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Five takeaways:

• Despite endless statistics about how remote work increases productivity, working from home is a relatively new concept that takes a lot of trial and error before finding a routine that works. Productivity isn’t an innate skill (for most people anyway). It’s not even a skill really – it’s a series of habits that take consistent patience to build.
• The writer then lists five habits to making your WFH day as productive and pleasant as possible, noting how often we are confronted by the difference between expectation and reality. The tips are:
  1. Getting an Early Start: Oftentimes, we can wake up and jump into problem-solving mode (which, as referenced in the first article today, can derail an entire workday). Instead, plan to handle your biggest tasks as early as possible and stick to that plan. Save smaller, less urgent tasks for later on if possible.
  2. Deciding Where to Work: Working from home can be isolating, but working from cafes or coworking spaces can be expensive and distracting. One must invest in their home office space to … splurge a bit on a desk or chair or other decor that keeps you inspired to get the job done. Don’t be afraid to experiment as you find the balance that works for you.
  3. Prioritizing Tasks: Everything feels like the most important thing, so be intentional about what needs to get done first. Research concepts such as the Eisenhower Matrix or Eat That Frog that can assist with prioritization. Remember, the process of prioritizing tasks can take its toll on your mental bandwidth as well. Be decisive quickly, then work to tune other tasks out as you attack your most important goals for the day.
  4. Scheduling Uninterrupted Deep Work: There are a plethora of tools available to us that assist in minimizing distraction. Multiple apps (look into Forest and Zero Willpower) are good places to start. It is an important mental habit; by allowing ourselves to be distracted, we’re actually weakening our brains’ ability to focus on “deep work” in the long term. Distractions are unavoidable, but our reaction to them is something we can control.
  5. Maintaining Work-Life Balance: Set firm boundaries and do not waver on them. Incorporate a scheduled time off and build activities into that time off that service the human need for adventure, connection, creativity, and relaxation. Every individual has a different balance they must strike, but we all must be deliberate in pursuing full understanding of that balance. Doing so will guarantee a more refreshed mental approach to your work.

From Sarah Aboulhosn for Todoist
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Seven takeaways:

• Focus is valuable, and difficult to regain. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine found that workers who are interrupted by phone calls and emails need an average of about 23 minutes to get back on task and end up feeling more stress and frustration than their peers.
• The article then lists seven common habits that push workers into distraction:
  1. Constantly checking your phone during lulls: Time management coach Anna Dearmon Kornick suggests scheduling specific “scroll time” in your day to indulge in social media without impeding your productivity. By allocating dedicated time for phone usage, you are less likely to impulsively reach for your phone and fall into the trap of mindlessly scrolling through apps.
  2. Doing unrelated tasks that will “only take a second”: Stepping away from the day’s most important tasks can disrupt your workflow and derail your focus. To combat this, create a “shiny thing list” of off-work tasks that might pop into your head and set aside specific intervals to address them. Career coach Anyelis Cordero recommends working in distraction-free intervals to enhance productivity. Focused work sprints of 90 minutes often yield better results than hours of scattered multitasking.
  3. You open too many tabs on your web browser: Hoarding browser tabs can cause stress and distraction, but using tab organizers or background managers can help declutter and focus your browsing experience. Research tools like OneTab which converts all your open tabs into a convenient list.
  4. You impulsively check Slack and other work chat platforms: Chat windows can interrupt focus and create more work for yourself, so setting boundaries with teammates and utilizing status updates and calendar blocking can help manage interruptions. Immediately responding to notifications can create an expectation that you will always be available, which further inhibits your ability to retain necessary focus.
  5. You start solving problems right away, before determining if they’re actually your problems to solve: It is natural, when you encounter a new problem at work, to want to jump directly into problem-solving mode. But it can be a safeguard of your time and attention to take a moment to assess the situation; be sure that the problem is your responsibility to fix and that it is fully understood by you and your team.
  6. You assume you are right: One of the most dangerously wasteful mindsets is to believe you have mastered your job. This mindset can lead you to resist change that may make your processes more efficient. Listen to others, research new technologies and techniques; embrace the need to adapt and change in the workplace– viewing it as an ever-shifting quest to find the most pragmatic, direct solutions available to you when presented with problems new or familiar.
  7. You schedule unnecessary meetings: Forty-seven percent of workers surveyed by Salary.com in 2012 said “too many meetings” was their top workplace distraction. Streamline meetings and eliminate them when you can. This will safeguard your own time and give others a chance to extend their periods of deep focus as well.

From Monica Torres for The Huffington Post
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Five takeaways:

1. The self-help space has become a multibillion dollar, hugely crowded industry. Naturally, one must be intentional in selecting their sources of self-help information- or risk getting stuck in the loop of getting bad advice and being forced to seek more.
2. To avoid bad self-help, make sure your self-help advice is consistent with these proven neurological principals:
   • Mental focus amplifies and magnifies: whatever you focus on becomes larger and more important to you than what you don’t.
   • Repetition creates default processing in the brain: it can make certain processes happen on “autopilot”
3. When the brain experiences something bad it sends a signal of negative emotion before giving way to more rational processes: interpretation and assessment of the bad thing. Good self-help advice encourages you to understand that this initial negative signal (say, anxiety or anger) is not reality, as much as it may seem like reality. The alarm is not the fire.
4. Bad self-help advice, however, focuses on validation of the negative mental processes holding an individual back. It wastes time validating an individual’s negative experience rather than giving advice for actually addressing it, causing them to get stuck in a feedback loop that sees them repeat their bad habits… and continue consuming bad self-help advice.
5. Good self-help advice actively seeks to be practical, helping individuals to define their goals/actions, and offering specific strategies to address their problems.

From Steven Stosny, Ph.D for Psychology Today
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.

Five takeaways:

1. Often, when faced with a difficult problem, we struggle. Not because we can’t find the answer, but because we aren’t asking ourselves the right questions. When we find ourselves lacking fulfillment, introspection can be daunting- but it is essential. According to legend, the dictum “Know Thyself” was carved into the stone of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, in ancient Greece. At around the same time, the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching, “Knowing the self is enlightenment.”
2. The key to finding a fulfilling career lies in first understanding ourselves and our needs, before determining what we are meant to do with our lives. What makes us truly happy, and how do we channel that happiness into our working lives?
3. Studies show that we often have an inaccurate perception of ourselves and our abilities. We tend to overestimate our own skills and overlook some of our own shortcomings. In other areas we underestimate ourselves. True self-knowledge requires diligent self-assessment.
4. Brooks evokes St. Thomas Aquinas and Buddhist teachings to show that self-knowledge leads to a reprioritization of love in one’s life. That excellence is “not separate from love.” So: when young people look to choose a career path, they should not stray from the things they truly love.
5. Love often takes the form of serving others, which underpins the deep fulfillment that work can bring. Who you may serve in your work will vary; it might be your customers, your colleagues, or the public. But dedicating one’s work to the good of others can make what might have been a previously unfulfilling work life into one full of motivation, energy, and happiness.

From Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic:
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Note: At the time of this posting The Atlantic offers five free article views per month.