Perfect time management at home - avoid these six efficiency killers!

If you work in a home office and are responsible for structuring your own working time, you need to set up a few rules to ensure that you use your time effectively.

The remote office is like an big city jungle. It offers a variety of possibilities, but at the beginning you first have to get an overview.

For a large number of employees it has now become reality - the dream of working from home. The previous articles have given you an overview of how you can work more successfully and stay healthy and fit in your home office. But how do you allocate your time sensibly and avoid distractions? At home, they lurk in almost every corner. For example, the work surface in the kitchen should be cleaned, the packages opened or the children's attention satisfied. In this article we will show you how you can still get everything under one roof and enjoy the positive side effects in the long run.

1. postpone private telephone calls, e-mails and text messages until after work  

Inform friends, acquaintances and family that you work in your home office and tell them the times you have set as working hours. Make it clear to them that disruptions in time are not desired and that you will not be available until after work or answer calls, text messages or emails  

2. use a timer or lock function to disable certain apps or programs during working hours  

Many laptops and smartphones offer the possibility to switch to a work mode. This often also has a timer or lock function for apps. You can set the time frame for the mode yourself. When you set it up, you choose the apps you need for your work and disable others that might distract you  

3. remove distractions from your study  

If your desk is right next to the easel with the canvas on which you have just started your new painting, you will keep looking at it during the work and maybe even get up to execute one or the other brushstroke. Remove everything that has nothing to do with your work from your study. Even a running TV or unfinished housework will slow down productivity  

4. excessively long working hours without breaks 

Are you one of those who could go on forever and forget everything else above work? In the long run, this also harms an efficient working method and can even lead to burnout. Set yourself time limits. Integrate breaks. And above all: Force yourself to keep to them! If this doesn't help, time your time and set an alarm clock if necessary. The ringing reminds you to take your breaks and after a short time you'll be able to do so fully automatically.

5. start the working day in an unorganized way 

If you start your working day every morning without a plan, it can happen that the tasks overwhelm you. You don't know where to start, you put off important or labour-intensive projects and get bogged down in small things. The working day drags on unnecessarily and it is not uncommon to find yourself sitting over your tasks in the evening. Make a to-do list the night before and plan the time you need for each task. Set important projects at a time when you normally feel fresh and productive. Experience shows: The more time we have for a task, the longer we take to complete it. If a task has to be completed within 3 days, we divide our time so that it is completed by then 

6. align the working time according to your own biorhythm 

If you force yourself to be productive at seven in the morning, when you are actually a night owl, you are inevitably working inefficiently. Your thoughts don't get going, and by the time the clock strikes eight, you may have had three cups of coffee, which didn't really help either. In the home office, you have the opportunity to set your own working hours. Align them with your natural biorhythm. Just because you've spent years in a nine-to-five job doesn't mean that this is the best time for you. For some people, it's the early morning from four to eight, for others it's the midnight hour.
(AmPnBsP)

Summary

• private calls, e-mails and calls only after hours
• Disable push notifications on mobile devices
• Ban distractions from the study
• Plan breaks with the help of an alarm clock/timer
• Create to-do list and set deadlines
• Align work time with your own biorhythm 
  
  

Read the entire contents of our home office blog series

• Successful working in the home office: That's how it works!  
• Healthy in the home office - the ergonomic workplace  
• Perfect time management at home - avoid these six efficiency killers!  
• Online conferencing tools - how to go online with socializing!
• Home office productivity
• Reward and recognition also works in the home office - but how?  
• Challenges in managing remote teams