Working from Home – three tips to improve your productivity.

1.????Make technology work for you, not the other way around.

Research conducted by Adrian Ward University of Texas at Austin with nearly 800 smartphone users in 2017 showed that our cognitive capacity is reduced whenever our phones are within reach. This finding is regardless of whether it’s turned on or off. So how can we reduce its impact?

Take a Digi Diet!

?If you leave your phone in the car or another room during working hours, it requires more effort to check notifications. Schedule time to check.

If this isn’t a workable solution, try the following:

-?????????Delete social media apps, as this eliminates the urge to access them.

-?????????Turn off all notifications and browsers

-?????????Shut down personal calls during work hours.

-?????????Check e-mail at set times (two to four times per day is the most productive.

2.????Create No-interruption zones.

Conor, my only son, returned to school on April 12, 2021. On the drive to school, he confided in his Mum that he was somewhat surprised that “Dad wasn’t a little emotional at my departure.” He was wrong! I was thrilled! I finally knew I could focus on making progress on my new book and other assignments. The results were evident in the subsequent dramatic jump in productivity.

The ultimate challenge during Covid particularly at the beginning was the ability to execute duties on a kitchen table with multiple demands on your attention; it was a miraculous balancing act.

Have some quiet time!

Leslie A. Perlow, leadership Professor at Harvard Business School developed the "quiet time" program, which aimed to increase productivity.

She deployed the method at a software company whose engineers were having trouble creating products without working nights and weekends.

Perlow's solution was to set aside a specific portion of the day, before 11 a.m. and after 3 p.m., for uninterrupted work. General interruptions could take place during that four-hour window only. The results: 59% of engineers reported a productivity increase during the morning interruption-free zone, and 65% said the same for the afternoon. With heads cleared, 41% even reported that their productivity jumped during the interruption portion of the day.

·????????Schedule your most focused tasks. Now that you have a basic framework for your day, schedule the most complex and meaningful tasks that demand unbroken blocks of concentration into your quietest times.

·????????Reflect on your priorities. Why are you doing this? Knowing your goals will help you decide what to schedule and where into your day.

Leslie’s program could easily be adapted to a WFH situation

3.????Take productivity pauses.

Exercise works

Get up and move away from your desk or stretch, take a quick walk or go one further and enjoy some mindful walking.

Movement helps clear your head and reduces levels of the body's natural stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, the chemicals in the brain that are the body's natural painkillers and mood elevators.

"In people who are depressed, neuroscientists have noticed that the hippocampus in the brain—the region that helps regulate mood—is smaller. Exercise supports nerve cell growth in the hippocampus, improving nerve cell connections, which helps relieve depression." Dr Michael Craig Miller, Harvard Medical School.

Distract yourself!

Talk to your friends—if you are very clever, look to time-wasting between 2 pm and 3.30 pm in line with your Circadian rhythm when you are least productive.

A survey of knowledge workers in the UK by LondonOffices.com showed that 2.55 pm is the most unproductive time of the day.