4 Work-From-Home Productivity Hacks

More and more companies are waking up to the new reality of remote work. A work-from-home job can be fun, but once the initial excitement wears off, productivity can take a hit.

At Gutsy Creatives, we have a team working from all over the world. None of us are new to remote work. We’ve been doing it for years and are now, luckily, experts in this field.

Here are our pro productivity hacks for working from home!

1. Go on a Social Media Sabbath

We live in an era where even our neighbor’s cat has a social account. The lockdown has only contributed to this trend by tenfold.

Instead of letting the noise distract you, consider going silent on social media with a social media sabbath. Work accounts are an exception to the rule. Refrain from logging in and posting anything on your personal account during work hours. This practice has helped us declutter the mind and nip nagging social media addictions in the bud.

2. Get a Planner

Planners are a great tool to stay organized and productive. There’s something about physically writing things down that does wonders to tracking our work and staying on top of things. Finding a planner with the right layout can be tricky. Have a look at the list we put together for easy reference.

3. Stick to a Shut-Down Ritual

Cal Newport, in his best-selling book ‘Deep Work’ talks about a now-famous ritual called the ‘Shut-down Ritual.’ This ritual calls for a predetermined hour to end every workday. The goal is to draw a distinct line between work and life. Newport himself never worked after his shut-down hour. It helped him squeeze the most out of the time he worked and use the rest of his day for other endeavors. 

Each shutdown ritual is unique. Your ritual could include such actions as reviewing your to-do list, cleaning your desktop, writing down wins for the day, a 5 minute grateful meditation, etcetera. To make it a ritual, simply repeat the actions in the same order each day when you complete your working day.

4. Have a Designated Place for Work

Having a designated place for work helps the brain ‘detect’ the change in the environment and go into a ‘work’ mode. Ideally, a place away from the bedroom and other distractions would help. Each of us at Gutsy Creatives have either a home office or dedicated space for work. We talk more about decorating our workspaces and share design inspiration in this post.

Even Stephen King had a writing desk set up in the corner of his room to keep distractions at bay. Whenever he sat down there to write, his brain knew he meant business. Do this trick and you too will get more work done in no time.