Be More Productive When Working From Home

In his faster-than-normal life, Peter Shankman—entrepreneur, bestselling author, and Epic’s Futurist in Residence—certainly knows how to be productive.

“I hate the term ‘I didn’t have the time.’ You know why? Because we all TOTALLY had the time. What we didn’t have was the productivity,” Peter says. “People ask me all the time how I do all the things I do in a given day. It’s really not hard. It simply takes a combination of tools, time management, and awareness.”

If you are new to working from home, finding your productivity groove can be difficult. Here are three of Peter Shankman’s go-to tips.

Know How to Set a Schedule

Transitioning to a working-from-home lifestyle is very similar to transitioning from high school to college. Remember the freedom? Yes—and also the lack of structure.

Without the routine of going into the office daily, it can be easy to lose your motivation and organization. Create a schedule and stick with it. Make the most of your Google Calendar. Wake up early and jumpstart your day with exercise. Start a routine with a colleague who can serve as a buddy to keep you reliable. If you tell them you’ll finish a project in two hours, you have someone to hold you accountable.

Establish a Routine for Meetings

Working from home is all about minimizing distractions. Unfortunately, sometimes work meetings are distractions. Pick one day a week and load it up with the majority of your conference calls, interviews, and consults, making use of a video conference tool like Zoom. This frees up the rest of the week to actually do the work.

However, this strategy of designating a meeting day might be disorienting to new work-from-home employees who miss seeing colleagues. Consider spacing out meetings so you have interactions with coworkers and clients at least once a day, perhaps at a set time. You might also want to schedule regular virtual hangouts to check in and brainstorm with your team.

Create Your Version of a Remote Office

Find a place where you can do your work—it doesn’t have to be fancy and it doesn’t have to be outside your home.

Clean off a desk in your spare room and, if you don’t have one, simply clean off your kitchen table. Minimize distractions so you don’t feel tempted to do personal tasks, like pay bills or fold laundry. Even if you think multitasking won’t interrupt your workflow, the buzz of the timer on a load of laundry could send you on a tangent.

It can take time to adjust to a new work-from-home lifestyle. Even if you’re an office veteran or highly capable employee, different environments can still impact how you work. Practice good work-from-home habits and you’ll be the boss of your new schedule.