7 Best Productivity Hacks for Remote Workers.

Working from home can feel like living at work. Often finding yourself checking your email in your pajamas, snacking on chips while typing on your laptop, or taking calls from your boss while doing laundry. 

Working from home can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you have the freedom to choose your own hours, location, and style. On the other hand, you have to deal with the challenges of managing your own time, space, and energy. Remote work can be rewarding and flexible, but it also requires a lot of self-discipline, organization, and planning.

Fortunately, there are some proven productivity hacks that can help you make the most of your workday and achieve your goals. We'll go over seven of the top productivity hacks for remote workers and how you can incorporate them into your everyday routine.

Here are the main topics that we’ll cover

• Hack 1: Set Clear and Realistic Goals
• Hack 2: Create a Dedicated and Comfortable Workspace
• Hack 3: Establish a Consistent and Flexible Routine
• Hack 4: Use the Pomodoro Technique or Other Timeboxing Methods
• Hack 5: Automate or Delegate Tasks That are Repetitive
• Hack 6: Communicate Effectively and Efficiently with Your Team and Clients
• Hack 7: Learn New Skills and Stay Updated on Industry Trends
• Conclusion

You Might Also be Interested in

• How to Set Up a Home Office That Boosts Your Productivity
• 5 Habits of Highly Productive Remote Workers You Need to Adopt
• 10 Time Management Tips for Remote Workers to Boost Productivity

Hack 1: Set Clear and Realistic Goals 

One of the keys to being productive is having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish and how you will get there. Setting SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals for each day and week can help you prioritize your tasks, manage your time, and stay focused.

To make your goal-setting process easier, you can use a tool like Trello or Asana to create and organize your projects, tasks, and subtasks. These tools allow you to assign deadlines, labels, checklists, comments, and attachments to each task, and track your progress visually using boards, lists, and cards.

Using Trello or Asana can also help you collaborate with your team members, share feedback, and update them on your status. You can sync these tools with other apps like Google Calendar, Slack, or Dropbox to streamline your workflow.

Hack 2: Create a Dedicated and Comfortable Workspace

Another important factor that affects your productivity is your work environment. Working from home can be tempting to work from your bed, couch, or kitchen table, but these places are not conducive to concentration and efficiency.

Instead, you should create a dedicated and comfortable workspace that mimics an office setting. This means having a desk, a chair, a computer, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, a headset, and any other equipment or accessories that you need for your work.

You should also make sure that your workspace is well-lit, ventilated, and noise-free. You can use curtains, blinds, lamps, fans, or air conditioners to adjust the lighting and temperature. You can also use headphones, earplugs, or white noise machines to block out any external sounds.

Creating a dedicated workspace can help you separate your work from your personal life, avoid distractions, and boost your focus. It can also signal to yourself and others that you are in work mode and not available for interruptions.

Hack 3: Establish a Consistent and Flexible Routine

Working from home gives you the freedom to choose when and how you work. However, this also means that you have to be responsible for managing your own schedule and maintaining a healthy balance between work and life.

To do this, you should establish a consistent and flexible routine that suits your natural rhythm and preferences. For example, if you are a morning person, you might want to start your workday early and finish by mid-afternoon. If you are a night owl, you might prefer to work late into the night and sleep in the next day.

Whatever your preference, you should stick to a regular schedule that allows you to get enough sleep, eat well, and take care of yourself. You should also include breaks, exercise, and social interaction in your routine to avoid stress, burnout, and isolation.

Taking breaks throughout the day can help you recharge your energy, refresh your mind, and improve your mood. You can use breaks to stretch, meditate, read, listen to music, or do something else that relaxes you.

Exercise is also essential for your physical and mental health. It can help you stay fit, boost your immune system, release endorphins, and enhance your creativity. You can exercise at home using online videos, apps, or equipment, or go outside for a walk, run, or bike ride.

Social interaction is another important aspect of working from home. It can help you feel connected, supported, and valued. You can interact with your colleagues using tools like Slack, Zoom, or Loom to chat, call, or video conference. You can also join online communities or groups related to your industry or interests to network, learn, and share ideas. You can also reach out to your friends and family using social media or phone calls to catch up and have fun.

Hack 4: Use the Pomodoro Technique or Other Timeboxing Methods

One of the challenges of working from home is staying motivated and productive without external supervision or pressure. It can be easy to procrastinate or lose track of time when you have no deadlines or meetings to attend.

To overcome this challenge, you can use the Pomodoro technique or other timeboxing methods to divide your work into manageable chunks and avoid procrastination and burnout.

The Pomodoro technique is a simple but effective method that involves working for 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break. After four pomodoros, you take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. You can use a timer or an app like Tomato Timer or Focus Booster to keep track of your pomodoros and breaks.

The benefits of using the Pomodoro technique are that it helps you focus on one task at a time, improve your concentration, reduce distractions, and increase your productivity. It also helps you maintain a healthy rhythm of work and rest, and prevent fatigue and stress.

