How to be 500% More Productive in Your Home Office

Do you have to work from home because of the coronavirus? Do you want to be more productive in your home office?

In this article, you will learn about one method that can improve your productivity by 500% and other hacks for your home office.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve got to work from my home office for an indefinite period and these hacks make me pretty productive.

Productivity Method #1 – Flow In a Nutshell

• McKinsey found that Senior Executives are 500% more productive in a state of “Flow”
• Peak performers in business, sports and arts use Flow states to perform at their best
• To get into a Flow state understand two things:
  • Willpower is limited – You’ve got the most willpower in the morning
  • Flow follows focus – Focus is the most important trigger for flow
• Step 1: Define the most important task for tomorrow
• Step 2: Block 2 hours in your calendar early in the next morning
• Step 3: Communicate with your team that you won’t be available during those 2 hours
• Step 4: Work 2 hours on your most important task
  • Before doing anything else
  • Keep your phone in airplane mode
  • Don’t check emails, slack or other communication channels
• You can get easier in Flow with
  • The right home office setup
  • Enough good quality sleep and a morning and evening routine
  • Nootropics

Home Office Setup

The best place to set up my home office

Obviously, if you already have a spare guest room you can use that. For people without extra rooms in their home: Choose a place where fewer people walk by. The less busy your home office place is, the more productive you can be. 

If you live alone that’s also pretty easy. If you live with your spouse or family: Your bedroom might be better than your kitchen or living room.

Computer setup

If you use a laptop to work, you might wanna get a second screen to improve your productivity. An external keyboard and mouse can also boost productivity and improve ergonomy.

Biohacking Home Office Routines to Stay Fit & Productive

Stand

A height-adjustable desk to sit or stand will help you to be more awake and also train your body. I personally like to stand for 1 to 2 hours day. Sitting is the new smoking.

Eye Breaks

Prevent eye strains with the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes, look into the distance at least 20 meters/yards away for at least 20 seconds. This will help your eyes to relax.

Bluelight Blocking glasses & f.lux

To further improve your eye health and sleep better use blue light blocking glasses. You can also use a free software called “f.lux” to regulate the blue colors on your screen in the evenings. Read more on better sleep here.

Move

Get up at least every two hours for 5 minutes. Go for a walk, get some sunshine, do some light exercises or stretching. You can also combine that with a phone call. 

Productivity Method #2 – Shutdown Routine

To work deeply you have to relax deeply. Cal Newport recommends in his book “Deep Work” to establish a daily after-work shutdown routine.

This can be shutting down your computer while saying out loudly “Shutdown Complete”, followed by a 10-minute walk or a meditation. It can be any routine you come up with. After a while, your body will get “programmed” to relax faster after your routine.

The important thing is to not work after work. In the best case, you have no thoughts of work after work. Why? Because otherwise your brain won’t relax completely and won’t be fully rested the next morning to be fully productive again.

Clear the clutter

My personal tip: Clean your home office for 5 to 10 minutes after work. This helps you to start clutter-free the next morning and it can be a shutdown ritual by itself.

Submit your home office & productivity questions

If you’ve got specific questions that are not answered in this article leave a comment on my LinkedIn or Instagram post. I will do a Q&A video with a Flow expert and researcher soon.

This article will be updated regularly over the next days to encompass your questions and also discuss the strategies for different types of jobs (e.g. executive vs. expert job).

Recommended sources to go deeper

My interviews on YouTube with Steven Kotler & Conor Murphy:

Books:

• Cal Newport – Deep Work
• Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool – Peak The Science of Expertise
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi – Flow
• Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal – Stealing Fire

Image Credit: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels