This post originally appeared on theZapier blog.
How can you work from home while keeping your focus?
Ive been working remotely for more than nine years, collecting productivity tactics along with my friend Dan Shure.
These tricks keep us productive, regardless of where were working.
Start Your Day Right
How you start your day often determines how you end it.
Turns out theres some research to back this up: your energy and willpowerpeak in the morning.
Throughout the day, your willpower is diminished, which means youre more susceptible to distractions.
That three-hour Netflix binge sounds a lot more appealing when youve already been slacking off since the morning.
Start Work as Early as Possible
Hemingwaywrote every morning.
Richard Branson is up and about nolater than 5:45 AMeven on his private island.
Youll find that rising before the sun is a habit shared by most successful people.
This makes sense from a productivity standpoint: You have willpower and fewer distractions early in the morning.
Plus,according to one study, waking up early can also make you happier.
It will give you a small sense of pride.
And it will encourage you to do another task.
Plus, no matter what the day throws at you, its one thing you might control.
I find that it also keeps me from checking my phone in beda massive productivity killer.
Its a simple solution to a big problem.
He was talking about practicing art and music, but it also applies to work.
So clear your desk of distractionseven washing its surface will make you more productive.
make a run at plan out your to-dos the night before.
Also, clear as much of your email inbox as possible the night before.
Change Your Work Environment Regularly
I spend most of my days working from my home office.
But sometimes, I head over to a coffee shop or local co-working space to change my work environment.
Then theres the famousHawthorne Effect, where people improve their behavior when they are being observed.
However, not all environment changes have to be as drastic.
Research shows that willpower, like energy, is afinite resource.
Metaphorically, you start every day with a limited quantity of willpower points.
As you move through the daymaking (and putting off) decisionsyou spend those points.
Once youre depleted, youre prone to temptations and distractions.
Actively resisting the urge to eat a donut is harder than not having the donut at all.
I call this choosing the path of least resistance.
Instead of fighting off temptations, you remove them from your surroundings altogether.
No temptations, no willpower wasted.
If youre trying to lose weight, you wouldnt stuff your freezer with ice cream.
Youd tame your urges by eliminating your access to them.
By designing my work environment this way, I hit the ground running instead of fighting off distractions.
This conserves willpower and ensures I dont lose momentum.
I should knowI did that for years.
I had my biggest productivity gains when I started treating my work and personal areas as separate spaces.
This helps set the frame for improved productivity.
When you put in your home office, you dont expect to take a nap or watch TV.
Your brain gets spatially wired to think of the office as the place where work happens.
Plus, the separation creates a mini commute.
Simply walking from the bedroom to the office signals that youre physically moving between work and personal space.
Make Better Use of Productivity Tools
Every productive person I know has their own recipe of productivity tools.
Some of them keep it sparse, using a couple of tools at most.
Others use complicated combos to keep track of everything.
To-Do List: I switch betweenAny.doandTodoistto manage tasks.
Keybr: I write a lot.
This tool helps me throw in faster so I can get more done in less time.
Trello: I use Trello to keep track of long-term projects and collaborate with others inkanban boards.
Tasker: A powerful app for creating custom automations in Android.
Very useful if youve been struggling to keep off social media.
Youll need your own set of apps to stay focused and productive.
Check out Zapiersapp roundups and reviewsto find the best software, and check that your toolkit keeps you productive.
If a tool isnt getting the job done, its time to switch to another app.
A/B Test Different Productivity Methods
The pages of the webs most popular blogs are packed with game-changing productivity techniques.
GTD (Getting Things Done): This technique has you delegate and prioritize your tasks in lists.
ABC & Pareto Principle: This method is often used in business management.
But heres the problem: These techniques rarely work for everyone.
This sounds great if youre working on amanagers schedule, with your day broken into hour-long blocks.
However, if youre writing, coding or doing anything creative (i.e.
following a makers schedule), two breaks every 50 minutes is two breaks too many.
With this approach, youd try out technique A on Day 1 and technique B on Day 2.
This applies to productivity as well.
You could track your productivity with an app likeRescueTime, but I prefer an old fashioned method.
you might connect it to Google Sheets with a Zapier integration to automatically log each days time.
To push myself further, I create a create a lower and upper limit (in daily hours).
Dipping below the lower limit invites a penalty.
Going over the upper limit gets me a reward.
I then create a chart for the month so I know whether my productivity is going up or down.
Build Habits with the X-Cards Technique
Most of these tactics require making a new habitthe holy grail of productivity.
So, how long will that take?
Phillippa Lally is a health psychology researcher at University College London.
Im not going to tell you thats a hard-and-fast ruleyou wont magically enter habit-mode after 66 days.
But its a good benchmark to shoot for.
One way to measure your progress is by using theX-card technique.
You could also use a dedicated app like7 weeksor a good old-fashioned calendar.
On top of each card, write the habit you want to stick with.
But heres the catch: you should probably keep the streak alive.
Building a habit means taking the same action every single day.
Staying productive while working from home is a big issueperhapsthebiggest issue for remote workers.
Image byCaroline Tomlinsonvia Getty.
