My Guide to Staying Productive While Working From Home (without going crazy!)
Leverage Intentions and Set Up Constraints to Get Things Done
A New Way of Doing
The unexpected events of these last few weeks have initiated dramatic shifts in our way of life. Confined to our residences, our work and home lives have merged. Novel sources of stress and anxiety have been inserted into our day to day. I’ve been working from home for over a decade, and even I have felt the effects of being increasingly restricted in movement and physically isolated from many of those I care about most.
While I am optimistic that we will revert to some forms of “normalcy,” it is evident that we all have been heading towards freelancing and remote work for some time. This quarantine is simply the catalyst that has accelerated these trends. This is not a temporary disruption but the beginning of a new way of doing things.
Moving forward, I anticipate that we should all prepare for an increase in working from home. The ability to maintain productivity, regardless of the environment, will not become a differentiator. It will become a necessity.
At The Forcing Function, I’ve taught dozens of executives how to leverage intentions and install constraints as part of our performance coaching so that they too can maximize productivity, regardless of location or circumstance.
In the decade I’ve been working from home, I have been continuously correlating which conditions allow for maximum levels of output and happiness, taking into account the ongoing efforts required to maintain them. All these tactics were born out of hard-fought experience. I practice what I preach. Everything I recommend, I do personally—or attempt to do most of the time.
This is my comprehensive guide to staying productive at home, without going crazy.
Why Being Productive At Home Is Challenging:
A Tale of Affordances
Q: Why is being productive at home so challenging for me?
A: Because you have too many alternatives to productivity.
Architects and UX designers evaluate environments by their affordances. An affordance is an option, or “action possibility,” presented to the user by the environment.
Think of your environment as a container. Your behavior is liquid, conforming to the shape of whatever container you find yourself in. The actions you take in a particular environment are determined by the affordances available in that environment.
In an office space, your affordances are strictly limited to work. It feels discordant to do other activities. The desired outcome of productivity is reinforced by this bounding of affordances.
At home, all those guardrails have been removed. The environment is now a cornucopia of affordances. The limits of our container have receded from view.
There’s your bedroom, why not take a nap? The living room looks comfy. No one will know if you curl up with a book or an episode. Maybe pop into the kitchen for a snack afterward. Those dishes won’t wash themselves. Work can wait a while longer.
This friction to being productive becomes evident with a quick survey of your home.
Take one minute to look around your home for affordances. Instead of reading this article, what could you be doing instead?
It is important to acknowledge that you are now trying to be productive in the same environment that has been continually reinforced as a place for entertaining, playing, and unwinding. This creates a context conflict. Relaxation won’t go down without a fight.
To be productive in the home environment, you must change the affordances available to you.
Intentions vs. Constraints
All productivity upgrades fall into one of two categories: intentions and constraints. Each attacks a different aspect of the equation.
Intentions raise the ceiling for productivity, expanding the range of positive outcomes.
Constraints raise the floor for productivity, preventing negative outcomes from occurring.
Five Intentions to Raise the Ceiling
Outcomes:
Clarity on top priorities
Less activation energy
Easier to get back on track
Being proactive rather than reactive
Without a plan to follow or compare to, you can backward rationalize anything you did as a worthy use of your time. Your entire home environment is a gauntlet of visual rabbit holes. You’re constantly reminded of postponed “someday projects,” like that closet you keep meaning to organize.
Explicitly commit to your daily priorities in advance, ideally the night before. If there is no plan, making that plan becomes the first thing you do.
Keep this list of priorities short—three items maximum. The longer your to-do list, the lower the average importance of what you will work on. Aim to internalize the difference between feeling productive and being productive. Crossing off a pile of small tasks feels great but it fails to stack up to reaching a meaningful milestone on your most important project.
Focus on what is under your control and leave slack in your schedule for that which is not under your control. Trust the plan. Fires and opportunities will appear. Ask yourself: “Is that really the most important thing I could be doing right now?”
Perhaps it is. So act. And then return to the plan.
When choosing your priorities, know how you will get started and what your intended outcome will be. Knowing the first step, or next action, reduces the effort needed to get moving. Knowing the intended outcome, or deliverable, gives you a target to shoot for and strips away unnecessary effort. When you do get distracted, having a daily theme in mind (i.e. focusing on content, marketing, or systems) makes it much easier to get back on track.
