Bad Habits to Break When Working from Home

Working from home has a lot of big benefits, like allowing you to wear pajamas to work or catch up on all the seasons of Shark Tank while pumping out deliverables from your living room. From a certain point of view, there’s no better way to work. Who needs cubicles and office Roombas when you have your favorite couch and pet dog Jerry?

However, working from home isn’t perfect for everyone and has some huge pitfalls if you let certain bad habits become norms in your daily routine. Here are a few bad habits to break when working from home.

 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Indulging Distractions - This one’s an absolute killer; virtually everyone struggles with avoiding distractions. Every ten sentences or so, we may stop working to change the song queued up on our songs list. Could I create a playlist to remedy this issue? Sure. But it’s not about that—we may leave our in-progress document simply because we can. It’s not about the thing we escape to (listening to songs or a podcast), it’s just about the fact we can escape. Don’t let that get to your head, though. You need to focus! If not for the benefit of your work, then just to avoid developing an unhealthily short attention span.

 

Forgoing formalities - Working from home means a lack of physical contact with coworkers. This will naturally result in a transformation of your social behaviors, though the degree of change is different for everyone. Just make sure you catch yourself if you start developing bad habits like being testier, snippier, or more obnoxious since it’s easier to “get away with” being difficult remotely.

 

Letting Work and personal spaces overlap – Many of us maybe struggling miserably to break this habit. The idea is that you shouldn’t let your, say, bedroom also become your home office. You need to separate work rooms from relaxation rooms for sake of having a place to escape to when work becomes too much to deal with. Sadly, the habit of bringing the work laptop with us to all the personal spaces is a bit much. Work may have creeped into every other corner of our homes but don’t let this habit take root in your life.

 

Avoid bad habits when working from home. The bad habits listed above are all incredibly hard to break, and we may all be still grappling with the majority on this list, in these current unusual and strange times. Undoing them is borderline impossible once they’ve taken root, so do yourself a favor and don’t adopt such habits in the first place!

Steps to Take before setting up a Business Alliance

 

In today’s fast-paced, tech-driven business world, collaboration is no longer a dirty word. Forming alliances & collaborating with another business–especially if you’re the smaller fish–can be great. Leveraging another company’s audience and gaining access to their resources and knowledge might just be what you need to grow. But how do you know if the opportunity will be worth spending time & resources?

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link 

Just ask yourself these important & decisive questions to know for sure:

WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS’S CORE CHALLENGE?

The best collaborations are those that help you to overcome your core challenge. But how can you do this if you aren’t clear about what that challenge is? Perhaps you are looking to break into a new market and a partnership can help you reduce barriers to entry or give you proprietary insight into that new market. Entering into a partnership without knowing what problem you’re trying to solve, or what result you’re hoping to achieve, is not going to be as successful as if you enter into a partnership with a clearly defined set of goals.

WHAT ARE YOUR BRAND’S VALUES?

Before you seek out a partnership, have a clear understanding of what your brand is about and what you’re looking for. Being clear about your values allows you to align yourself with a business that shares similar goals. Don’t assume that you know what the other company’s values are. Take the time to articulate your common vision and make sure that you’re on the same page.

DO YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO INVEST IN THIS COLLABORATION?

Getting involved with another business can feel a lot like having multiple hands in the same pot. It can result in high management costs, slow certain processes, and, in some cases, the loss of strategic power if the business you partner with wants to have decision-making power. A successful collaboration starts with having a good strategy.  If you have a bad strategy, you’ll find it easier to succumb to the pressures of day-do-day operational firefighting and distractions. Be clear on your goals and how much time you are willing to invest.

IS THERE A PERFECT PARTNER IN YOUR OWN INDUSTRY?

Sometimes the perfect alliance exists right next door. For example, say a French restaurant has a connecting swinging door next to a pub and every time the door opens, it would allow in the boisterous cheer of the next-door pub. The door was opening because the kitchen of the French restaurant would be supplying the pub with its burgers and the fish & chips.

Though the restaurant and the pub could be considered competitors (since both are in the food industry), they each offered different experiences and target audiences, making for a perfect and convenient collaborative opportunity.

It is very important to remember that before jumping into a contract for collaboration, see if you can test the waters by working on a small event or project together. A test project will allow you to evaluate each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and working styles before getting into a more serious commitment.

Here's to Happy Alliances!

Break through the Pandemic Brain fog

Think back on the last week: have you felt incredibly sluggish and tired? Are you usually someone who jumps at the opportunity to take on a new project at work, but lately, the smallest task feels impossible? 

