Thousands of employees are being told that they must work remotely effective immediately! If you are one of them and have not previously worked at home, that can be challenging.
We must shift away from thinking about work in terms of completing a set number of hours and you are done for the day to a focus on getting things done. We need to be moving towards creating your list of tasks or goals for the day or week and then doing whatever it takes to complete them and check them off of the list.
This is important for all employees, whether you are being paid an hourly wage or a fixed salary. If you are one of the many employees who work from home or from a remote office, it is even more important that you utilize a proven process to help you maintain a high level of productivity. With the distractions that come with a remote office, a day will come and go and you will have only accomplished a fraction of what you really needed to have completed.
So how do you make the most of every day? It starts by creating two “TO DO” lists. Find a time each week, at a consistent day and hour if possible, and review your tasks that you need to complete in the next seven days. Next, start off the business day by creating a detailed list of the tasks or projects that you should complete by the end of the day. (The “End” of the day could be 5:00 p.m. or midnight.) Share the contents of both of these lists with your supervisor.
Check off the items during the day as you complete the tasks. This does three things for you:
1) Gives you a sense of accomplishment
2) Minimizes the chance that an important task will slip through the cracks
3) Communicates to your supervisor that you are really working!