Due to the social distancing nature of the Pandemic, the majority of the world workforce was sent home to conduct their daily work tasks. You might have been one of these people that needed to adapt your work-life overnight, you also might have had some issues adapting due to the rapid pace of change and new technology requirements. However, being productive as you once were in the office can be the same at home with some of the following organizational habits. In this article, I am going to let you know how to become organized when working from home and I hope you take to heart what you will learn below and start implementing these new habits into your everyday work-at-home life!

1. Write Things Down

I will be the first to admit, I can be forgetful from time to time about certain things, but I am also that guy who remembers the price of gas last week or how to hike to the top of a peak 800 kilometers away (weird right?). But I am also that guy when it comes to a small thought of something that needs to get done or a great idea that comes to me at 3 am, I am the first to forget.

By using some type of notes app like Evernote or OneNote or the Notes app in IOS, you are always a couple taps away to writing down that next million dollar idea, place to visit, book to read or recommendation from the guy sitting next to you at the bar. Keeping these notes organized when working from home is a whole other article but I suggest to use a template that is provided with the app or online as there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

2. Do Not Procrastinate

Procrastinators! You know who you are! Do not worry, I can also be one of those people after an awesome weekend or trip after really getting to disconnect. I procrastinate when I have the case of the Mondays. I procrastinate my professional work when I have not had time to watch a race and cannot check social media due to the fear of seeing who won! (Damn you Instagram Algorithm)

As hard or as easy a task can be, the longer you wait to do something about it, the harder it will be to cross it off your list. When those task start to pile and pile on top of each other, it can almost feel debilitating to even get a single thing done as you are so overwhelmed to even know where to start.

By putting in the extra effort to tackle something as soon as possible, not only will it make you less anxious and stressed at the end of the day but will allow you to move onto the next task sooner and stay organized when working from home. Sitting there and procrastinating will not help you to become organized. All in all, if you want to organize yourself then don’t put off your work until tomorrow, start today.

3. Accomplish One Thing at a Time Until it is Done

I cannot multitask at all when it comes to hard thoughtful tasks, I can however when riding a dirtbike (clutch, brake, downshift, brap! Just kidding, that is not multitasking). But you might be thinking, “Hey, I multi-task all the time. During every Monday morning meeting, I sit with my video off, drink my coffee, stretch  on my yoga mat and check my email while engaging in the meeting…” If so, please STOP! Studies have shown that our brains are always switching gears to bounce back and forth between tasks.

Accomplishing one thing at a time is key to staying organized when working from home. Bouncing around and trying to accomplish multiple tasks at once while slowly finishing them bit by bit is not what we call time management. You are more prone to making mistakes and you are less efficient when it come to completing a task. Our monkey brains cannot support it and the research shows it, unless your that 2.5% of the population who can multitask effectively, please stop… In short, if you want to stay organized then focus on accomplishing ONE THING AT A TIME until its completed.

3A. Pro Tip: Use The Pomodoro Technique To Get Things Done

The Pomodoro technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in 1978 and has been used for decades now. This method works because it forces us to take breaks throughout the day. By setting yourself up for success, you are able to complete things faster than ever before. We recommend starting out with 25 minutes per session.

4. Batch Tasks

Super organizers or the super organized as I like to call them batch tasks. Batching you might ask? Batching is organizing and then collecting all of your similar tasks and doing them all at once. You can conduct batch work for the day, the week, or even the month depending on the task at hand.

Batching can practically eliminate your disorganization overnight and help you get organized when working from home! Need to send an email? Sit down and send out every single email that needs to get sent out that day and so on. Don’t just send out one single email and then another in another hour. Switching tasks every few minutes ruins your concentration and lowers your productivity. Needing to check your email? Check it at a certain time of day and reply at the time of day. If your client asks why you did not respond within the hour, send them this article and they will love you for it! Needing to write an article for your blog? Sit down and write multiple articles in one morning instead of dabbling here and there throughout the week to get it done.

5. Plan Ahead and Be Proactive – Set Deadlines

Plan ahead by making schedules and deadlines. Your calendar is your friend, not your worst enemy. Organized professionals don’t waste time. Time is our worst enemy and by maximizing each and every minute keeps us more productive. Being organized goes hand in hand with time management.

By simply being unorganized you will have less time to reach your deadlines and smash your goals! Do you have a 3-month plan, 1-year plan, 5-year plan, 10 years plus plan? Are you working towards those goals or have you not even thought about them? Life is short and as the legendary rapper NAS said “life’s a B!†©h and then you die…” So maybe we should get to work, set some goals, and stick to them!

6. Get Rid Of The Unnecessary Stuff In Your Home

When was the last time you did a proper purge in your house? When was the last time you actually used that old backpack or pair of sneakers that has a hole in it? More stuff, means more clutter and when wanting to be and live an organized life when working from home you need to get rid of the access junk laying around.

Ask yourself, do you really need that? Or is it more of a “I want that” type of object that is taking up space? Have you ever felt like you do not have enough space in your house or apartment to keep everything? Instead of renting a storage space or buying a bigger house or apartment, remember these seven easy words that the great Merle Haggard sang: “If you don’t love it, leave it!”

When in doubt, throw it out! And this analogy is not for that week old Chinese food sitting in your fridge.

