One of the challenges when working from home is learning to be fully responsible for your own workload. Juggling multiple tasks is much harder when there is no boss leaning over your shoulder. So how do you stay on-task and make sure everything gets done? Here are some powerful tips.
1. Eat the Frog
One crucial tip from Mark Twain is to always tackle the biggest and most difficult task first. This means that you’re going to tick the biggest item on your to-do list off first, which in turn means that you’ll have started the day by being hugely productive. That also means that if you run out of time, then the hardest job (and usually the most important) will be done. AND it means that you can tackle this job while you are fresh and before you get tired by the end of the day.
Big tasks are better behind you, than in front of you!
2. The One-Minute Rule
The one-minute rule dictates that any job that will take less than one minute (shooting off a quick email, fixing a broken link on a website) should be completed right away. This is such a minor interruption to your day as to not have a negative impact on your workflow. BUT by completing it now, it will be one less thing that you have to do.
Keep in mind that you shouldn’t switch tasks. If you are deep in work, then turn off notifications and deal with the one-minute tasks when you finish.
3. Zombie Tasks
Finally, there is one other category of the task I would like to address: the zombie task.
So what is a zombie task?
Essentially, this is any kind of task that doesn’t require you to be particularly focussed. For example, you might need to edit a slide or two on your presentation, or you might need to put notes into a CRM. These are jobs that you can do while doing something else.
These can be structured differently in order to allow for additional productivity or even some kind of downtime. Writing, editing, or communicating for long stints is tiring and can get dull, so why not treat yourself to an episode of your favorite show while you do your mundane tasks? Or better yet, watch a video on YouTube about handling difficult customers (take a peek here: www.youtube.com/AlenMayer) that you can then use in order to better do your job in the future?
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Working from home is all about having the right mindset. It’s about shifting the way you think about work, and it’s about training yourself to be able to operate with an incredible focus.
Imagine being able to sit down and complete a day’s work in 5 hours. That’s not a far-fetched fairy tale: it’s something that countless people can do with time and practice.
You could start work at 7 am (with the discipline to get up early) and you could be finished by 12pm! You could have the whole rest of the day free.
We wrote a brand new report which shows you step-by-step how to successfully work from home, become more productive, get more done, all without going crazy.
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