7 Work From Home Strategies for Success

Let your calendar, not your inbox, drive your day.   Don’t fall victim to the idea of answering an email real quick.  We talk about this in every corporate sales training workshop.  A 30-second interruption can take you 2-minutes to reengage.  Most people thrive when a structure is in place. Randomly working on random projects at random times is not a recipe for success.  Block out time on your calendar for tasks and be dedicated when the time block pops up.  Set the task to repeat daily if needed.

Create mini-goals.   When working remotely, it is smart to set small goals that are very short term. For example, setting a goal to finish a proposal before you take a coffee break. It’s important to set little goals all throughout your day. A big win at the end of the day is normally comprised of small wins throughout the day.

Switch it up. When things aren’t rolling forward to your satisfaction, you might just need to change the routine.  If you used to have great success prospecting for new business at 4 PM and it’s not yielding the result for you that you desire, move the time block to 3 PM. Sometimes switching it up can mean rearranging your office.   All too often people stay the course when things are not working. There can be some great benefits from changing the direction if you’re not getting the results you desire.

Don’t be a web camera zombie. Creating human interaction by sharing your webcam can be extremely beneficial in team environments. All too often, a poor set up in your home office or remote location can make you look like a webcam zombie or a person in witness protection. This is sort of a joke but, it is a reality for a lot of people that work remotely.  Many people say to me, “does sharing your webcam really matter? “  Yes!  Experts tell us that 65% of important cues in conversations are visual.

Set time limits. Here have you ever looked down at your clock and realized that 90 minutes had gone by and you hadn’t even come up for air? It happens to us all. Setting time limits for everything that you do is critical to your success. Experts from various fields have reported increases in productivity from 75% to 150% by simply setting up a timer next to your desk and using it to keep you on task.

Fight the urge to multi-task. According to Neuroscientists at the Mayo Clinic, our brains aren’t built to do more than one thing at a time. And when we try to multitask, we damage our brains in ways that negatively affect our well-being, mental performance, and productivity.  Reduce stress and get more done.  Stop trying to multi-task.

Celebrate wins.   No matter the size or scope of the victory, always celebrate wins, especially if your team is working remotely. Working remotely can be an out of sight out of mind type of scenario. Create encouraging interactions by celebrating wins and uniting your team around common victories.

If there’s one thing that this health crisis has helped us understand is that we truly can survive without being in an office every single day. I truly believe that another thing has been defined, without live social interaction we are just not as happy as a team or as people. So, will we figure out how to work remotely forever? I hope not.