Your home is your safe place. It’s where you’re at your comfiest, so it’s easy to see why sometimes you might find it hard to be productive. Whether it’s coursework or office work, sometimes you just can’t seem to focus, instead finding your hand moving to grab your phone or doing housework in a desperate attempt to procrastinate.
Technology is well-known to be a distraction, but it can also be a powerful ally in your fight against low productivity. Here are some ways that technology actually improves your productivity at home.
Project tracking and management
It can be easy to lose track of different tasks and projects. Luckily, there are many choices for technological solutions out there that help you to stay on top of your to-do list.
The right tool will be smart and intuitive, allowing you to track your workflow, add other users, collaborate with multiple teams, prioritize tasks and projects, add users, and set deadlines. This helps you to open discussions with others, share ideas and progress updates, and give you actionable insights.
The organization and data that this kind of software gives you empowers you to make better choices and do more with your time.
Automated tasks
Whatever kind of tasks you’re working on, there are surely at least some that are repetitive and let’s be honest, boring. Software that automates tasks helps you to free up your time to do things that need to be done by you specifically.
For example, if you write a lot and spend a lot of time proofreading for simple grammatical errors, you could be using that time to write other pieces instead.
Automating tasks helps you to cut down on wasteful practices and allows you to sharply increase your productivity.
Effective collaboration and communication
The people that you collaborate with won’t always be in the same location, and even if they are they may not be available all the time. Technology helps collaborators stay connected and allows seamless cooperation that bridges gaps while getting tasks done.
Collaboration tools include things like project management software, while communication tools will be apps like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
The right tool for you is the one that you find easy to use and effective at helping you stay on top of what your peers need from you and have accomplished themselves.
Additionally, since a feature of working on-site is that there’s a lot of casual communication, you might feel like you’re missing out. Water cooler chats, gossiping with colleagues, talking to the person next to you about what you did over the weekend; when you’re working from home, you won’t experience these things and as a result, you might feel disengaged and even stressed.
When you’re feeling a lack of interpersonal connection, it can be nice to know that you can use technology to reach out to those you work with and nurture a sense of community.
Communicating and collaborating effectively with your peers means that work is done faster and to a higher standard.
Flexible and secure data access
There’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to work and not being able to because you can’t find the something that you need. When working from home, you need reliable and timely access to your work or institution’s data and tools. Cloud technology helps you to access documents and data that are stored securely and neatly, helping you to always have what you need at hand.
Flexible and secure data access means that you never have to worry about searching for what you need again.
Improved accountability and concentration
Time management might possibly be one of your sorest spots. There are a lot of tools out there that track how you spend your time, what you’re clicking on, and what activities you’re doing. Workplaces often shy away from implementing these tools to avoid making employees feel micromanaged and manhandled, but there’s nothing stopping you from using these tools for yourself.
Time management tools like these can help you to understand better where the bottlenecks in your workflow are and what tasks you find the most difficult to handle. From there, you will know what you have to work on and you can find solutions or ask for support.
You can also leverage software that helps you to eliminate distractions. For example, if you find that you keep checking your phone or scrolling through social media, you can install apps that lock or disable your access for a set amount of time.
This kind of technology results in improved accountability and concentration.
More opportunities for learning
When you’re at home, you don’t have to spend time commuting, setting up your desk, or walking to get lunch. The extra time that you have can be spent learning. There is so much that you can learn online whether through free YouTube videos or paid courses. This learning can help you excel in your work, find a new hobby, or just keep you learning and growing.
When you’re learning something new, you’re more invested in what you’re working on and can pick up new skills and knowledge that will take you farther in your role, increasing your productivity.
Technology can be your friend if you let it
While there are certainly ways that technology can hamper productivity, there are far more ways that it can boost it! By changing your habits, you can increase your efficiency and efficacy. With the right tools and practices in place, you can watch your productivity skyrocket.