Home Management

By: Michael Palma

Your environment, your mind, and even your habits can have a drastic effect on your productivity, it can either improve your work and or workflow, or it can reduce the work that you produce. And as the great Albus Dumbledore once said," It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." So changing your environment, mind, and habits will show just how capable you are in creating the best you can.

Environmental

If you are transferring from an office environment into an at-home office environment then creating a professional workspace that mimics the look and feel of your office will not only create a space that you are used to, but you won't have to go through the struggle of adapting to something new. It may also increase your workflow since you won't be in a noisy, hectic office. When creating your dedicated workspace finding a place in your home that is away from the television, your child's play area and the kitchen will be a vital change that you will need to take into consideration because as that old saying goes "out of sight out of mind." organization is key when trying to have a dedicated work area at home, try to declutter your desk; having papers stacked, pens overflowing, and everything out of place will not only slow your productivity down it will distract you from the work that you are trying to accomplish. And if you're like me, you will want to clean it up while your working, so try to fix your work area before you sit down for some serious work. Communication, when setting up your work environment it is always good to have communication with your team, family, and those that might interrupt you while you're doing work so they may know when and when not to bother you. Using the right tools for the job is important, so invest in those tools that will allow you to get your work done more efficiently and effectively. For example, if you're a YouTuber then getting a decent laptop or pc will be a great investment if you want to create high-quality videos that others will watch. Stress and anxiety are things that nobody wants, especially when working, having a relaxing work environment will ultimately help those stress and anxiety levels go down. Getting plants, and natural scents will add a calm feeling to the room allowing you to feel more relaxed and energized for the work ahead.

Psychological

Once you've fixed your environment, what else might be stopping you from getting to work and completing your goals. One of the biggest things is yourself, well your mind more specifically, and the thoughts within your mind. You as a person have the power to either tell yourself that you're going to do the work or not. There are many ways to ensure that you will have a better chance of telling yourself that you will be able to get the work done. For example, Setting times for the tasks that you want to accomplish for the day will add structure; making things more manageable and less frightening. When setting a time for yourself, you can get yourself mentally prepared for the day ahead, waking up at a certain time every day will have you feeling energized and motivated for the day ahead. When adding structure to your day and your work life, setting a timer that informs you how long you have until you have to do something and how long you have until you need to move on to the next thing will give you a sense of control over your day and not feel like everything is just coming out of nowhere. Another method that you're able to use is called time blocking, this is more for those that like to have a visual representation of what needs to be done that day. You can use time blocks on a calendar or a piece of paper, I personally time block on google calendar, time blocking is when you have blocks of a task that have a start and stop time and if you need to change things around you can easily move them around if needed, this to me is way better then having an alarm telling me to move on, but I recommend giving both a try and see what works for you. Whenever you start your task for the day, you're going to get tired, bored, and frustrated that's why you need to be able to adjust your approach when you start to feel like that, adjusting your approach might give you a better angle to go from, or just help your mind focus more. When adjusting your approach it's good to take a break, go get some fresh air, go outside and take a walk, run, jog, just do something that involves going outside and this will help you clear your mind and when you get back don't tackle the problem the same way you were doing when you left to go outside, ask your self if there a better way to go about this and if so go from there and if not having a clear mind will make all the difference. and last but not least BE READY TO BE DISTRACTED, try not to get to work up if your kids, siblings, parents, or partner walk-in and mess up your flow, just know that someone at some point will need you, but don't wait for that moment to come ether just be ready to get back into the flow of things.

Habitual

Now creating habits to help you achieve all the things that were talked about in these couple paragraphs are going to help you immensely. Waking up and going to bed at a certain time is a habit that will help you recharge so you can be ready for the next day and it will also allow you to add some structure from the moment you close and open your eyes. When you wake up you should avoid getting on your phone or anything that has a screen for at least the next 30 minutes of you waking up, and turn to a book, go outside, or fix your bed; doing something that will give you the satisfaction of completing something as soon as you wake up is a great feeling. But personally, I prefer reading because one thing that everyone should set a daily goal for is to learn something new every day and if you do this at the beginning of your day it will give you the boost you need for the rest of your day. And my best picks from the books that I have read and want to read are, A Mind For Number By Barbara Oakley, The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg, How to Win Friends & Influence People By Dale Carnegie, and Deep work By Cal Newport; each and every one of these books will teach you something about bettering your life, bettering you as an entrepreneur, and becoming a more efficient human. Getting a journal and writing about anything, your emotions, thoughts, and plans will give you a better sense of what and how you are feeling which will help in the long run when creating these habits. When writing about your thought what you're doing is dumping everything that's in your head onto paper and that will not only allow you to get your thought out of your head and onto paper but throughout your day you won't have those thoughts pestering you and blocking any new ideas from coming in, in other words writing things down clears your mind for the tasks to come.