Tag: Workplace Wisdom

 

Working at home can give you great freedom and the chance to set your own hours, control your own working patterns and essentially – be your own boss. You aren’t tied to your desk, you have more flexibility for other things outside of work, and there’s no one looking over your shoulder.

All these are fantastic benefits of being a freelancer or sole trader working from a home office, but they can also lead to a productivity-draining downside. When you manage your own time, it’s very easy to slip into bad habits and procrastination. Your home and social life can bleed into your work time, so you never get as much done as you’d like. Working alone, there’s no one else to pick up the slack, so boosting productivity and efficiency is your sole responsibility.

Eight top productivity tips for working at home

Luckily, there are lots of things you can do to avoid distractions and get more done in your home office. Let’s start with the layout of the office itself…

1. Have a dedicated workspace – preferably with a closing door! Some people think that all they need is a table or even just a laptop to work at home. Yes, you can technically do your work while sitting on the sofa or at the kitchen table, but you definitely won’t be as productive as you need to be. Such an unprofessional setup won’t help your mindset, you won’t have easy access to all the equipment you need, and importantly, there will be constant distractions, from phone calls to that pile of dirty dishes crying out to be cleaned up, interrupting your work. You need a dedicated workspace, even if it’s just a desk in a spare bedroom where you can set everything up the way you like it and shut the door on everything non-work-related.
2. Clean, organise and de-clutter your workspace. A clean, ordered workspace will help you to organise your workflow and your processes, and a spring clean is a great way to kick off your new super-productive way of working. Don’t forget to let lots of natural light in, add in a plant or two and give yourself a nice view or even just a painting to look at – these will boost your mood and energy levels and help you with your workday.  For more tips on organising your home office space, read our blog about organising a home office.
3. Eliminate unnecessary distractions. The more distractions you can cut out of your day, the more you can focus and concentrate on the task at hand. One thing that can massively disrupt your workday is the phone ringing, as well as deliveries at the front door. You can get rid of these distractions, but still get all of your essential calls, messages and mail, by making use of a virtual office, as we wrote about in our blog about the benefits of a virtual office. Virtual offices offer professional reception and call answering services, so you’ll never miss a crucial call, and also have the extra advantage of giving you the credibility boost of a professional postal address. Without the phone ringing every two minutes, you’re bound to boost your output and achieve more of your daily goals.

As All Business Expert writes:

“A business virtual office supplies an affordable and brilliant option for even the smallest budgets to operate a business like a major operation.”

4. Track your time. Time is, in many ways, one of the biggest enemies of the home worker. It’s so easy to lose track of how long a task takes you to complete, or to lose minutes or even hours on procrastination and distraction. Productivity expert Anne McGurty, quoted in an article on Forbes.com, recommends setting a fixed work routine to help you manage your time. She says:

“Working from home takes self-discipline, and that means getting things done in the right time,”

“One way to keep your day on schedule is to set a daily start and stop time for working. The structure of a routine will help you avoid procrastination and boost your productivity.”

“If you’re always wondering where the time went, consider using one of the many free online apps, such as RescueTime, to help you track your activities.”

You may also want to consider adopting new work patterns, such as the Pomodoro technique. This involves using a timer app to work in chunks of 25 minutes at a time, with a 5-minute break. It is designed to encourage maximum focus and keep energy and creativity high – this article on Lifehack.org can tell you more about the technique and help you figure out if it’s right for you.

5. List and prioritise your tasks every morning. To keep focused during your working day, make a list of everything you need to do that day before you start. Make sure you’re realistic in how much you can actually get done, or you’ll constantly feel dissatisfied at the end of each day.
6. Invest in the right equipment. In order to work like a professional, you need to have a professional set up – this is one of the tips advised by Zenhabits.net, which looks at how to balance productivity with staying sane.  This means spending some money on the equipment you need, from a decent wireless printer (that doesn’t require minutes of wrangling before it works) to a comfortable chair with the right back support.
7. Drink lots of water and eat proper meals at proper times. This is all part of keeping to a routine and also keeping yourself motivated, in a good mood and full of energy. If you want to be productive, it’s important to look after yourself.
8. Consider co-working. Sometimes, it can be a real motivation boost to be in an environment of fellow professionals, all innovating and working hard. Even if you’re happy in your home office, it can be helpful to spend a few hours a week in a co-working office space – you never know, you may even make some important new contacts!

For more advice on maximising productivity and efficiency, no matter what kind of office space you work in, subscribe to the  WorkWell blog for regular updates, top tips and useful information.

