How to Maximize Your Time, No Matter Where You’re Working

While many of us have time-management strategies in the office, these can be put to the test when we switch to working from home or when our office life changes. It’s not that these strategies aren’t effective, but we’ve built them for a different environment. When you make the transition to working from home, or return to a new office environment, you may need to ask yourself how you can get the most out of your workday. Let’s look at a few ways that professionals can maximize their time no matter where they work:

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Structure

Structure helps us work more efficiently. It helps us plan ahead, set realistic expectations, and combat distractions. Recently, I wrote about the value of a work-from-home schedule. This is one great way to implement structure. It could also be as simple as how you start your morning, an afternoon phone call with a coworker, or a designated workspace. Thinking about your priorities and goals while working from home can help you implement the structure necessary to support them.

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Productivity

As I mentioned above, sometimes our in-office strategies that support productivity need a bit of an adjustment here. For professionals who don’t often work from home, it’s worth really investigating your needs. What are the biggest challenges to your productivity while working at home? Or what about your return to the office could be dampening productivity? What helps you to be more productive? Maybe you’re able to make a clear plan with your partner that grants you both some distraction-free work windows. Perhaps you commit to an afternoon run to give yourself an energy boost. Highlighting the strategies that work for you and committing to them is key.

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De-Stress

Stress can be a massive drain on our time. Whether we’re spending hours checking the news or finding it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand, stress makes it challenging to use our time effectively. This isn’t about getting rid of stress altogether. Instead, it’s about finding some activities that help you reduce it. If you find that stress settles in right when you wake up, for example, maybe you find an activity to do before jumping into work that helps you feel a bit calmer.

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We want to make the most of our time, whether we’re working from home, from the office, or a mix of both. This doesn’t just mean powering through our workdays, though. Maximizing your time might mean adjusting your expectations for your daily to-dos. It might mean finding more time to connect with your family. The key here is being intentional with how you use your time. This puts you in control. It helps you define the work-life balance that you need right now, and it gives you the flexibility to adjust it as needed.

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If you’d like to talk more about any of these ideas, or if I can be of assistance in another way, don’t hesitate to get in touch. I’m always happy to set aside some time to connect.