Other timeboxing methods that you can use are the 52/17 method, the 90/20 method, or the 2-minute rule. The 52/17 method involves working for 52 minutes and resting for 17 minutes. The 90/20 method involves working for 90 minutes and resting for 20 minutes. The 2-minute rule involves doing any task that takes less than two minutes immediately, instead of postponing it.

You can experiment with different timeboxing methods and find the one that works best for you.

Hack 5: Automate or Delegate Tasks That are Repetitive

Another way to boost your productivity is to automate or delegate tasks that are repetitive, low-value, or outside your expertise. These tasks can take up a lot of your time and energy, and prevent you from focusing on your core competencies and high-value activities.

To automate or delegate these tasks, you can use tools like Zapier, IFTTT, or Fiverr. Zapier and IFTTT are platforms that allow you to create workflows or recipes that connect different apps and services, and perform actions automatically based on triggers. For example, you can use Zapier to automatically send an email to a new subscriber, or use IFTTT to automatically post a tweet when you publish a blog post.

Fiverr is a marketplace that connects you with freelancers who offer various services, such as graphic design, web development, copywriting, video editing, and more. You can hire someone to do a task for you for as low as $5, and save yourself time and hassle.

By automating or delegating tasks that are not essential or not within your skill set, you can free up your schedule, optimize your workflow, and focus on what matters most.

Hack 6: Communicate Effectively and Efficiently with Your Team and Clients

Communication is crucial for remote work, as it helps you stay in touch with your team and clients, collaborate on projects, share ideas, and solve problems. However, communication can also be challenging for remote workers, as it can be difficult to convey tone, emotion, and context through text or voice alone.

To communicate effectively and efficiently with your team and clients, you should use tools like Slack, Zoom, or Loom. Slack is a messaging app that allows you to chat with your team members in real-time, create channels for different topics or projects, send files and images, and integrate with other apps. Zoom is a video conferencing app that allows you to host or join meetings with your team or clients, share your screen, record sessions, and use features like breakout rooms or polls. Loom is a video recording app that allows you to record your screen, voice, and face, and share the video with your team or clients via email or link.

Using these tools can help you communicate more clearly, effectively, and efficiently with your team and clients. They can also help you build rapport, trust, and engagement with them.

However, communication can also be overwhelming for remote workers if they are constantly bombarded with messages, calls, or emails. To avoid this situation, you should set boundaries and expectations for availability and response time. You should communicate when you are online or offline, when you are working or taking a break, when you are available for calls or meetings, and when you will reply to messages or emails. You should also respect the boundaries and expectations of others. This way, you can avoid interruptions, misunderstandings, conflicts, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Hack 7: Learn New Skills and Stay Updated on Industry Trends

The last but not least productivity hack for remote workers is to learn new skills and stay updated on industry trends. Remote work can be an opportunity to expand your knowledge, improve your abilities, and advance your career. However, it can also be challenging to find the time, motivation, and resources to learn and grow.

To overcome this challenge, you can use online courses, podcasts, newsletters, or blogs to learn new skills and stay updated on industry trends. Online courses are a great way to acquire in-depth knowledge and certification on various topics, such as web development, digital marketing, data science, or graphic design. You can find online courses on platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare, or edX.

Podcasts are a convenient and entertaining way to listen to experts, influencers, or peers share their insights, tips, or stories on various topics, such as entrepreneurship, productivity, creativity, or personal development. You can find podcasts on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.

Newsletters are a quick and easy way to get curated and relevant information on your industry, niche, or interests. You can subscribe to newsletters from reputable sources like The Hustle, Morning Brew, The Skimm, or Medium.

Blogs are a rich and diverse source of content that can help you learn from others’ experiences, opinions, or advice on various topics. You can follow blogs from authoritative sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Harvard Business Review, or Fast Company.

Using these resources can help you learn new skills and stay updated on industry trends. They can also help you discover new opportunities, inspire new ideas, and spark your curiosity.

Conclusion

We have shared with you seven of the best productivity hacks for remote workers, and how you can implement them in your daily routine. These hacks are:

• Set clear and realistic goals for each day and week, and track your progress using a tool like Trello or Asana.
• Create a dedicated and comfortable workspace that minimizes distractions and maximizes focus.
• Establish a consistent and flexible routine that suits your natural rhythm and preferences, and includes breaks, exercise, and social interaction.
• Use the Pomodoro technique or other timeboxing methods to divide your work into manageable chunks and avoid procrastination and burnout.
• Automate or delegate tasks that are repetitive, low-value, or outside your expertise, using tools like Zapier, IFTTT, or Fiverr.
• Communicate effectively and efficiently with your team and clients, using tools like Slack, Zoom, or Loom, and setting boundaries and expectations for availability and response time.
• Learn new skills and stay updated on industry trends, using online courses, podcasts, newsletters, or blogs.

We hope that these productivity hacks will help you make the most of your workday and achieve your goals. We also encourage you to try them out and share it with your friends and colleagues. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to get more tips and tricks on how to work smarter and better from home. Happy working!