7. Limit Distractions & Turn OFF Notifications

Do you ever feel anxious while working at home due to always needing to fix, change, clean, and or add something new to your house? While working from home has many added benefits due to flexibility in your workday, it also has its drawbacks. The major negative aspects from working from home are the constant distractions and phone notifications. Its imperative to set boundaries around work hours to help you and other room mates and children, to respect your work time especially if you are working on your companies time. Being my own boss, so many friends and family think I am always available to talk whenever due to my flexible schedule, which is not true at all.

Turn off notifications from common distractions that are not work related. Phone notifications, social media notifications, non-work related email notifications etc. I recommend silencing your phone or even if you have a super bad problem with needing to check your phone all the times, to turn on airplane mode. You can download social media blockers for your computer browser such as StayFocused or the Freedom app for your phone. That way you aren’t checking to see how many new likes your Instagram post got from your amazing weekend get away (so jealous, I know).

 8. Make an at Home Office Space

When working at home it is extremely important to distinguish an official mental workspace when it is time to get work done. You cannot, repeat, CANNOT let your bedroom also be your office. You need to keep your bedroom as your place for rest and sleep. If you start assimilating your bedroom with work, how are you going to sleep at night when all you will ever be thinking about is work.

For example, I have created an extra bedroom in my apartment into my at home office/gear storage room. So whenever I step into that room my little monkey brain knows that it is time to get to work if it be smashing out a new strategy for a client or preparing for another epic adventure. However, when I leave my home office for the day, I can shut the door, put my computer to sleep and turn off business mode for the day. I can then switch my brain to concentrate on at home work, exercise, errands or anything else I need to get done that day that does not revolve around work.

Pro Tip/Public Service Announcement: Please also go and invest in a nice comfortable chair that helps you keep good posture. Your 80 year old self will thank you!

9. Create a Work Schedule

Everyone is different and works better at different times of the day. For one, I am not a morning person, I need time to wake up and I always enjoy when I have time to drink my morning coffee.

Working at home is nothing like that, no commute, no meal prep for lunch, no ironing your shirt. You can wake up and get right to work if you so desire. Yet the million dollar question is: are you creating a productive work routine to maximize your output for the day ahead?

It is imperative you add some structure to your day! It helps you plan your day better, your week, your meetings, your free-time, and most importantly your vacations. Separating a divide between work time and home time is crucial to keep from burn out and anxiety.

P.S. My Work Schedule: Since I get asked this a lot, I will quickly explain my own personal work schedule. As I work abroad in Europe while a majority of my clients are located in the United States. A typical work week morning consists of coffee and email. Then some sort of exercise in my home gym or bike/run with my dogs (need oxygen to fully wake up). A quick breakfast and news/politics/social media followed by quite time (no needing to silence my phone while my clients are sleeping in the USA!) to accomplish hard tasks with zero distractions. Late lunch normally between 14:00-15:00ish followed by house work/side projects to fight off that afternoon siesta. After a few hours of that, meetings, communication via slack, revisions and more business work til about 20:30-21:00 to accommodate the 9 hour time change. Followed by dinner, dog walk, reading and if time allows, Netflix and Chill.

10. Learn How To Say No

Via zoom, phone, email, slack, the requests just always keep coming via work or personal life. The inflow of questions and favors can be daunting. Your business success and personal well being also depend on how well you manage or mismanage these constant requests. If you constantly keep saying yes, you will spread yourself thin and take time/energy away from staying organized and on top of your principle work tasks. Say no, you could hurt a relationship with a co-worker, friend or have a serious case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

I have also had to learn to say No to people as I always find myself with that case of FOMO or fear of letting someone down. The best solution I have found and constantly use throughout my life is Bruce Tulgan of the Harvard Business Review, found a framework that I believe works wonders. It consists of three parts:

1. Asses the Ask

2. Deliver a well-reasoned No

3. Give a Yes that sets you up for success.

Pretty simple right? Assessing the ask consists of doing some due diligence before your response. Ask questions, clarify on misunderstandings, make the ask well defined.

A thoughtful no is about timing and logic. Easy no’s are all about things that are not allowed, time constraining, illegal, impossible, cannot be done and should not be done. Give your best judgement and respond with a logical explanation.

But with every good NO comes times for an even better YES! These yeses normally enhance your reputation, build a stronger relationship and most importantly adds value to the table. A good yes aligns itself with your mission (or companies missions), values, ground rules, and priorities. If you can complete this task well, fast and with confidence, tee that sucker up and knocker her out of the park!

Did COVID Change Working at Home Forever?

That is up for debate as we are still seeing the after affects of the Virus and how to it might have changed the Office space forever. To be quite frank with you, I hope it does and for the better. Once you become accustom to working at home, you may never want to go back to the office or reduce your time spent in the office. One study so far from Up-work asked hiring managers: “What, if anything, about remote work at your organization has worked well? Surprisingly 32% said they have seen an increase in productivity! That statistic is a very optimistic result for future adoption and future productivity in the labor market  working remotely and at home. 

In conclusion, there is no doubt that working from home is here to stay, but full time? We will have to wait and see. We need to adapt our ways of thinking and working together to accommodate this new way of working. I hope the above 10 game changing habits will help you get more productive and organized when working from home.

How do you feel about working from home? Do you think it will change the workplace forever? Let me know what you think below. Let us know on our instagram page, we are more receptive there than spam robots who like leaving comments here! Or you can always send us an email!

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As always,

💜

The Amplific Lab Team!