8 tips for effective time management during home office

Author: Zuzana Kocáková

Lifestyle

8 reading minutes

Can’t organize your working time effectively when working from home? Our colleagues at msg life Slovakia will advise you on how they manage work on demanding projects and what time management techniques they use even during home office hours. There are 24 hours in a day. Eight of them are ideally dedicated to sleep. This leaves us with 16 hours, which we divide between working or productive time, and leisure time. With flexible working hours, it is often difficult to balance work and leisure time so that we don’t have to work overtime at the expense of our free time and our interests. We asked our colleagues how time management is important when working from home.

Excel at work, be a good partner, have time for family, friends and favourite hobbies, keep fit and get ahead. These are goals that most of us have, but we don’t always manage to achieve them all. Sometimes we are tired, lazy, chaotic at work and in our personal life. However, most of these problems can be solved by effective time management. If we give ourselves enough time to sleep, we will fight off fatigue. When we see the results of our work, it motivates us to overcome laziness. And if we plan everything well, we will have more free time. Is this also the case in real life? We asked our colleagues in different roles how they manage all the home office duties and what helps them.

1. The early riser makes it further

It is not for nothing that it is said that getting up early in the morning goes hand in hand with good performance. Getting up early on a regular basis improves and optimizes your performance , not only when working from home. “I like to sleep in, but it’s a fact that I get a lot more done by getting up early and starting work earlier,” says our software developer Jaro. Our HR manager Veronika confirms it: ‘I am an early bird. My day is longer, and thus more efficient!”

If you’re not one of the early risers, sometimes it pays to get over yourself. And even when working from home, when we tend to relax from all our habits: “Since we switched to ‘covid’ mode and work from home, I wake up two hours later, but then I work longer,” admits test manager Pato.

2. Don’t forget to move

Waking up and getting started can sometimes be challenging. A little warm-up, a run, a swim or a fitness session can often help our body and our mind. Physical activity also has an impact on mental health. After it, a person is not only more efficient, but also happier thanks to a flood of endorphins. “I feel more energized and positive after exercise,” confirms our developer Michal. Extra exercise doesn’t just have to be an obligation: “I see exercise as a great relaxation. I can say that after a morning warm-up, the day is much more pleasant and duties become a breeze,” says HR manager Veronika.

If you prefer to exercise in the evening, it’s definitely better than not exercising at all. Avoid stiff muscles after a day at the computer: ‘I tend to get tired after a workout, so I don’t do it until after work, with the exception of my morning warm-up,’ admits Michal, a migration technician. For morning and evening workouts, our employees have the opportunity to use the company gym. “Before the lockdown, I used to regularly go to our gym at six in the morning so that I could spend the evening with my family,” says Zuzka, our office manager.

3. Work without unnecessary distractions

Not all devices that are supposed to make our work more efficient do so. An example is a smartphone. Although it contains many helpful apps that help us at work, it’s easy to get distracted by irrelevant notifications. Thus, one can easily succumb to procrastination and pay attention to a completely different activity than what was planned.

The easiest solution is to put your phone away. “The smartphone is both a helper and a curse at work,” says developer Tomas. There are many apps that let us know when we’re spending too much time on a device. Sometimes, however, mobile notifications can be useful in other ways: ‘I use my mobile phone for reminders to get up from the computer and stretch for a few minutes every hour,’ says Maros, a software engineer.

However, there are also colleagues who say that they are not distracted by their mobile phones. “I have my phone with me at work, but I don’t use it actively until I get a call from the delivery man delivering my package. That’s when I like to be distracted,” says test manager Pato.

4. Create lists

You can also save a lot of time by scheduling tasks. A clear to-do list helps you get all the tasks you need to do out of your head and onto paper or an app. Is there a nicer feeling than an empty to-do list? Sometimes it even motivates us. “I make checklists and sometimes I get more done than I planned,” says HR manager Veronika. Their form is up to you. Our office manager Zuzka uses a workbook, migration technician Tomas prefers small sticky notes and test manager Pato uses different applications. “I use Outlook Tasks and Xmind very actively. You can also set reminders in Outlook or use the invitation function,” he says.

