Home Office - this is the current motto in many German companies. Because: Avoiding social contacts and keeping your distance is currently the be-all and end-all. No matter whether you are a newcomer or an experienced remote worker, everyone faces one or the other challenge within their own four walls. Distractions lurk everywhere, it is often difficult to switch off and productivity quickly turns into procrastination. Are you also part of the Team Home Office? Then find out here how you manage not to lose your focus and make the best of your time in the home office.

The good news first: according to a study by Stanford University, productivity in the home increases by 13%. [1] So take the chance and feel really satisfied at home at the end of your working day. That's the way to do it:


1. Conditioning

Don't start your day in the home office any differently than you start it in the office. That means get out of your pajamas and off the couch. Your brain works with conditioning and can use external stimuli to trigger specific reactions. 

Make use of this and condition yourself! While jogging pants and couch signal relaxation, a tidy workplace can help you switch to work mode more quickly.

2. Productivity instead of procrastination

Self-discipline

No matter whether you are doing the laundry or washing the dishes - home office often tempts you to do the household quickly or to do other important tasks at the same time. Here you have to discipline yourself. 

How do you do it? Establish routines and start every morning by planning your day, with Single Tasking as the keyword: Write down all tasks, prioritize them and work through them one by one. No mix and match! This way you keep your focus, stay in flow and you'll have done more at the end of the day. 

Good organization as the key to productivity

With these tools and hacks we have inherited from us, you can work through your to-do list of the day and go home with a good feeling. Let the Games begin!

  • Use a project management software

You make sure that everyone on your team knows where you stand in a project. That way the team spirit rises. As an example of such software, ASANA

  • Eat the Frog principle

Do the unpleasant tasks first. That way you stay highly motivated and full of energy for the rest of your day. 

  • Use your diary for Deep Work

Plan fixed structures and regular procedures into your weekly calendar. This way you work continuously and stay in your flow. Nothing can stop you anymore! 

  • Use your own chronotype

Are you more the early bird or the night owl? Plan your activities and free time accordingly. If you can concentrate better in the morning, you can then complete your most important tasks. In the evening you will have time and a clear head for your yoga session. 

  • Are you more the early bird or the night owl? Plan your activities and free time accordingly. If you can concentrate better in the morning, you can then complete your most important tasks. In the evening you will have time and a clear head for your yoga session. 

SItuation Home Office is a challenge for us all. Believe in yourself! You have the skills to get your tasks done. You are just as strong in your team. Stick together, support each other and believe in each other. Never before has team spirit been so much in demand.

  • Pomomodro Technique

Work more productively in intervals. Pick a task, write it down and set your alarm clock to 25 minutes. During these 25 minutes, you work exclusively on this one task. Then you take a 3-5 minute break and repeat the work interval afterwards. During the break, reward yourself with a healthy smoothie, a few burpies or a few breaths in the fresh air. 

  • Create your perfect environment

Home office is ekien excuse for not being able to work without a perfect working atmosphere. Build your own Standing Desk, get Noice Conceiling headphones, set up your computer with keyboard, screen and mouse and get started! 

TRY MOOD NOW

BRAINEFFECT HACK: Especially the postponement of unpleasant tasks is easier in the home office and you get into the procastination spiral faster. Profit here from the "Eat the Frog" principle. How it works? It's quite simple: Do the most unpleasant tasks first, instead of putting them off all day.

3. Take time for breaks

You're in the flow and you're blanking out on everything? Sounds good for now. But when it's suddenly dark outside, you haven't taken any breaks and feel burned out, things change. What sounds like productivity at first can quickly change. Because you won't be able to maintain this performance for long. In the long run you will start the day less motivated and your performance will suffer. 

The solution: Especially now it is important to switch off during breaks and after work. Therefore, take active breaks during which you go for a walk or a short home workout and leave your desk.

 

In addition, keep to your pre-determined working hours and then really close the laptop. Even if it is tempting to postpone the tasks of the day into the evening or even into the night: regeneration is important and much more than just doing nothing. Your nerves need pauses in order to process and pass on information effectively. After a break you will be able to continue working with much more energy and be more productive at the end of the day than without it.

BRAINEFFECT HACK: Your diet also plays a role. If you eat chocolate or biscuits as a break snack, the sugar crash won't take long. Nuts are better suited as brain food or the KICKBAR with extra vitamins B12 & B5 for more focus and less fatigue.

4. Conclusion

Home office may be a transition for you at first, but if you take advantage of it and create your own routines, you can boost your productivity. What's most important is self-discipline and commitment to yourself and your team - because that's the only way Home Office can work.

Make Home-Office great again!
We live in extremely challenging and exciting times. Millions of people around the world have been set up for a new or even old challenge: home office. Are you one of them? With the following two episodes we support you in your productivity and go with you on the way to see home office as a challenge you can only grow with.

5. Sources

[1] Bloom, Nicholas & Liang, James & Roberts, John & Ying, Zhichun. (2013). Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 130. 10.1093/qje/qju032. 

[2] https://books.google.de/books?hl=de&lr=&id=ads_BgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=single+tasking&ots=03McEKiGYE&sig=qVFAnGf34I45Ol8G_bdxtf7ohL8#v=onepage&q=single%20tasking&f=false

[3] https://hbr.org/2019/08/is-it-time-to-let-employees-work-from-anywhere