FFN #39: The Productivity Hacks You Didn't Know You Needed

☎️ Tell Your Housemates

Make sure your roommates, partner, parents and dogs (well maybe not them) respect your working hours. Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you’re available. If you’re co-working with another remote worker be sure to communicate when you’re having meetings, any quiet times you need and generally how you like to work. If you’ve got children at home or just a dog that’s very vocal, we suggest investing in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones so your workflow isn’t disrupted.

A few tips from our incredible Partnerships Manager Jenny who is a mom of two: ‘If you can the night before, list out tasks you need to get done that would help set you up for the next day. Then when Monday hits you know exactly what task you need to check off during babies’ naps or kids’ quiet independent playtime. If you have a support person, then it’s good to block out a chunk of time to get work or meetings done. Remember to give yourself grace when you don’t get it all done. Wfh with kids is a full-time job in itself!’

🚶🏽‍♀️‍➡️ Take Consistent Breaks!

Working in the same spot you sleep in can make you feel guilty about taking breaks. Remember when you worked in an office and would just pop out for a coffee or have random cooler convos? Well, don’t get so lost in your computer that you forget to take short breaks. Rather than opening up your phone for a scroll, get outside! Take a walk with your pooch, friend or just by yourself. Getting outside in the natural light and fresh air does wonders for your mental health. Plus, by giving yourself consistent breaks when you’re back at your desk working you get more done than if you’re just staring at your screen for hours without taking a moment to yourself.  

📝 Create a Solid Routine

Staying productive means staying consistent and not burning out. To protect your mental health while working from home, it’s important to set clear working hours. We love setting our days out in our G-cal or our Productivity Method planners, that way we know exactly what we need to get done and time block accordingly. By setting clear working hours you aren’t tempted to just quickly do something for work all the time, which will eventually lead to burnout. We like to shut our laptops at the same time each day and shut the door to our office so that the work day actually feels complete. One of our team members Sara lives in a van, which means working, sleeping and eating in the same room. If you’re like Sara and work from your room, she suggests going out for a walk at the end of your work day. This clear routine helps Sara’s mind switch off of work and into personal time.

💖 Look After Yourself  

It’s impossible to be productive if you’re not feeling your best, working from home sometimes means we neglect our well-being. Make sure you’re setting dates to interact with people irl. We love to spend one day a week co-working with friends or taking a walk or surf after work with friends. Spending a lot of time at home can mean we neglect meal times, instead of ordering DoorDash constantly we suggest meal prepping your lunch the night before so while you’re in work mode you can just grab it and go.

Jeni’s Ice Cream

My latest sweet treat obsession for the afternoon. I love Jen’s dairy-free range, they have so many great flavours to choose from. The texture is the same as regular ice cream and I love that they use coconut as the base but it doesn’t overpower the flavour. I’d recommend grabbing the variety box so you can taste test a few to see what you like, you can thank me later!