How to stay focussed when working remotely
Staying focused while working remotely shouldn’t be about pushing yourself to work harder, but instead creating a remote working strategy to manage your energy and motivation throughout the day. By prioritising a motivated mindset over longer hours, you can improve your productivity and the quality of your work life at the same time.
Give yourself a break
We can’t sit in front of a computer and work at 100% all day. The idea that long, uninterrupted work sessions are the best way to be productive is wildly outdated. In fact, the evidence shows that short work sessions with frequent breaks for relaxation and fun actually boost productivity.
Productivity app DeskTime conducted a study on the work behaviour of their most productive employees. On average, their most productive employees worked for just over 50 minutes at a time, taking breaks of almost 20 minutes between each task.
So how did they get anything done?
Those lengthy breaks were usually spent away from their desk getting some fresh air, exercising or just chatting to co-workers. By the time workers got back to their desks, they felt refreshed and had reset their minds ready for the next task. As a result, those employees were able to maintain high productivity throughout the day, outperforming staff who spent all day at their desk without recharging.
According to research by the Cornell University Ergonomics Research Laboratory, workers who are reminded to take short breaks throughout the day also make 13% fewer mistakes. A Tork survey found that 90% of employees that take their regular breaks on time say it boosts their performance, and 81% report increased motivation as a result.
Despite sometimes being seen as a sign of laziness, even a quick nap can help you get the most out of your work hours. A study by NASA on drowsy pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved alertness by 100% and performance by 34%. When you’re feeling tired a cup of strong coffee might keep you going without taking a break, but it won’t be your best work.
Depending on caffeine to replenish your energy has been linked to a host of mental and physical health problems including stress and high blood pressure. Taking a nap instead is a healthier and more effective way to boost your energy.
Even if you already feel well-rested, taking a nap in the middle of the day can improve your:
Logic and reasoning
Reaction time
Motor skills
Short-term memory
Overall mood
A short nap of less than half an hour has an immediate effect on your productivity. Longer naps of more than 2 hours can give even greater benefits to your productivity, however, this is enough time for sleep inertia (grogginess) to kick in, so you should plan around that if it is something you are prone to.
Make yourself accountable
For most of us, it's the big picture that gives us the motivation to keep going. We care about our goals and achievements and the team we build along the way. As a result, creating stronger connections between daily tasks and the bigger picture helps keep you on task.
Structure your work into projects, milestones and goals, giving a sense of progression and achievement to every workday as you watch tasks move you closer to the next goal. By setting realistic deadlines for each task and milestone, you won’t have any excuse not to get it done on time.
It is important to make yourself accountable not just to your business goals, but also your team. This can be as simple as setting up a group call while you work on separate tasks. If you are a solo operation, apps like FocusMate provide a virtual co-working space. This connects you to other professionals getting their work done.
This social connection can keep you from losing focus or drifting onto social media. Social obligations can be a powerful motivator. Research by the Dominican University of California shows that people who set clear goals and share them with friends will be 33% more successful in achieving them than people who don’t.
Creating a consequence for procrastination can also have its uses. For example, Stickk lets you set a goal and put down some of your money. Fail to reach your goal and the money is forfeited to a friend or a charity you dislike such as a rival sports team. Just remember to keep the ‘punishments’ fun and light-hearted.
Reward yourself
Positive reinforcement is one of the most effective ways to encourage higher productivity. A recent study by Cornell researchers Kaitlin Woolley and Ayelet Fishbach found that immediate rewards for completing tasks have a lasting positive impact on motivation and job satisfaction.
Create rewards for yourself and your team when you achieve goals and short-term targets. Celebrating your victories motivates further successes and builds closer teams.
Give yourself little rewards after even the small goals. For example, if you have divided your tasks into Pomodorros then a quick break after each task gives you an immediate reward for completing the task. As a result, you’ll always feel good about finishing a piece of work.
Fix your schedule - then stick to it
The best way to make sure you stick to your schedule is to create a schedule that works for you. Think carefully about how you can fit your work in around your home life and how long you can be productive between breaks. As long as you have all your work hours and contact availability accounted for, and you know you can be productive for each of those hours, it doesn’t matter how your schedule compares to a ‘normal’ workday.
Now that you have tailored a schedule around your life, you have to stick to it. Routine is a vital ingredient of productive work. When you don’t start work on time, or you don’t take a break on time, that has a rolling effect on the rest of your day. It can even carry over into the rest of the week. Because of this, if you are not able to stick to your schedule, you need to change it and create one you can stick to.
By giving yourself a hard deadline, you create urgency, which translates into motivation. A fixed deadline helps you do more in less time.
It is vital to create accountability with goals, deadlines and social interactions, especially by setting out and celebrating your accomplishments. Sticking to a schedule that works for you is the backbone of any productive work strategy.