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With the rise of remote work, millions of professionals have experienced the many benefits of working from home, from having more flexibility and greater autonomy to saving on the cost of commuting. However, this new way of working also brings its own set of challenges for remote employees, including distractions, isolation and difficulties separating their work from their personal life.
To avoid such complications, and their consequences, finding ways to increase productivity and minimize stress is crucial to remote professionals’ success today. Below, 20 Forbes Coaches Council members discuss effective ways to minimize stress and stay productive when not working in the office.
1. Create A Regular Morning Routine
Productive mornings are essential for your days to run smoothly. Create a regular morning routine to prime yourself for success. Having structure and consistency reduces the sense of chaos that can come with working from home and sets a positive tone for the day. Also, dressing up for yourself will create a clear boundary between work and personal time, so you feel more focused and confident. - Anna Barnhill, Barnhill Group Consulting, Inc
2. Time Block Your Schedule
Time block! Chunk up your tasks into bite-size bits and plan out your day. Instead of trying to do all of the difficult things first, do one challenging task and reward yourself with your favorite job on your list next, and so on, until you are finished for the day. Setting a 30- to 45-minute block of time using your phone timer will make all the difference and help to keep you focused and on track. - Michelle Rockwood, Unscripted Sales
3. Practice Self-Care
Get up and move! Remote work requires tremendous self-care. This is foundational advice that is echoed in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; namely, survival. Next, assess safety, including ergonomics and electromagnetic emissions from technology. Third, increase social connections. Fourth, bolster self-esteem; and fifth, take time to develop your personal passions. - Daphne Michaels, Daphne Michaels International
4. Step Away From Mounting Stress
Practice what I call the “lasso effect.” When someone is under pressure and stress is mounting, they tend to dig deeper and focus harder to get it done. This is counterproductive, as it continues to build anxiety. Instead, pull back as a version of a pattern break. Stepping away for a few minutes effectively acts as a reset that allows you to reenter the situation with clarity and renewed intent. - Arthi Rabikrisson, Prerna Advisory
5. Customize Your Workspace
Customizing your workspace is an important aspect of creating a productive and stress-free work environment as a remote professional. Adding plants can help to purify the air and create a more natural, calming environment. Plants have also been shown to reduce stress and increase productivity. Why not also try hanging artwork, or choosing decor that inspires you and reflects your personal style? - Jay Rai, www.jayrai.com
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6. Make A To-Do List For The Following Day
Before ending your workday, make a list of what is important and urgent to work on when you return. By doing this, you will be more productive immediately when you start working the next day, while also minimizing stress. When you can hammer out the important and urgent thing first, your stress levels go down. Additionally, when you start to feel stressed, take five long, slow, deep breaths—it’s a 60-second meditation. - Melinda Fouts, Ph.D., Success Starts With You
7. Allow Time For Breaks
Take short breaks throughout your workday to get personal things done around the house. These breaks will both improve work productivity and make life at home more efficient. - Luke Feldmeier, Online Leadership Training - Career and Leadership Accelerator for Engineers
8. Get A Pet Or A Plant
If you don’t have one already, consider getting a pet or a plant. Caregiving for another living, non-human being can provide just-in-time stress relief. Pets such as dogs, cats and fish provide companionship, and plants dramatically help with air quality. - Karan Rhodes, Shockingly Different Leadership (SDL)
9. Stop Multitasking
The best way to increase productivity and minimize stress when working remotely is to stop multitasking and start time blocking. Specifically, start time blocking when you have identified your most productive and creative time of the day, then only do revenue-generating activities during that time. Items in your inbox, for example, are just other people’s agenda for your day. - Patty Farmer, Patty Farmer International
10. Follow The Three M’s
Increase productivity and minimize stress with the three M’s: mindfulness, movement and momentum. Be mindful of your body’s needs for hydration, nutrition, good posture and rest. Add stretching, walking and mobility into your day, and sit in different places to change your cognitive perspective. Create blocks of time to gain momentum on key tasks, and set the intention to get things done with ease and flow. - Tanya Chernova, Tanya Chernova Global Corp
12. Be Intentional About Prioritizing
Taking time at the beginning of each day to get clear on the day’s priorities helps minimize scattered focus, increase productivity and reduce the stress and cognitive cost that comes from jumping from task to task. Making tough, intentional decisions about strategic priorities helps professionals align their time and energy with their highest-ROI activities. - Brandy Simula, Brandy L. Simula Coaching and Consulting
13. Identify Your Most Productive Times And Stress Triggers
The first step is to raise your awareness around both what times of day you are most productive and what triggers your stress. As those are realized, you can then take action. Focus your activities based on when you have the most energy or brain power. Build in breaks and activities to move your body. As stress comes in, recognize it, decide what to do with it and give yourself time to reset to reduce the impact. - Tami Chapek, WeInspireWe
14. Have Agreements With Your Leader And Your Team(s)
As remote workers, we can easily get in our own heads too much about expectations, work ethics, time spent working and so forth. Being clear with those who we work with and having agreements with them can alleviate some of the stress. An example would be an agreement around expected working hours. - Evan Roth, Roth Consultancy International, LLC.
15. Connect With Yourself And Your Team
Daily routines transform how you operate and feel about productivity. Implementing state-changing practices steeped in positive psychology—such as breathwork, visualization, movement and meditation—regulates your somatic system, upgrading your focus and execution. Utilize video meetings and real-time communication systems such as Slack for clarity and connection. - Andrea Callanan, Andrea Callanan
16. Schedule Everything
I’m a crazy scheduler! If it’s not in my calendar, it doesn’t get done. Whether you are remote or in the office, to maximize your day, just schedule everything so that you can focus and prioritize time for meetings, customers, employees, connecting or personal work—or even to eat lunch! Running your day via the calendar is an essential way to keep on top of things and to maintain mental health. - Kevin Kan, Break Out Consulting Asia
17. Focus On The Advantages Of Working Remotely
Professionals working remotely will increase their productivity and minimize stress by focusing more on the advantages this work arrangement provides and worrying less about the fear of missing out. Leaning into what they enjoy about remote work, such as scheduling flexibility, more family time, no commute, and so on, will also improve their overall quality of life and physical health and mental health. - Cathy Lanzalaco, Inspire Careers LLC
18. Set Clear Boundaries When You’re Online And Offline
The most important thing to do to minimize stress is to set clear boundaries when you are online and offline. When you live and work from home, it’s easy for the two to bleed into each other. As a result, you should have a defined space where you work. Moreover, you should clearly set and communicate your working hours. Honor your own boundaries and don’t work outside of your space or your hours! - Will Rippetoe, The Interview Beast
19. Strike A Balance Between Independence And Collaboration
My business partner and I are from two different countries, working together remotely every day. As an agile company, we practice what we preach. We’ve found that you need to strike the right balance between collaboration and working independently. We carve out times of the day to collaborate and have found Mural to be extremely beneficial for planning and brainstorming. - Stacey Ackerman, NavigateAgile
20. ‘Be Here Now’
Remote professionals are challenged by living in two worlds at once. To increase productivity and minimize stress, “be here now.” This means when you are in a meeting, working on a task or speaking to a co-worker, you are “all in” and not distracted. When you take time for lunch or a walk around the block, you do the same. We hurt our productivity and ourselves by constantly multitasking. - Jill Helmer, Jill Helmer Consulting
