4 Ways to Ditch the Productivity Guilt

February marks National Time Management Month, an opportunity to review current practices and find ways to achieve a better work and life balance. Martin Boroson and Carmel Moore from One Moment Company reveal the 4 essential questions to ask yourself if you are suffering from productivity guilt. 

According to a survey by Upwork, 41.8% of the American workforce continues to work remotely and an estimated 26.7% will still be working from home through 2021. In addition, a study conducted by a group of data scientists at Microsoft found that WFH employees worked an average of four more hours a week.

Time management is one of the most stressful aspects of working from home, but it doesn’t have to be that way. With the right approach, you can make the most of your time, maximize your productivity and still have time for self-care. 

“When trying to maximise productivity when working from home, the first step is to forget about productivity altogether,” explains Martin Boroson and Carmel Moore from One Moment Company, who specialize in helping people break through the time barrier and wake up to the potential of this moment.

Martin and Carmel suggest that instead, you focus on how you are spending your time, designing your day.  “Chances are you’ve already fallen into the remote working trap of working too hard and blurred the boundary between work and home on an endless loop of virtual meetings. Longer hours make you less productive,” they explain. 

If you are looking to improve your productivity when working from home, Martin and Carmel suggest that ask yourself 4 key questions:

When am I at my best?

Colour code your working week to pinpoint when energy is high and you fly through stuff with ease and identify when energy is low and all you can manage is some light email filing.  Redesign your day to match the work which needs energy, focus, and urgency to when your vitality is high. Save the admin for when the spirit is flagging.

Why am I at my best?

Is it early morning, late at night?  Are you buzzing after being outside in daylight, exercising?   Are you sluggish after that family pack of crisps?  Do you suffer from ‘revenge bedtime procrastination’ when you have worked so hard all day that you need to claw back ‘me’ time, even though it’s 2 am and the box set beckons?  There are changes you can introduce to maximise performance.

Who brings out my best?

Are there colleagues, friends and family who inspire you? Are there mentors and peers who can help solve a problem with you? Are there people who drain you, who take up too much of your time? Chances are you are spending way too much time with the time hogs. 

What is my best?

Are you clear about your purpose and priorities?  If you were to look at your calendar and assess how much time you were spending on your priorities what would it tell you?  Are you spending too much time on the low-value stuff, the little things? Maybe it is time to recalibrate?

This guest post was authored by Carmel Moore and Martin Boroson

Carmel and Martin are directors of the One Moment Company, dedicated to helping people to break through the time barrier and wake up to the potential of this moment.