Best Strategy for WFH and Applications to Keep You Focused from Distractions
Some people prefer working from home because of various reasons, one of them is to save transportation money. This way, they don’t have to spend money on gas or time traveling there, which is especially convenient if they live a long distance away from the office. Working from home appears to be the best way to work for most types of employees for both of these reasons. They can just stay in bed a little longer in the morning without having to get ready for work. When they get up, they can simply walk over to the computer and start working in no time.
However, as tempting as it may sound, not all businesses want to implement this working model. Why? Because they lack trust in their employees and expect them to spend their time at home doing nothing while still being paid. This significantly increases the risk for employers that employees will not take full responsibility when working from home. Another reason is that they may find distractions at home, such as having children who bother them all the time and insist on playing together, or having a messy house that they need to clean while having something else to do at work. With all of these challenges, it seems that working from home is more difficult to focus on than working in the office.
Applying Strategy for Work From Home
To get the best results of working from home, you need to develop a strategy for completing all of your work-related tasks. It may look easy to do, but when it happens, you will struggle to make good decisions in order to follow the company’s rules while still benefiting from this working model. Do you want to learn the fundamental strategies? Let’s find out together.
Make a dedicated workspace
Working from home will be difficult if you do it in an area where everyone can come and distract you from your work. Making a dedicated workspace is a good way to keep yourself in one place that you are comfortable with and can stay for an extended period of time whenever you need to start working. This special area doesn’t have to be a room. You can simply set up a space in the corner of your living room and use a room separator to block out any views that may bother you. Put everything related to work on the desk and use it as your home office; you will be more focused on the job this way.
Establish a routine
We are all aware that when you work from home, no one is watching what you do. This could lead to irresponsible behavior and poor performance. So, to make things a little easier for yourself, try to force yourself to stick to a routine that you establish in order to finish the work. For example, if you have something to do at work an hour before break time and your kids come up to you and ask you to play, tell them you will have a break in an hour and ask them to wait until then. This routine will become a habit, and once you are used to it, you will be more disciplined in everything you need to do.
Use technology to help your job
There are a number of items and devices designed to help people in their work. A good internet connection, dual-monitor display, or even noise-cancelling headsets can help you focus on what you are doing. While you are doing your best to complete all of your job assignments, these types of items and devices keep you on track to achieve the best results, whether it is for better multitasking, clearer communication during meetings, or simply keeping you away from the outside world’s distractions during your productive times.
Set clear boundaries
Disturbance happens often at home with your family when your wife asks you to do something time-consuming, such as go shopping or fix the plumbing. When this happens to you, let them know that you have job responsibilities and will complete your personal stuff during your break or when you finish from work at 5 p.m. Setting other people’s boundaries to bother you at work is difficult, but it will help you focus on what you are doing.
Prioritize tasks
There is no difference in workload between working at the office and working from home. You still have to complete all of the tasks that have been assigned to you. As a result, you must decide which one to tackle first. Completing the tasks in the order you received them may not be the best option for you. Sometimes you need to know which one needs to be prioritized because it is more urgent and needs to be completed sooner than other tasks that can wait a little longer. This is not to say that the other tasks are not important. You simply need to understand which one must be completed first and make it your top priority. Not only will you finish everything on time, but you will also feel more relaxed by completing the most urgent tasks first, leaving the ones with more flexible time to finish last.
Stay organized
Another thing that can help you focus on your work is to keep your desk organized. Imagine having a messy desk full of piles of papers; it will put you in a bad mood before you even start working. Staying organized seems to be undervalued, but it is one of the most important issues. It will also make it easier to find things once everything is in place. When you get everything in order, there will be no more missing documents.
Learn to say no
There are times when you are on track to complete your tasks at work, but your boss suddenly asks you to help other colleagues in completing their tasks because they are unable to finish what they have to do. This may be acceptable if it happens only once or twice, but if it occurs too often, there is a problem with your coworkers. This is beyond your control, but you can start saying no to them. All the staff have their own sets of responsibilities and you have done your part, so saying no to them is acceptable. However, this only applies if you have a reasonable workload. Helping others doesn’t harm you when you have a lot of free time because you don’t have much to do. You simply need to know whether the person you are assisting is doing the job properly or if he is not being as responsible as he should be by leaving his work for personal stuff.
