10 THINGS TO INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY WHILE WORING AT HOME
YORAM BALTINESTER AUTHOR, SPEAKER, COACH, ENTREPRENUER Copyrighted by Yoram Baltinester
About Yoram Baltinester leverages his multi-disciplinary experience with technology and personal development to partner with highperforming entrepreneurs and leaders to drive better results in their businesses, develop their teams, and increasing their level of leadership.
it does not distract you. 2. Plan your day.
Define your start and end time, just like you would do in a job. You may tweak your schedule to match the hours when you know you are the
A lot of people find themselves these days working from home. Work-
most effective. To make the most out of this defined time, you must plan
ing for a home for a few days would be fine for most people. The prob-
it using whatever tool you normally use: A planner, an app, or just a to-
lem is that no one knows how temporary this kind of distancing is. This
do list written by hand. At home, it becomes more important because of
temporary situation might take longer than expected; way longer.
the higher likelihood of distractions.
In 2011, I found that it would be beneficial, financially speaking, to let go
3. Dress for work. Shave. Get ready.
of our corporate office
There is something subliminal that gets
and ask our small team of
triggered when we get up and dress for
I.T. professionals to work
work, shave, or put on your make-up. You
from home. I've never
get into an energetic "work mode". Not to
gone back to having an
say that your energy is higher than normal,
office. After I sold the
it is simply the energy of working, that
company, I started doing
comes along with behavioral and thought
everything from my home
patterns that belong in that work context.
office, and I still do.
It isn't just the office that induces it, it's
Here are ten things to
your pre-work rituals. When you are at
think of. Each one of
home, repeating that ritual is helpful.
these creates a real impact on your productivity working from home. 1. Create a workspace.
4. Develop an evening routine. We all know how our morning routine affects our day. But so is the lesser noticed evening routine. As the day winds down in the office you do cer-
Find a space to use consistently for work. If you believe that the situation
tain things: shut down the computer, say goodbyes, and go home. When
is temporary it could well be the kitchen table. but dedicate it to work
you work at home, there is nowhere to go at the end of the day, and this
and while you work, make sure to remove all your home "stuff" from it so
alone could trap you in working mode. Develop a routine that signals to
36 INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE MAGAZINE