Structure your day so that you do your proactive (self-guided) work before any reactive work (driven by others). Pushing off your first checks of email, Slack, and social are especially critical to reinforce this. Otherwise, the shift between proactive and reactive will tend to be a one-way street. Reactive work is less important but it always feels more urgent. Once we start doing the work we are being asked for, it is difficult to shift back to the work that isn’t being asked for.
Outcomes:
Requires less activation energy
More sustained focus
Separation between home and work
Increased energy levels
You may not have an office to go to, but you can do your best to recreate that intentionality.
This starts with a dedicated workspace. Have a desk area where you can leave everything out. If possible, keep your desk outside of your bedroom or you will find yourself both wanting to take a nap during the day and stay up too late working. An external monitor both increases available screen real estate and establishes permanence. Keep your desk clean and make it a calm and inspiring place to spend time.
One thing you won’t hear anyone complaining about is no longer having to commute to work. However, a commute takes place in liminal space, creating a valuable transition between work and home.
Avoid rolling right from your bed into your work. Get outside first thing if that’s at all possible, even if it’s just going out on a fire escape or taking a walk around the block. Re-enter your home as if it were your office and walk straight to your desk with clear intentions.
The same concept of creating a clear transition applies when wrapping up your workday. Emphasize the shift in context by going for a walk, taking a shower, and/or changing your clothes.
Speaking of clothes, do not underestimate the value of looking the part. Don’t worry, I’m not advocating for collared shirts. I love comfortable sweatpants as much as the next guy. I’m just telling you to make sure you are video-conference presentable.
Take pride in your appearance. There is a clear connection between looking good and feeling good. When I’m well-groomed and wearing flattering, clean clothes, I undoubtedly perform at a higher level. If you want to take your work seriously, start by taking yourself seriously.
Outcomes:
Performing at an optimal level
More creative breakthroughs
Less getting stuck
Better decision-making
All performance is maximized with alternating cycles of sprint and recovery. Aim to work in short, focused bursts of 60–90 minutes, followed by 10–15 minute breaks where you completely disengage.
Taking effective breaks means unplugging from devices and getting away from your desk. This gives your brain time to rest and integrate new information. If you don’t disengage, you aren’t actually recharging.
Motion creates emotion. Try the habit of scheduling a long walk or doing some bodyweight exercises in the afternoons to create a secondary energetic peak.
Whenever you get tired or stuck, reset your context. Try moving to a different location in your home for a clean productivity slate.
Be intentional about how you fuel your body. It is common to either forget about eating during the day or to oversnack as a distraction. I recommend keeping your breakfast and lunch time consistent and preplanning what you will be eating ahead of time to eliminate unnecessary decisions. It can be very useful to utilize weekends for meal prep to reduce cooking time during the week and encourage better decision-making.
Outcomes:
Less procrastination
Easier to get into flow
Accelerated progress on projects
Increased energy levels
An underrated perk of offices (or coffee shops!) is accountability. There is an implicit expectation of being productive because the people around you are also working. Working from home tends to be more of a solo pursuit, which unfortunately creates a single point of failure: you.
You can recreate a supportive social norm of productivity by coworking with others. This could be with housemates in person, or virtually over video.
I have standing appointments with friends where we turn on video, share screens, and work together for an hour. Even though I know they aren’t policing me, the subtle social pressure to not let them down keeps me especially on task. To remove the excuse of setting up appointments, try using Focusmate to be matched up with others for virtual coworking.
Accountability is also created by externalizing priorities and progress. The best format for this seems to be a daily standup where each person shares the progress they made since the last call and their top priorities for the day ahead. This standup can be with your team or just a trusted friend.
I’ve had a fifteen-minute daily standup for the last three years and it is one of my secrets of maintaining consistency. The forcing function of having a call ensures that you don’t show up empty-handed (i.e., that you have a plan and actual progress to share!).
