Working From Home Successfuly

Struggle no more to stay on task while working from home!

The pandemic CONTINUES and many of us are still working from home, and are finding that things are not going back to normal any time soon. As Real Estate Agents, we generally have more atypical schedules and working hours than the general public, so listen up when we tell you our TOP SIX tips for staying productive at home

1. Designate a work space.

   We hate to break it to you, but your couch is not your office. Your bed, sorry, not it either….the kitchen, NOPE. Put a desk SOMEWHERE, turn off and tune out distractions and get to work. Yes,  it’s tempting to move around the house and multitask, because lap tops are portable. However, keeping your work space in one place allows you to focus, have supplies like pens, paper, notepads, calendars, etc at your disposal and  be more productive overall.

2.  Get dressed! 

   You don’t need to put on your Power Suit, but simply wash your face, drink your coffee (or whatever a morning routine looks like for you) and put on clothes that are not pajamas! This gets will get you in the right headspace for having a productive day. If you’ve ever seen the Big Lebowski you know who  we are referencing here: Don’t be The Dude, as tempting as it sounds.

3. Maintain office hours

   This one is pretty self-explanatory so we like to take is a step further, and recommend that you block your time. This just means put it ALL on your calendar. At Keller Williams one of our “BOLD Laws” says, “If it is not on your calendar, it doesn’t exist.” We also strongly recommend that you protect the time that you are NOT working, schedule a lunchbreak, and your personal time. Studies show that employees that take a lunch break are actually MORE productive than those who don’t. Allowing your mind to reset, recharge and fueling your brain gives you a boost to stay productive throughout the afternoon. We all know and understand the importance of self-care right now – so put that on your calendar too!

4. Keep a tidy work station

   Now that you have your designated office space, are dressed, and have blocked your time, go ahead and schedule the last 10 minutes of your day for tidying up your work space. Make sure you have a workspace that makes sense, and is organized. MANY studies have shown that our physical environments significantly influence our cognition, emotions, and behavior, affecting our decision-making and relationships with others. Cluttered spaces can have negative effects on our stress and anxiety levels, as well as our ability to focus, our eating choices, and even our sleep. This is certainly not a recipe for productivity. Give it a shot, you may be surprised.

5. Minimize Distractions

   We already touched on this a little bit, but just to drive it home – no TV’s, turn off the distractions and FOCUS.

6. Check-in with your team

   Establish a daily check-in with your team via phone call, texts and emails, and a weekly video conference. We like to schedule a team Zoom check-in every Monday, to review team business, set our intentions for the week and boost teammate morale.

   Email alone for commuication and productivity is generally insufficient. Remote workers benefit from having video conferencing, that gives participants many of the visual cues that they would have if they were face-to-face. Video conferencing has many advantages, especially for smaller groups: Visual cues allow for increased “mutual knowledge” about coworkers and also help reduce the sense of isolation among teams. Absolutely essential!

And with that we will leave you with this gem from American businessman, educator & author Stephen Covey “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities”.