Minimize distractions
Finally, keeping yourself away from distractions is what you really need to stay focused on your job. Distractions will always exist, whether you work in an office or at home. However, you can reduce it to the bare minimum so that all you think about from 9 to 5 is your work. Fortunately, there are apps that can help you improve your focus, allowing you to complete all of your tasks as quickly as possible. You don’t have to worry about being distracted by a lot of things going on if you use those apps.
Having a strategy plan will undoubtedly help you in successfully completing your job tasks on time. Though it really depends on the individual’s performance and sense of responsibility, you can still benefit by following the steps mentioned above. Everything comes from your inner will, so if you want to change to do better, you will.
How to avoid distractions
Specifically for the last point mentioned above, which is minimizing distractions, there are applications that you can install to help you focus on doing your job. This will be very helpful if you are struggling to maintain your work rhythm, causing you to be unable to complete all tasks correctly and on time. Take a look at those apps and find out which one is best for you. However, you should be aware that the software may cost you money to activate because of the subscription model of payment. Without further ado, let’s find out.
Freedom
Do you ever want to open social media while working? Most people feel this way, especially when they don’t have much to do. However, if you have a lot of assignments and you are still scrolling through Instagram or Facebook, you may find yourself in trouble later because scrolling through social media is very addictive and you can spend hours without even realizing it. In the end, your work will be abandoned, and you will struggle to meet the deadlines. The worst-case scenario is that you realize you have spent too much time on social media, but you keep telling yourself that you will do it in 15 minutes, then 30, then an hour, and finally you don’t do it at all because of this.
If you are addicted to social media and can’t stop watching Instagram stories or Facebook videos, Freedom has a solution for you. This app works by blocking websites as well as applications on your phone and computer. Blocking these two social media platforms only on your computer is pointless if you can still access them on your phone. Simply add as many applications and websites as you want, set the schedule, and let the app work by blocking the list at the appointed time. If you really want to force yourself to focus but are unable to do so, there is a lockdown mode that prevents you from editing anything on the blocklist during the schedule. If you have activated the mode, you will no longer be able to open anything.
Unfortunately, this product is not free. You need to pay a monthly subscription fee. You can choose whether you want to commit to this app on an annual or monthly basis, with annual commitments costing significantly less than monthly commitments. Annual subscriptions cost $3.33 per month, while monthly subscriptions cost $8.99 per month. If you really want to get it all at once, you can pay only $99 in advance and get a lifetime subscription.
Cold Turkey Blocker
Cold Turkey Blocker, unlike Freedom, is only available for Windows and macOS. This means you will not be able to install it on your phone. So, what exactly does this app do? This software functions similarly to the previous application as it blocks websites such as social media and video-sharing websites such as YouTube. The software has the advantage of being customizable, which means you can change the settings as you see fit. You can even set your computer to prevent the application from being uninstalled at the scheduled time or to access the task manager to force close the application from running. There is no way you can do it, which is why it is a decent application for you if you can’t stop browsing the internet for fun.
You do not need to pay a monthly subscription fee to get Cold Turkey Blocker. All you have to do is pay $39 up front and you will have access to it for the rest of your life. It may not be able to block websites from all of your devices, but you can do it on your computer, and it is less expensive than the first option.
LeechBlock NG
If you don’t want to pay for applications like this, or if you don’t have the budget for it, LeechBlock NG is a good place to start. This one is completely free, which is convenient because you don’t have to pay anything to block websites during work hours. However, you should be aware that it is only compatible with a few major browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. If you use a browser other than those four, this will not work on your computer.
LeechBlock NG works directly by blocking websites such as Instagram and YouTube. The good news is that it is adjustable for the rules, which means you can still open some websites during the scheduled time for a few minutes for every hour you work, or whatever you want. This gives you the flexibility to take a short break from work before returning to resume your duties. However, because this is a browser extension rather than an application that you install on your computer, it is not as protective as the other apps mentioned above. Still, it is worth a shot because it is free and helps you focus on your work. If you don’t like it, simply delete it from your browser without losing any money.
So those are the three options you can install on your computer and browser to keep you away from website distractions. You can select the one that is best for you and provides the most value. There are also other applications that you can install on your computer that work similarly to the ones listed above, such as RescueTime, SelfControl, Session, One Sec, and PawBlock.
Just keep in mind that these are only applications to help you from the outside, which means you must also have an internal willingness to improve yourself and make your time worthwhile and productive.
Even if you don’t install any of those applications, once you develop a good discipline habit, you will notice the difference within yourself that will help you to stop being distracted at work.