Outcomes:
Start the day with momentum
Maximize energy capacity
Maximize ability to focus
Reduce the chances of getting off-track
I’ll assume you have a morning routine in place already. If not, start there. Think very carefully about how you start the day and try to wake up at the same time consistently. As working from home requires extra focus, energy, and willpower to maintain previous levels of productivity, it is essential that you set yourself up for success. If you win the first hour, you will win the day.
My morning routine is a container for my four keystone habits: movement, reading, journaling, and meditation. If you have any habits which reliably encourage your best self to show up, do them in the morning so that you can harvest the benefits all day.
A Power Up Routine is essential for sustained focus. Review your priorities (from the night before!) and simulate how the day will flow.
What will you accomplish and how will you do it? Do you have everything you will need? Are there any potential distractions or failure modes that you can anticipate and prevent in advance? It’s always better to make mistakes in simulation rather than reality.
The Power Up Routine completes with one hour of focused work on the most important task of the day. My principle is that if I maximize this “power hour” by prioritizing and working effectively, anything else I accomplish the rest of the day is a bonus.
Our productivity level is a continual extrapolation into the future from our present mood. Building momentum early tends to carry forward to the rest of your day.
For my guide to creating strong routines, check out the fourth chapter of Experiment Without Limits, available for free download.
Four Constraints to Raise the Floor
Outcomes:
Consistent output
Increased work efficiency
Nothing fallings through the cracks
More enjoyment and presence in personal life
Create a schedule with fixed office hours for working. It does not need to be a 9 to 5! Pick any schedule which aligns with your peak energy levels and the outside world (to the extent necessary) but stay consistent (i.e. butt in chair) during that time every day. Having a consistent schedule links those hours with productivity, thus making productivity easier.
If you are not careful, the line between your work and your personal life will be continually blurred. Work tends to expand to the amount of time allocated to it. If work is acceptable at any hour of the day, you’ll tend to spend twelve hours accomplishing what you could have done in six. Thus, it is critical that you have a hard stop which ends the work day.
Ending the day with a Power Down routine supports leaving work behind at the “office.” Block off 15–30 minutes to review your day and capture any open loops, or items carrying over to tomorrow. What was accomplished? What was learned?
The brain is a poor storage device. The more you can externalize at the end of the workday, the more present you will be with your family, roommates, and yourself. Close your laptop for the day and do whatever you need to do to transition away from work mode.
You will find it much easier to honor your hard stop if you have a preset appointment which you have to show up for. I schedule my workout with a trainer at 5:30 pm daily. The shower afterward acts as a transitional commute to eating dinner and entering relaxation mode.
Outcomes:
Fewer distractions
Less reactivity and stress
More time for deep work and learning
More happiness
Technology is both history’s greatest multiplier of productivity and history’s greatest means of thwarting productivity. Where you fall on this continuum in any given day completely depends upon the rules and systems you put in place. All technology is useful, but is it net useful to you at this moment, inclusive of the hidden costs and diminishing returns?
Contexts can be separated digitally as well as physically. Have a dedicated work computer that is only used during business hours and use a tablet or old computer for reading, watching, games, and web browsing outside of those hours.
Remove all non-work programs from the dedicated work computer and set up blockers to prevent access to any distracting websites. If that’s not possible, create separate user profiles or use different browsers for work and play.
I find that playing instrumental music on my headphones (try Focus@Will) creates a constant ambient background which greatly supports getting into a state of flow. Avoid having the television or radio running in the background.
Turn off all notifications by default. Computers should only speak when spoken to.
Keep your phone on airplane mode in another room during business hours. I make my home office, bedroom, and bathroom “no phone zones,” placing my phone on a shelf before entering those areas. Experiment with deleting or hiding various apps on your phone (start with social and news) and observe how those nudges affect overall screen time.
Carefully cultivate your information diet. Think twice before you click on that news article. Utilize a read-it-later app like Instapaper and see if the article still feels necessary later in the day. Stay away from social feeds. The algorithm rewards fear, controversy, and outrage. These are not the emotions you’re looking for.
Generally speaking, the less time you spend on your devices (aside from calls and some messaging), the happier you will be. This has always been the case, but the effect is magnified during times of great uncertainty.
