFH situation and I'm looking for any advice or tips from the community.
Big struggles for me: - I definitely waste more time on social media / reddit at home. Also, first few days, I left the TV on. Big mistake - Pain in the ass to have to give all turns via email or call; used to like walking over to cubes to discuss a markup in person - My printer crapped out after ~2 weeks of heavy use lol - Since my bosses have to manage their kids during the day, I feel like they care less about our personal time at night (this is somewhat balanced out by dealflow being nonexistent)
What's worked: - I work at my kitchen table and moved TV to bedroom (smallish apt); try to keep table clear and free from distractions - Try to limit phone time to when I'm taking breaks - Dual monitors
Anyone else got pointers? This is a new situation for all of us, and I'm open to suggestions
I place my personal phone in my drawer and replace it with a kindle on my desk. Now instead of browsing social media during down time (i.e. waiting between turns), I feel more productive by reading a book.
This is a good topic. Personally, my approach is a bit different from yours. In the office I had a lot of downtime that I couldn't take advantage of, because people would have viewed it as slacking off... now i'm free to get a workout in or watch some netflix
What's worked: - I try to start the day with calisthenics (might as well get in better shape if I'm stuck at home) - I like working on my couch with some background show on, but in the afternoon I'll move to my bedroom to get some sun - Try to be as efficient as possible (reusing precedents, Logointern for logos, etc) - My bosses do have more night requests (as OP pointed out), but generally seem less eager for unlimited turns
What hasn't worked: - Hiding my phone (I'd go grab it after ~30 min; also I need to be reachable) - Letting the doggo on the couch with me - Getting caught distracted on multiple conference calls :(
I managed to watch all of Tiger King while grinding on a deck for a meeting that's definitely going to be canceled.... I call that elite multitasking
Almost as impressive as running for governor while also operating an exotic animal zoo
create a physical structure for productive work. For me, pre-corona that means paying a lot for a co-working space, but it's worth it, especially since I have an adorable 5 year old boy who wants to play with daddy. Now during corona times that would mean an extra monitor for your laptop, good quality mouse, and an ipad for document consumption. It also means a quiet area in the house to work in.
I schedule phone calls to a window, but it's difficult to do
if you are going to go on social media or porn use it as a break/reward system, like 10 minutes reward for 50 minutes of focused work
make sure to schedule in human interaction that is non-work. Otherwise you'll flip your differential
get on an exercise and healthy food routine - which is consistent in content and timing. I do a 1pm workout for 25 minutes, pushups, planks, burpees. I find it energizes the latter half of the day. Sometimes I get in a 20 minute morning workout which does the same in terms of pumping blood and energy into the first half-day. I eat clean, whole food plant based, no sugar, no oil, no animal products, minimal salt
I use a checklist, and cross even mundane sh*t off. It gamifies productivity.
I tell others what I'm going to do, and ask them to hold me accountable. Shame is my friend.