if not approached properly, remote work can negatively impact your productivity and overall well-being. However, incorporating these three tools can significantly boost your efficiency and transform your work-from-home experience. Let’s explore how.
Remote Work Productivity Tools
On the surface, working from home seems like it should enhance productivity. With fewer distractions, no commuting stress, and the absence of office politics, it should be ideal.
A major study conducted early in the pandemic suggested that remote work could lead to increased productivity. However, six months later, it appears many of us are still figuring out how to work effectively from home.
A recent Harvard Business Review study surveyed 12,000 remote workers in the U.S. and Europe, revealing that we’re often not utilizing the time saved from commuting wisely. In fact, this time—approximately 89 million hours weekly for U.S. workers—is often wasted on unproductive activities and poor leisure choices.
The reality is that many of us are adapting through trial and error, learning how to be efficient in this new environment.
Fortunately, there are proven techniques and dependable tools that can help us stay productive while working from home.
Essential Tools for Remote Work
Since spring, I’ve been testing various productivity tools, and surprisingly, I’ve narrowed it down to just three essentials:
- Vivaldi browser, which comes with numerous built-in productivity features.
- Todoist.
- Ecosia (more on this shortly).
With these three tools, I’ve been able to implement key productivity strategies:
- Establishing a schedule.
- Taking regular breaks.
- Focusing on tasks.
- Maintaining motivation.
- Disconnecting effectively.
Let’s delve into each aspect.
Establish a Schedule
Adhering to a schedule should be straightforward, yet many of us have lost this habit while working from home. I certainly struggled with it at first; I didn’t realize that by skipping my commute, I was also missing my routine of transitioning into work mode.
Eventually, I recognized the need for a new routine. My commute provided me with 10-15 minutes to mentally prepare for my day, but at home, I would simply dive straight into work. Setting time aside to plan your workday is a great way to transition into work mode when working from home. If you don’t schedule everything, there’s a very good chance that you’ll spend your day reacting to whatever comes up and not get to your core tasks.
Utilizing a daily planner app can greatly enhance this process, making it easier to organize your day and stay focused on your priorities.
There are numerous time management tools available, but sometimes a simple pen and paper works just as well. Personally, I find Todoist to be incredibly effective. You can access it directly in your browser or through its app, which I often use in a Vivaldi browser Web Panel.
Take Regular Breaks
Research consistently shows that taking breaks is vital for maintaining productivity—something that can be challenging when working remotely. According to surveys conducted since the pandemic began, 37% of remote workers identified taking breaks as crucial to their productivity.
With constant internet access, it’s easy to feel compelled to stay connected, but stepping away from the screen is essential for recharging.
This is why Vivaldi introduced Break Mode, a feature I’ve used since its launch. While Vivaldi helps enhance productivity, it also empowers users to balance their time effectively.
How to Use Break Mode in Vivaldi:
- Click the Break button (the pause icon on the left of the Status Bar) to pause your browsing.
- Use this time to engage in physical activities—grab a coffee, exercise, chat with someone, or even take a short nap.
- Resume your work by clicking the Play button.
Focused Work
Staying focused while working from home is a common challenge. Various techniques and tools exist to aid concentration, but one of the most effective is the Pomodoro Technique.
This method involves breaking your work into short intervals (typically 25 minutes), followed by brief breaks (5 minutes). After completing several cycles, you take a longer break.
At Vivaldi, we’ve integrated a Pomodoro timer into the browser to facilitate this approach.
How to Use the Pomodoro Timer in Vivaldi:
- Click the Clock button (far right on the Status Bar) to open the Clock popup.
- Select the Pomodoro preset.
- Hit Start.
You can adjust the timer to suit your needs, experimenting with different durations until you find what works best for you.
The Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the early 1990s, encourages short bursts of focus followed by breaks, enhancing productivity and concentration over time.
Motivation Practice
Feeling isolated while working from home can be a significant downside. It’s easy to lose sight of the larger picture, which can diminish your sense of accomplishment.
Fostering a sense of purpose is more important than ever, and while companies are working on strategies to keep employees motivated, individuals are finding their own solutions.
One tool that surprised me was Ecosia, a search engine that plants trees. For every search, Ecosia uses 80% of its profits to fund tree planting, benefiting both the environment and local communities.
Every time I search, I see my personal tree count, which serves as a reminder that my online activity is contributing positively to the planet. This uplifted feeling combats any sense of disorganization or isolation I may experience while working remotely.
Ecosia is transparent about its financials, providing monthly reports on how profits are utilized. Additionally, it respects user privacy by not selling data or using third-party trackers.
Disconnecting
The final productivity technique I practice is perhaps the most challenging: disconnecting from work. Achieving a healthy work-life balance is crucial.
Without a physical office, it can be hard to delineate between professional and personal time. If you don’t establish clear boundaries, work can easily encroach on your personal life.
Vivaldi offers a solution with its theme-scheduler feature, allowing you to set different themes for various times of the day. For instance, you can have a light theme during work hours and switch to a dark theme afterward, signaling the end of the workday.
You can also create separate work and personal profiles within the Vivaldi browser, helping to maintain a distinct separation between your work and personal life.
To optimize your productivity and well-being, it’s essential to unplug from work.
Conclusion
By implementing these techniques and using these three tools—Vivaldi, Todoist, and Ecosia—you can maintain high levels of productivity while working from home.
Try out these strategies, and you’ll find it easier to step away from work each day, feeling accomplished and ready to recharge for the next day. What better way to conclude another successful remote workday?