Outcomes:
Fewer distractions
Healthier relationships with less conflict
Fewer personal errands during peak energy periods
New environment, new variables to account for. Whether it’s kids pulling on your leg during a client call or a day-drinking roommate, when you share a common space, social distractions are a thing. Rather than throwing up your hands in exasperation, take some responsibility and set clear boundaries and expectations.
Communicate your office hours to your cohabitants and request that you are left alone during that time. Have a clear visual signal of when you are busy and not to be disturbed. This could be noise-canceling headphones, a flag on your desk, or a closed door if possible. Gently reinforce this policy as necessary.
If you have small children at home, try scheduling alternate work hours from your coparent or during times when the kids are asleep or otherwise occupied. One hour of full immersion in your work is probably worth three hours with divided attention.
Those you love will support you in this to the extent that you can hold up your side of the bargain.
Stick to the hours you have set. Be approachable and present outside of them. Preplanning activities with your kids and a weekly date night goes a long way toward ensuring that your family knows they are a priority. The number of interruptions during office hours will magically decrease.
Personal and domestic concerns will encroach on your productivity. If you aren’t careful, you will find yourself doing laundry or buying groceries on a Tuesday morning. Have a checklist of recurring responsibilities (i.e. financial, around the home, etc) and set aside dedicated personal time (I utilize Friday afternoons) to keep the list current.
Outcomes:
Less stress, anxiety, and burnout
Less chance of falling off the horse completely
Increased self-empathy and satisfaction
Ability to capitalize on emergent opportunities
The world is a strange place these days. My clients lament their reduced output but fail to account for the emergent priorities which cannot be neatly accounted for on a to-do list.
It’s all too easy to throw unnamed clients under the bus, isn’t it? Perhaps a more personal example would drive this one home: I’ve gone through all of the stages of grief myself.
A tellingly hubristic line from my monthly review at the end of February: “A second straight month operating at peak productivity. 2020 is shaping up to be a breakout year.”
And then March came.
I got sick (very mildly, whew!) and quarantined inside my bedroom for two weeks. A simple listicle about working from home sat untouched on my desktop. I took decisive action on investments, but my portfolio was still covered in red ink. I stopped exercising. Stopped moving, really. Everything caught on fire around me and I felt paralyzed, helpless to do anything about it.
Am I going to be okay? Is my family going to be okay? Do I have enough supplies? Do I have enough cash set aside to ride this out? I’m in a privileged position, why am I not doing more?
There has never been a better time to reexamine whether you are living in alignment with your values. Ask yourself, “what do I truly value?” Sit quietly and listen for the answer. Has it changed recently? How? Does this suggest any changes in priorities?
How strongly are you willing to hold on to your instincts of what is truly worth prioritizing in a world that will continually yell at you to ditch those priorities, often without any immediate consequence?
Make sure that you have created sufficient physical and psychological space to accommodate these new priorities. Decide what is acceptable to not do for a while. A good rule of thumb is to put one project on pause before you pick a new project up.
Open up your schedule. Reduce your inputs. Acknowledge that your previous baselines for performance may not be achievable in all areas, at least for right now.
Moving Forward
I have no idea what the future holds. No one does, really. To me, it seems like we are all holding our collective breaths, looking out at an unfamiliar landscape through the prism of our bedroom windows, just waiting for the dust to settle.
This has been an article about optimization: taking control of your environment, your mindset, and your routines. But I am no stranger to the perils of over-optimization. We are not defined by our level of productivity. The subject of productivity itself is only as useful as its object. None of this is of any consequence if you don’t apply it towards making progress in whatever is most important, however that progress is defined.
Take advantage of the heightened awareness while your situation is in flux to reconnect with what really matters to you. Be kind to yourself. Reflect. Practice self-care. Forgive yourself for setbacks.
When you get down, try shifting your gaze from yourself to others. Always endeavor to keep the needs of others in mind. Check in on loved ones and tell them you love them. There is great purpose to self-improvement if it becomes a vehicle for service. If we get through this, it will be together.
Wherever you are, just keep moving forward.
Special thanks to Andrew Marinopolous, Brian Pellegrino, Donza Worden, Natasha Conti, and Marianna Phillips for giving invaluable feedback on an earlier draft of this article.