Stop Waste In Its Track

When we think about waste, most of us will naturally think of household waste, industrial waste or garden waste. But in this COVID-19 season, there’s an even bigger waste that many people are contending with.

That is the waste of time. Many people are working from home for the first time in their careers and facing the struggles that all homeworkers and self-employed people face.

Others have jobs that currently rely on face to face mediums and they are effectively waiting to go back on the road with not much to do in the meantime. Or so they think.

The struggles of the self employed or homeworker include time management, maintaining productivity and staying motivated.

For many years, I worked a few days from home and at a point, I worked mostly from home. This wasn’t an issue for me as I have a natural preference for introversion and actually enjoyed working by myself with regular touch points with my colleagues.

Here are some tips for reducing and eliminating wastes during this challenging times.

Have a plan and a supporting to-do list

This, for me, is the simplest way to nail all three – manage your time, maintain productivity and stay motivated. Having a plan means you know your starting point, your end goal and the required steps in between.

Your to-do lists gives you the breakdown of activities you must complete each day or week and helps you avoid wasting time as you can hit the ground running every single day.

You don’t have to wonder what to do or get overwhelmed. A plan and the to-do lists suddenly make everything possible and less daunting.

As you complete and tick off tasks, there’s a sense of accomplishment and feel good hormones are released that help you move on to the next task.

Carve out your workspace

There are exceptions to every rule but most of us will work better in a clutter free and well defined space.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have an extra room to create a home office so we have to learn to work out of unusual spaces.

The dining table, kitchen counter and living rooms often double up as office for many people but these spaces have other uses with lots of foot traffic. So it’s important to set your boundaries.

Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean you’re available to make lunch or a cuppa for your partner unless you’re making one for yourself too.

Sometimes our family members need to be reminded that we are effectively in the office and we can’t be in two places at once. You need their support, respect, love and encouragement to get your work done at home.

Proactively eliminate distractions

A major enemy of working from home is distraction. As much as possible, remove distractions. Don’t be tempted to keep the TV on in the background.

Unplug your landlines, after all you’re in the office. Route your parcels to a collection point or select a preferred time that will not interfere with your day.

Forget what’s happening on social media even during your lunch or coffee breaks. A planned five minute break on social media could easily become thirty minutes or end up being depressing.

Instead, go for a walk, talk to your mentor, do a short meditation, catch up with a colleague, do some stretching exercises, give your eyes a break, focus on your breathes for a few minutes or make a cuppa.

Share your specific and measurable deliverables

Letting your boss know what you intend to accomplish on a daily and weekly basis means you’re more likely to stay focused and get things done. This is the antidote to mindlessly going through the day.

Knowing you’re going to be asked about the specifics is sometimes enough to keep you focused through the day.

Learn to intelligently say No

You don’t have to attend every meeting. Using a simple tool like RACI can help you. Are you Responsible for the meeting or the decision maker? Are you Accountable for the output and outcomes? Do you just need to be Consulted or kept Informed?

You don’t have to be at the meeting to stay informed and even if you need to be consulted, can it be done before the meeting or at an agreed time?

There’s no point attending a two hour meeting only to be consulted for the last agenda point. Consider and share what else you could accomplish in that time. Make yourself available for your part of the agenda or delegate..

You can remain purposeful through this crisis. Thanks for reading and sharing my post with others. Have a productive and blessed week.