But if you can’t do everything in one day, that’s okay. Your list will wait for you, the important thing is that you don’t forget anything. “There are things that happen that need to be dealt with immediately, and that disrupts the plan. Sometimes I get less done because of that. But it doesn’t matter, what I can’t do today, I’ll start doing first the next day,” says our Zuzka.

5. Motivate yourself

We have devoted a separate article to the topic of how to properly motivate yourself during the home office. But the bottom line remains that goals and rewards are the drivers that spur us on. ” Sometimes I reward myself with a massage, a meal, or I order a little something,” says software developer Michal. “Sometimes it helps my psyche when I reward myself. Most often it’s books or a good lunch,” says office manager Zuzka.

However, some colleagues say that they prefer to feel good about the work they had done or to be praised. Recognition is very important at work. “I like to pamper myself and indulge in anything pleasant, but I like the feeling of a job well done more,” says Tomas, a migration technician. “I’m more motivated if my work is appreciated,” agrees our HR manager Veronika.

6. Save your time

Many people like the meetings because it is an opportunity to socialize. “I prefer to meet in person, I’m the sociable and talkative type,” says our migration technician Tomas. “A face-to-face meeting is less formal and more pleasant,” agrees test manager Pato. However, the pandemic and working from home has forced us all to learn how to work online, and in doing so has taught us something. “I found that online meetings are more effective,” says HR manager Veronika. “Online communication is faster,” agrees software engineer Maros.

Others prefer this form because it makes them feel more comfortable. “I prefer email communication, I really don’t like to make phone calls. However, if there is a bigger problem to be solved, or a larger topic to be discussed with several colleagues, I prefer an online meeting or a face-to-face meeting,” says the manager Zuzka. Did you know, for example, that the Queen of England’s appointments usually last only 20 minutes? If in this time Elizabeth II. can find solutions for serious socio-political and economic issues, I’m sure you can too.

7. Order or organized chaos

Organization is a prerequisite for good time management, but it is not only about the division of labour, but also about the environment. If we work in a chaotic environment, not only do we waste time looking for things, but we also get distracted by the clutter. “I can’t work like that, it annoys me,” says developer Michal. “I can only work efficiently if I have order. That’s why I created my own office at home,” says HR manager Veronika. “I have to keep it tidy otherwise it makes me nervous,” agrees developer Maros.

However, people understand the term clutter differently. If it is chaos that you are familiar with, then we could call it your own personal system. “I have my own organized chaos around me, which I manage successfully,” says office manager Zuzka. “Einstein also worked in his ‘organized’ mess,” agrees migration engineer Tomas. “Proper ‘work’ clutter is important,” adds developer Jaro.

8. Create rituals

Rituals and established customs do not exist by chance. They serve for organization and discipline. That is why every working week starts on Monday and every working day at approximately 8.00 a.m. If you establish similar norms in your life and follow them, you will have free time for other activities. “My long-standing routine is checklists with deadlines. I functioned that way during university and I was able to catch up on assignments ahead of time,” says HR manager Veronika. “They helped me set a good regimen. Humans are creatures of routine,” states engineer Maros.

For other colleagues, their habits help them mentally or with concentration, which is also directly related to better performance when working from home. Our Zuzka, for example, likes to listen to music that relaxes her and she is not disturbed by ambient noise. Migration technician Tomas prefers to warm up in the morning and test manager Pato prefers to rest. “It helps me to go for a walk on the terrace several times a day and have a good coffee. I also try to give myself a full half-hour lunch break during my home office to switch off a bit,” he says.

What to take from this?

Working from home can be effective if you stick to a few important principles. These include getting enough sleep, getting up early, creating your own rituals, regular exercise, eliminating distractions, planning your tasks consistently, having good motivation to drive you forward, and discovering your own way of keeping things and tasks in order. This way you can effectively fight procrastination, fatigue or the rush of work, but still leave room for free time.

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8 tips for effective time management during home office

Zuzana Kocáková

At msg life Slovakia I take care of the company culture, events and I am part of the marketing team. I like a job where I can be creative and contribute to making my colleagues at msg feel good. I regularly prepare for you not only news and interesting things from the world of information technology and insurance, but also from behind the scenes events at msg life Slovakia.