063 – Eight Critical Tips for Working From Home Effectively

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What You Will Learn In This Episode:

• Mastering PERFORM energy habit = maximizing your productivity no matter where you’re located.
• Working from home has its advantages as well as disadvantages.
• TIP 1 – Get Up on Time and Maximize a Strong Early Morning Rhythm 
  • If you now have more time due to not having to commute, use it for exercise or to have breakfast with the family.
  • Giving in to sleeping longer may reduce your energy level.
    • For example, I do the following:
      1. Drink 16 oz of room temperature water with a green mix of veggies/fruit, lemon juice and sea salt
      2. Make my hot green tea
      3. Read my Bible for 15 minutes
      4. Read a 2nd book that is inspirational or educational
      5. Workout
      6. Eat Breakfast
      7. Connect with the Fam
  • Find your Morning Rhythm no matter home or on the road.
• TIP 2 – Create a Designated Work Space
  • Don’t try to do your job from the sofa, or worse, your bed.
  • If you don’t already have a designated office space in your home, create one. 
• TIP 3 – Develop a Workday Startup Ritual
  • Different from your Morning Routine
  • Simple and consistent
    • Here’s mine:
      • Fill my Elite Road Warrior water bottle 
      • Turn on instrumental music
      • Light a candle
      • Open up my planner to review my schedule for the day
• TIP 4 – Create a Key3
  • Key3 = 3 key action items that will determine if your day ahead is a success or not.
  • Here is my process:
    • Brainstorm what I want to accomplish for the day (and this is always a long list)
    • Look for themes
    • Narrow them down to the most crucial 3
    • List them in order of importance
• TIP 5 – Hide the Distractions
  • I’ve found 3 areas where I can become distracted:
    • What You See – TV, phone screen 
    • What You Hear –  TV, music w lyrics, notifications from phone/computer
    • What Enables Procrastination – There are tasks in work that I simply don’t want to do, so I try everything I can not to do them! 
• TIP 6 – Establish a Communication System
  • Working from home can often leave you feeling cut-off from your coworkers and managers, which can quickly stymie productivity.
  • Know how others like to be communicated with but make sure it doesn’t become a distraction.
• TIP 7 – Work in Time Blocks
  • Start Finishing – How to Go From Idea to Done by Charlie Gilkey
  • Focus Time Blocks – 90-120 minutes blocks of time when we’re especially creative, inspired, and able to do high-level work that requires your focus.
    • Critical – NO distractions / turn off all alerts / close email / turn off your phone
  • Social Time Blocks – 90-120 minute blocks of time when we’re primed and energetically in the right space to meet other people. This is interacting with people in real time. This is your video and audio time when you’re home and have meetings, set calls, etc.  
    • Critical – Spread these out throughout the day otherwise it will drain you. Also, take your calls on a walk. 
  • Administrative Time Blocks – 30-60 minutes low-energy blocks of time when we’re not in the zone to do the work that requires “heavy lifting” but there is still work we can do effectively. Email, phone calls, CRM work, digital, paper filing, low-level filing, organizing, etc.
    • Critical – Batch admin tasks together which means lumping the same kind of work together (30 minutes of e-mailing, 30 minutes of calls, 30 minutes of CRM updates).
  • Recovery Time Blocks – variable length blocks of time that we use for activities that recharge us such as a lunch break without a screen, going for a 15-minute mid morning or mid afternoon walk to “move the body and rest the mind”
    • Critical – Do NOT underestimate or devalue the importance of the recovery time block especially working from home. You need to recharge and the quality of your work won’t suffer.
  • It’s key you match your time block with your energy level.
• TIP 8 – Develop a Workday Shutdown Ritual
  • Work During Work Hours – Take a lunch hour and a couple of breaks for your personal tasks, then focus on work during the times you would while at the office.
  • Honor Quitting Time – Taking the necessary time to detach from work every day will ultimately make you more productive.
  • Here is my specific workday shutdown ritual:
    • One last check of email
    • One last check of work platforms like WeChat, Slack, etc.
    • Check my calendar for tomorrow’s appointments
    • Begin to create my Key3 or at least the list of tasks for tomorrow
    • Physically shut my laptop down and audibly say “Case Closed”
      • Sounds silly but it’s a trigger that lets me know I’m officially off the work clock and I’m now on HST – home standard time.