Do your colleagues typically turn to you for your innovative genius, and now, you can’t seem to come up with one stellar idea? Take a deep breath: You aren’t failing as a leader, and you aren’t slacking.

 

You are, however, suffering from pandemic brain fog. This is caused by living through a period of intense, on-going stress and unknown variables that impact every single moment of our lives.

 

We don’t know when offices will return as they once were. We don’t know when mask-wearing will be a distant memory. We don’t know when traveling will be safe. This can cause even the most well-intended and passionate professionals to feel unlike themselves. 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

In addition to giving yourself a much-deserved pat on the back for making it this far, consider these strategies that help you break through the exhaustion and find your creativity: 

 

Schedule a quick exercise break. When was the last time you left your home ‘office’ (or ahem, corner of your dining room table) and walked more than a few steps? Movement is essential not only to our physical health but our mental and emotional well-being, too. it’s vital to work in some exercise in the middle of the day to keep your brain happy.

By pumping up your adrenaline and getting your breathing deeper and more regulated, you can increase your energy, focus, and creativity while reducing physical lethargy, mental sluggishness, and emotional distress. Especially during times like this, it is imperative for people to stay physically active to keep their minds, bodies, and emotions functioning as close to their norm as usual.

 

Give your mind time to disconnect. All too often, professionals punish themselves for not performing up to the standards they set for themselves. So, rather than listening to their bodies, they push forward, staring at their screen, feeling less and less productive.

 

Rather than torturing yourself, prioritizing mindfulness by blocking time to slow down, practice deep breathing, and other calming tactics. When we do this, we force ourselves to live in the present moment, helping to eliminate other thoughts and worries. 

Time-block your work. Part of the struggle of a brain fog is feeling as if you can’t make progress. You start one deliverable, you feel stuck, so you move to something else. Then, you repeat this process until you feel defeated. This doesn’t give you the type of confidence you need to tap into your creativity zone.

Create time blocks in your day-to-day calendar where you are hyper-focused on work for short stints, followed by a short exercise or mindfulness break. Because you know you have a limited amount of minutes to give attention to a project, you are more likely to remain productive.

With mindfulness, a person can generally get into the habit of keeping oneself focused and stopping distracting thoughts and feelings which limit or impair one’s functioning at work. As a result, his or her ability to be creative and productive at work can be increased

With these strategies by your side, you can be more alert and excited to stave off any possibility of a brain fog clouding your decisiveness, even during these troubled times!

Avoid these Productivity tips if You want to be Successful!

 

Success and productivity go hand in hand. They always have, but the very notion of productivity is evolving over time as new technologies emerge and cultural paradigms are challenged. So how should we think about productivity in 2020?

When it comes to productivity, we need to think of it as a way of life, not merely a bunch of tactics and strategies to apply to our work or businesses. A more holistic approach is so much more effective long-term.

So, if you want to increase your productivity, approaching it like a lifestyle change makes sense. You are, after all, a whole, multifaceted person who can’t be reduced to the moments you spend behind your screen or powering through your to-do list.

First things first: A lifestyle audit. How do you spend your waking hours? What about your working hours? Whether you’ve adopted a time-management method or love tools and apps that help you optimize your performance, it’s a good idea to be aware of the way you currently get things done.

 

Now that you have a better idea of your present productivity reality, look into these three outdated productivity tips to ditch if you want to be more successful. Perhaps you don’t need a complete productivity overhaul but embracing a few simple tweaks and swaps might make you happier and more efficient.

 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Speeding up to get more done. Do you take pride in your ability to complete tasks super-fast? You might want to rethink that approach, as speed can give you the illusion of productivity and increase the risk of making mistakes.

One myth is that you have to speed up to get more done. In fact, most of the time, by slowing down, we actually get more done. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. Unfortunately, we’re all under so much pressure to perform, we think the only solution is to speed up. But speed leads to errors. Depending on our skillset, some processes can be sped up. We just need to know which can be, and which can’t. Now that’s working smart — not just fast.

 

Embracing a productivity method as the ultimate one. The worst productivity advice is that there is only one effective way of doing things. There isn’t. Sure, joining the

5 AM club is a great idea, but that might not work for you. We’re all individuals and we have to find which strategies and tactics work best for our particular circumstances. Overwhelmed with the very idea of figuring out how to manage all your responsibilities? Start small, try different approaches, ditch the ones that don’t work for you and build on what works.

