10 Productivity Techniques To Manage Your Work & Family Life When Stuck Together
Many people are finding themselves working from home for the first time or much more than usual, add being stuck with family to the mix and productivity takes a nosedive. The good news is that productivity comes down to a number of set behaviours that you can learn to turn things around. Here are ten behaviours that you can implement to help you stay productive and manage your work / life balance.
Don’t pick battles that you’re never going to win (use the art of subtle influence instead)
You’re never going to win by picking a battle with your partner and/or kids. The most you’ll do is exhaust yourself and anger your loved ones. Instead save your energy and time by using the subtle art of positive influence.
To influence your family subtly ask them to do what you want in very small baby steps and praise them for everything that they do well. When you ask your child to fold away their clothes and they do it then praise them heavily. When you ask your partner to mow the lawn and they do it make a fuss about how beautiful it’s looking.
When you make people feel successful you can influence them to keep being successful. By praising your family and not making threats or being critical of them you are feeding their self-esteem and happiness. The more positive you are with them the better the outcomes will be. Everyone wins when you use positive subtle influence: they feel good about themselves and you have more time to be productive with your job and your chores.
Use the Hemingway method
The writer Ernest Hemingway used to deliberately stop working just before he had finished part of his writing that was going well. He’d choose a time to stop where he knew what he was going to write next so that when he returned back to writing the next day he could pick up exactly where he has left off and know exactly what he was going to say.
Stopping work before you feel like stopping helps to motivate you and make you more productive as it makes you restless to complete the piece of work that you have started previously. When we’ve completed a piece of work fully there’s a sense of relief and relaxation. But by always stopping working when your work isn’t fully complete it helps to keep the motivation of finishing and starting new work high.
To use an analogy, think of the times when you had an amazing cake and you left one slice to have with your lunch the next day. More than likely you’ll have been thinking of that slice of cake regularly right up until you ate it the next day. You might not have even lasted that long you might have had to have the slice for your mid-morning snack. The same applies for when you’re in the flow of doing great work.
Start the workday on a high the next morning by always leaving the last parts of every task for the next day.
Disable your notifications
One of the biggest timewasters are the unneeded notifications distracting you throughout the day. You might not think those few seconds will make much of a difference but when you multiply that by 50 it adds up. Plus how many times when you get notifications from Facebook or Instagram are you clicking into the app and getting lost there, if you’re like most people that’ll be at least half a dozen times a day.
The constant pinging of notifications is going to interrupt your workflow and your family time too. Disable all of the unnecessary ones and watch your focus and productivity skyrocket. Keep set times during the day for things like social media so you’re in charge of your life and not whatever apps you are using.
Take strategic breaks
Nobody can be productive 100% of the time. The art of keeping motivated and energetic is to know when to stop. Taking regular breaks helps to keep you focused and refreshed so that you can stay on top of your game throughout your workday.
You might think that breaks are a waste of time but many of people’s best creative ideas and solutions come during their downtime; while they go make tea or coffee, while they are showering, while they are laying down in bed. Taking a break often gives you a breakthrough. You’re also not going to be productive if you work yourself into illness. Taking care of yourself regularly makes sure you are able to stay consistently productive.
Use all the tools you can
Tools are one of your best friends that will save you time and help to increase your productivity. Using as many tools as you can will always make you more efficient and effective at your work. Look for any tool that will save you time.
If you work on computers like many people do, you’ll want to use scheduling tools to save you time. There are many different apps that you can use to create and schedule emails, social media posts, and other content in advance that will then post or send the content out for you at set intervals over time.
Using tools like these will help free up time during your day so you can focus on the most important tasks at hand. As a rule if you can find software tools to do one of your tasks for you then use them as much as possible.
Find your routine and stick to it
I always advise people to experiment with different routines if their current one isn’t working for them. Some people work more effectively in the early morning, or the afternoon, or at night. Everyone’s body is different and can work better at different times of the day.
One week you might want to try a number of different work schedules and see what feels best for you.
Once you have a routine that works for you then stick to it. Having a routine saves an enormous amount of time and energy as you aren’t having to expend mental effort evaluating how to spend your time and what to do next. It focuses you on your goals every day and trains your body to stay disciplined even during the days you feel exhausted or low.
Reward yourself
Every time you successfully meet an important deadline then allow yourself a reward. It might be to have a relaxing night watching a movie or some ice cream: Whatever is enjoyable for you. When you reward productive behaviours then you make your body associate being productive as being pleasurable. It can help give you the boost you need during difficult work and family days.
Keep organised
Staying organised is essential to productivity. Notes, calendar, and reminder apps are all essential tools that you should be using to keep your work organised. The more organised you are the greater your motivation and focus will be and the more time you are going to save. We all have limited energy and any time you spend wondering what you’re meant to be doing is wasted energy.
This is where notifications on your devices can actually come in useful. Make sure you set reminders to notify you of important tasks that you need to complete during the day. It’s very easy to forget important tasks and with help from notifications you’ll never forget to do anything important again.
Focus assist (doing one thing at a time)
It’s easy to find ourselves switching between tasks or getting distracted and going on a tangent. Another great way to maximise your productivity is to only have what you are working on in front of you. If that’s your paperwork then only have your paperwork on in front of you. Turn off or put away any distractions.
If you’re working on a computer then try to use only the app you need to work on right now. Many computers and other devices have built in “focus assist” modes that can help you stay disciplined by only allowing a set number of apps to open when you turn it on, as well as limiting notifications. Focus assist will help you if you’re finding it hard to stay on task by yourself.
Evaluate what is and isn’t working
A key part of productivity is working out what behaviours you are doing that are and aren’t working. To work this out you’re going to have to pay attention to your results and evaluate them. Is a specific behaviour helping you get your work done well and effectively? Or is there a better way of doing things? What other way could you achieve your outcome?
Effective productivity at its core is the behaviours you do every day that help you reach your outcomes in the best and most efficient way. Keep evaluating and reviewing your behaviours regularly so that you can always utilise the most efficient ones for you and maintain the effectiveness of your productivity.
