How to boost your productivity automatically Part 1

It wasn't so long ago when working from home was sold as the entrepreneur's dream. 

"Work from home, get stuff done while wearing your pajamas, take as many breaks and naps as you want. All you need is your laptop and an internet connection," said almost every ad, every guru, every promotion. Maybe not in those specific words, but that certainly was one of the benefits, even if it was not explicitly said.

Then, Covid-19 happened. Many people were forced to work from home - and most of them discovered that it's not all it is cracked up to be. 

Of course, you'll hear all kinds of stats. For example, research firm Valoir claims that employees who were suddenly required to complete their assignments from home only suffered a 1% productivity loss.

I don't know about that. It might be somewhat true... but only perhaps because most people work longer hours. 

There was an article on Bloomberg that said that in the U.S., homebound employees are logging three hours more per day on the job than before lockdowns, according to NordVPN. 

People are overworked. Stressed. Afraid of losing their jobs.

So "only 1% productivity loss" comes at a great cost. 

Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom says that the global work from-home movement could actually generate a worldwide productivity slump and threaten economic growth for many years. 

Now, let's back up a little. 

A lot of people reading this email - and that probably includes you - either have a day job and are currently looking to build another stream of income, or are building a full time online income. 

Either way, you're probably doing it from home, and if it's not your first day, you're probably already aware that maintaining a productive environment is challenging.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to share things that worked for me when it comes to improving my work environment at home.

By the way, it's crucially important you pay close attention to this. Because your work environment can not only affect your decision making and performance... but mood and even physical health.

#1 - Have a Structure To Your Day

I don't mean you should join the 5am club. I know that this has been all the rage for a while now (if you want to see an extreme example of this, look up Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod), however, I think that we're all created differently. If you're not the person to naturally get up at 5am and you function best after midnight, why bother molding yourself into someone you're not?

What you need to do instead, is have a structure. By all means, sleep until noon and get all your work done from 2pm to 10pm or whatnot. But do it with purpose, and make every day the same. The structure and the routine is what gives your brain peace and order - and once you don't have to think when you're up and when you're doing what, you'll find your productivity soar.

By the way, if you're afraid of having a "routine" because you think it will stifle your creativity, don't be. In fact, most of the time training yourself to create at a specific time of the day actually helps your creativity.

And get out of your pajamas. While it's a nice soundbite, it hurts your productivity - because if you leave them on, that serves as a subconscious clue to your brain that you're still in "relax" mode, not "work" mode.

To be continued.....