 

Most people who struggle with time-management and productivity just need to get a few notches under their belt to start seeing positive results. To use a baseball analogy, you don’t have to hit it out of the ballpark, you just need to get on base.

High performance at all costs. Sure, being a high achiever does mean having a high-performance mindset to a certain extent. But not at all costs. The glorification of hustle culture is starting to be a thing of the past. I know many very successful people who live very good lives. Unfortunately, some ended up in the hospital because of stress, anxiety, or simply poor health.

 

Regardless of how productive you are in your [career], if you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll end up burned out, depressed, ruining your relationships or just plain unhappy. To me, true productivity means being effective in all areas of our lives.

So, armed with these productivity tweaks, you are better equipped to face today’s unexpected challenges. Go forth & conquer!

Stop Being a Procrastinator!

Most of us are all too familiar with procrastination — putting off something you need to do until the last minute. And chances are, you’ve probably procrastinated on lots of important tasks, projects, or assignments in your lifetime. You may even be procrastinating on something right now, as you’re reading this post. 

Why do we procrastinate? The tendency to procrastinate can be linked genetically to impulsivity. Not only that but if you struggle with procrastination now, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll struggle with it for the rest of your life.

There are lots of reasons for why we procrastinate. We could be afraid of failure, unsure of how to start, or just don’t see the task at hand is urgent. However, regardless of why we are doing it, we know from experience that procrastination only hurts us in the long run.

There are lots of reasons for why we procrastinate. We could be afraid of failure, unsure of how to start, or just don’t see the task at hand is urgent. However, regardless of why we are doing it, we know from experience that procrastination only hurts us in the long run.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Experts say procrastination is essentially irrational. It doesn’t make sense to do something you know is going to have negative consequences. People engage in this irrational cycle of chronic procrastination because of an inability to manage negative moods around a task.

 

Simply put, we procrastinate to avoid feeling the negative emotions that come along with whatever task it is we are putting off. This could be because the task itself is unpleasant, or it could be related to our own deeper feelings of insecurity, self-doubt, and anxiety.

 

Enough said, now onto taking action! With the above points in mind, try and implement these few steps to help you eliminate procrastination -

 

Break up tasks into smaller tasks. Sometimes we put off a task or a project, because looking at it as a whole feels overwhelming. Breaking it up into smaller tasks can help. After doing this, it’s important to only focus on the next task in front of you. This can help calm your nerves by creating, “a layer of self-deception.” As you start checking things off your task list, one by one, you will feel motivated to keep going.

Motivation follows action. Get started, and you’ll find your motivation follows.

 

Make distractions convenient. We all have our go-to list of things that we turn to when we are avoiding a task. It could be social media, Netflix, or even something that feels productive, like cleaning up around the house.

Whatever your “thing” is, find a way to make it less accessible. Turn your phone off (or turn off notifications) and leave it in another room. Block social media tabs on your browser for a few hours. Work outside of your home (if you can and it’s safe) to avoid distractions there. Try to remove each and every roadblock.

Reward yourself. Knowing you have something exciting to look forward to may propel you to tackle what’s in front of you. Procrastination feels like a reward at the moment. We want to avoid the negative emotions associated with a task or project. So, we put it off and are rewarded with good feelings that come with whatever we’ve chosen to distract ourselves with. Our brains are always looking for relative rewards. If we have a habit loop around procrastination but we haven’t found a better reward, our brain is just going to keep doing it over and over until we give it something better to do.

When we stop procrastinating and start accomplishing the tasks in front of us, that can feel like a reward on its own. However, if you need a little extra push, you could offer yourself a physical reward after completing a task. Get yourself a treat, go see a movie or hang out with a friend – as much of these rewards are possible currently, while being careful and socially distanced, of course.

With these motivations you are better equipped to defeat procrastination before it strikes!

Awesome Ways to Enhance Productivity

Prepare before getting started

Productivity does not just happen “in the moment.”

It happens long before you even sit down and get to work. The more you prepare ahead of time, and get clear on exactly what it is you want, need, or should do, the easier and faster you will move once you start.

The reason why so many people struggle with “being productive” is because they skip this step, and when they sit down, they expect to start flying even though they haven’t even decided where it is they want to fly to.

Turn off all distractions

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that every time your phone buzzes, your e-mail pops up on your screen, your office door opens, your train of thought is ruined. We like to believe we can both participate in a group chat via text and write our best-selling novel, but the truth is, we can’t — and to think we can is wishful and naive.

 

Your best work comes in silence. It’s why people retreat and take vacations away from the bus(i)yness of life — to distance themselves from distraction.

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link

 

Create a Routine

It is said the best musicians, athletes, innovators, etc., follow a daily routine that trains their subconscious to know when it is time to work and when it is time to relax. There is absolutely something to be said for always practicing at the same time, or always going to the gym at the same time, or always writing at the same time, every day. You train yourself to know, as soon as that hour strikes, to fall into that mode of focus required to do your best work.

 

Share your work – for Feedback

Maybe you are one of those professionals that never want to share or talk about anything being worked upon. You may think it was “bad luck” or would take you out of your flow. And I’ll admit, there are those moments when your ideas are best left to ruminate in your own head, but you should not be hesitant to share what you’re working on. Feedback is extremely important, and a lot of time can be saved by a single conversation where someone points out, very clearly, something that isn’t “working.”

It might not be easy to hear in the moment, but you will be thankful for it later.

 

Take Breaks

Again, being “productive” does not necessarily mean sitting still for eight straight hours. You might be able to swing that for a day or two, but you are not a robot. You will burn out. Productivity is all about flow. It’s about knowing your limits and being conscious of how to move within your own constraints.

Maybe you need to take 10-minute breaks after every 50 minutes of focus. 

Great. Do that.

Or maybe you can work for four hours no problem, but then you need to take the afternoon before diving into another four-hour work session at night.

Great. Do that.

Do what works for you, and you only. This isn’t about being productive based on someone else’s habits or way of doing things. This is about knowing yourself, and using your habits to your advantage.

Great Work-Life Balance Ideas

This year has truly shone some light on workplace dynamics in the United States. Our culture has been so tied to this idea of working more instead of working smarter, that generations of humans are experiencing burnout at a far quicker rate than ever before.

 

With all the other added stressors from the world around us, there is a greater need to find balance in every aspect of life, and it starts with the place you dedicate most of your time to during the week: your career. 

 

Oftentimes, when you try to implement some of the mentioned elements, you may run into challenges. To resolve this very issue, I wrote my book "The Breakthrough Accelerator - Resolve your Biggest Challenge in 4 weeks"- Receive a Free download of this book by Clicking this Link.

For several professionals, it’s both something they strive to attain in their own lives, as well as something they work to help their clients maintain. One can approach this idea of balance like greenery in life.

 

We can see life as a garden where what we focus on grows and what we ignore withers. A good gardener knows how to spread the water and fertilizer around so that all the plants flourish. Being able to identify your own unique needs helps you approach the world in a way that will encourage joy in all aspects of your life.  

As someone who helps entrepreneurs and businesses strategize and execute their business growth plan, the unusual circumstances over the past few months makes you realize that non-negotiables need to be set alongside the work.

Non-negotiables are things you’d like to prioritize time for in your life, and often do not involve a career focus. These are things that help to keep you healthy, happy, and engaged in other areas of life so that you can return fully fueled with inspiration and energy to your work when it’s time.

 

Items on this list include things like family time, date nights, long walks, any exercise you enjoy, cultural and culinary experiences, among others. Though due to the current pandemic, these activities have to be slightly adjusted. The key to making sure you have time for the things that bring you joy outside of work -- Know and respect your boundaries.

Many people give far too much of their focus and energy to their work. They believe if they can just make enough money or be successful in their careers all the other (difficult) parts of their lives will fall into place.

A simple boundary to start with, and one of the most difficult ones for career people to justify, is setting work hours. Let folks in the office know that you will be available from 9-5, and then don’t answer the phone outside of those hours. (Unless you need to save a person or the world…that’s important.) 

Whether you’re working a corporate job, with a smaller business, or for yourself, setting boundaries helps in implementing or updating existing contracts. This way, all parties involved know what the expectations are and are able to meet them fairly. Another integral step to achieving balance is to know where your passions lie, and delegate what doesn’t bring you joy where you can. 

Nature is the best companion for calling in more balance. See if you can spend 15 to 20 minutes outdoors per day and try to be as present as possible to the sounds and sights before you. Find moments to slow down and allow yourself – and the world around you – some compassion. That deadline you are stressing over will be handled in a much more efficient and productive manner if you have experienced mental clarity and relaxation. 

When all is said and done, not every day is going to bring rainbows and sunshine into your life. There will be times where work needs to take your focus. And that is OK. Work is a priority, but it doesn’t have to be your only priority. Engage in your passions and find comfort in the quiet hours between jumping through career hoops.