On 22 and 23 July 2016, athletics stars from around the world met at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for one of the world’s biggest athletics events – the iconic IAAF Diamond League.

While we watch in awe as the best athletes across the globe compete at the iconic stadium, WorkWell, a top-quality and well-facilitated Yorkshire business centre, explores what tricks business owners can learn from top athletes.

1. Resilience

Top business leaders are resilient. Top athletes are resilient. In fact, one of the key symbols of business proficiency and effectiveness is the ability to be resilient. A business owner with resilience will bounce back quicker from setbacks. They will overcome problems with tenacity, and they will keep their team moving in the right direction.

In his business advice book ‘How the Mighty Fail’, Jim Collins identifies resilience as a key skill of a business leader. This resilience helps get businesses through tough times. Resilient business leaders and professionals embrace flexible business structures and adapt quickly to changes. They are not afraid to take calculated risks to achieve innovation and success.

As this ‘Ready To Manage’ blog post ‘Resilience Factor in Leadership’ points out:

“Resiliency is sometimes seen as the ability to cope with stress and life’s challenges, and to draw upon the emotional reserves that have been built up for the tough times.”

Resilience is also a key word in athletics. When faced with opponents, intense physical challenges, injuries, difficult competitions, and more, a top athlete needs to adapt well in the face of such challenges and ‘bounce back’ from such penetrating trials. Top athletes need to be resilient. As the saying goes, “you only fail when you give up the battle”. As discussed in our last blog post, ‘Do business mistakes make us stronger?’, tenacity, courage, and accountability are all key characteristics of great business leaders and successful entrepreneurs.

2. Commitment

If there is one quality a top athlete possesses, it is commitment. From sticking to meticulous training schedules to eating the right food, the world’s best athletes are truly committed to their sport. This enduring commitment is how they got to the top in the first place.

To be at the top of their game, business owners should show the same levels of commitment as top athletes. Being committed to your business and your team has many positive consequences. It not only helps drive your business forward but will also inspire the rest of your team, encouraging them to show similar levels of commitment.

As Forbes writes:

“By proving your commitment to the brand and your role, you will not only earn the respect of your team, but will also instil that same hardworking energy among your staff. It is important to show your commitment not only to the work at hand, but also to your promises.”

3. Confidence

According to sports psychologist, consultant and author, Dr Jim Taylor, “confidence is the single most important mental factor in sports.” Being confident and having confidence in themselves means athletes believe in their ability to achieve their goals.

Dr Taylor goes one step further, stating that athletes require prime confidence.

“Prime confidence is a deep, lasting, and resilient belief in one’s ability. With prime confidence, you are able to stay confident even when you’re not performing well. Prime confidence keeps you positive, motivated, intense, focused, and emotionally in control when you need it”.

Another trick business leaders can learn from top athletes is how to utilise this prime confidence to their advantage. From having the confidence to adopt flexible business structures, to possessing the confidence that your business idea will work and then having the confidence to make it work, prime confidence helps business owners to stay positive, motivated, intense, focused, and emotionally in control: all key symbols in business success.

Top athletes who became successful entrepreneurs

Given the reciprocated qualities between athletes and entrepreneurs, it is hardly surprising that many of the world’s best athletes went on to become business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Take, for example, Oscar De La Hoya. Boxing’s ‘Golden Boy’ won five titles in different weight classes and in 1992 was crowned an Olympic Gold Medallist. The boxer-come-businessman now owns a management company (Golden Boy Promotions), which comprises numerous businesses and brings in $100 million in revenue each year.

US basketball superstar Michael Jordan is another top athlete who is now a respected entrepreneur. The Chicago Bulls champ owns a company known as the Charlotte Bobcats. It is believed Jordan bought the company for $175 million.

London Anniversary Games 2016

In the meantime, if you want to be inspired by some of the world’s leading athletes, watch the excitement unfold at the London Anniversary Games for the IAAF Diamond League on 22 – 23 July. These highly anticipated Games come just weeks before the Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games get underway, held on 5 – 21 August 2016 and the 7 – 18 September 2016, respectively 2016.

Whether you’re a veteran business owner in a Yorkshire business centre or a start-up business owner in Essex, taking a leaf out of the book of the world’s top athletes will help put you on the track to business success.

If you’d like your business to excel, take a look at WorkWell, a high-quality Yorkshire business centre on the outskirts of Leeds.

Our superior quality serviced offices in Leeds and meeting rooms in Leeds are stylish, comfortable, modern and well-facilitated. Inspire yourself and inspire your business. Get in touch with WorkWell today to book a viewing of our office space and meeting room space to hire.