How to Beat Procrastination While You WFH – Top Tips from the Gravity Forms Team
By Megan Jones
Published April 30, 2020
Staying on task and ensuring productivity while working from home can be challenging. If you find procrastination is getting the better of you then it might be time to introduce new strategies and tools, helping you to alter your habits and improve your concentration.
Luckily the Gravity Forms team is on hand to share top tips to help you beat procrastination. In this article, they discuss the importance of tracking your time, how to deal with distractions, why you should always take your breaks, and much more. Let’s get started…
Track Your Time
Mark Quaranta (Marketing Director) …
“One of the most helpful things I’ve started doing is tracking my own hours. I started off just using pen and paper, but have now moved up to a spreadsheet. When I find myself going off task, I remind myself that I don’t want to have to write down “procrastinated” or “wasted time” from 1pm to 1:20pm. It’s a good accountability tool.”
Tracking your time will help you to identify when, and possibly why, procrastination occurs. By understanding your productivity, you can then tailor your schedule to ensure that any work that needs 100% concentration falls within your most valuable hours.
To prevent time wasting, always be clear on what you want to achieve each time you sit down to work. By planning out your time, writing a list of tasks, or having set goals to complete, you are more likely to use your time wisely.
Bear App is an effective writing app that is used by some members of the Gravity Forms team. It allows you to make notes, organize your thoughts, and set tasks, syncing across all your devices to help beat procrastination.
Work in Sprints
Jim True (Support Engineer) …
“Often, when you work at home by yourself without interruptions, you can continue working for hours on end and forget to take a break. This is harder to do in an office where people tend to interrupt with “over the cubicle” conversations. That’s not healthy (working that long, not the over the cubicle convos). Typically, you want to take a variation on the Pomodoro technique (setting a timer for 20, 30, or 50 minute bursts) or working in 2 hour sprints so you remember to get up and refresh your brain. Having a dog helps because they’ll often interrupt you for a puppy bladder break!”
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management strategy that promotes working for 25 minutes and then taking a 5 minute break. The idea behind this method is that during the 25 minute stints you stay 100% focused, producing high-quality work. The short breaks in between then help to prevent burn out. Try out this free Pomodoro Tracker to help you keep on task.
Many people will find that they need shorter or longer periods of work – try setting a timer to 30, 40, or 50 minutes, to see what works best for you. Working in sprints in this way, helps keep your brain engaged and prevents you from flagging.
Karl Potter (Support Engineer) …
“I like to work in sprints. Figure out a task you’d like to tackle from your planned agenda for the day and then go at it hard for 45 minutes to an hour. Once you’ve wrapped up a task or reached a stopping point, check back in with Slack and your email to stay on top of communication. Then take a small break to collect yourself and reset, make yourself a coffee, do whatever you need to do to decompress before sitting back down – then repeat.”
Block out Background Noise
Mark Quaranta (Marketing Director) …
“My office is upstairs in a nook in my bedroom. For the most part, it’s quiet and insulated from noise. However, to help concentrate, one of my favorite tools right now is Brain.FM, a subscription service to music that helps you focus. Apparently, it’s backed by science. I’m a fan.”
Depending on your home situation, noise can be an issue. Loud or constant repetitive noises can interrupt your workflow and cause you to lose focus. Using noise-canceling headphones, or work apps like Brain.FM or Focus@Will can dramatically reduce periods of procrastination.
Equally, some people will find they work much better with background music. Relaxing or stimulating music can help you get ‘in the zone’ and find the right headspace to ensure productivity.
Travis Totz (Creative Director) …
“I like to put on ambient background music and pop on my headphones when there is a bunch of work in front of me. A bit of ambient music and sounds really get the creativity flowing, and will often help with making you feel like you aren’t just sitting at your desk or kitchen table working.
I’d recommend a few of these: Witcher 3 (The Witcher 3 ambient soundtrack and sounds), Dumbledore’s Office (Harry Potter themed ambient music and sounds), or Chillhop Essentials (for some great beats and chill hop to help relax and focus).”
I also like to curate monthly playlists in Spotify of my favorite tracks for the month – this is another strategy to both stay focused and have fun: https://open.spotify.com/user/travistotz?si=Fo4Tv3gdQ-W2kXQovz3r2w.”
Accept that Distractions Will Happen
Morgan Kay (Developer, Product Team) …
“Sometimes I find it really helpful to watch Netflix while I’m working. I’ll watch something that doesn’t require much attention, like a soothing nature documentary or a favorite series I’ve seen a dozen times. That’s usually just enough distraction to keep me from going and stop me browsing the internet, but not enough distraction to make me stop working.”
One of the biggest causes of procrastination can be social media and other favorite websites. If you find that online distractions are becoming a recurring bad habit, consider using Freedom, a website and app blocker, to help you create a better distraction-free routine.
However, it is important to accept that distractions will happen, and some days will be more productive than others. Sometimes it is best to embrace distractions, or turn them to your advantage…
Ajay Verma (Support Engineer)
“I failed in the war against procrastination, so I made friends with it. Whenever I want to procrastinate, I allow myself to do so – but I only allow myself to watch educational materials. In this way, I have attended 80+ courses during the past several years and have significantly enhanced my knowledge in a number of areas.”
Always Take Your Breaks
Chris Hajer (Support Engineer)
“Taking breaks helps me stay productive. If I need a mental or physical break, I will go clean something for a few minutes, or go walk the dog.”
Whether you are using the Pomodoro Technique, working in sprints, or you have created a schedule of your own, taking breaks is paramount to help you to beat procrastination.
Often when people have large amounts of work to get through, taking a break seems counter-productive. However, your brain needs time to recharge, and if you don’t take the time out that it needs you will quickly find yourself just staring at the screen wasting precious time.
Schedule breaks into your day, but also reward yourself with breaks once you complete a task, or allow yourself to take a break if you find procrastination has crept up on you!
Travis Totz (Creative Director)
“I would recommend getting up regularly from your desk. Even just to stand a bit, stretch, walk around, grab a snack. Anything to get you moving throughout your day will help you get through the day, while staying productive.”
Final Thoughts on How to Beat Procrastination While You WFH
All of the advice, tools, and tips shared in this article are useful if you want to beat procrastination – however, you need to find the ones that work best for you.
Try to identify when and why you are procrastinating, and then implement the right strategies to prevent it. By creating new constructive habits, you will quickly find your productivity increases. This will ultimately result in you producing work to a higher standard in a shorter amount of time – a win win all round!
Want more advice from the Gravity Forms on how to successfully work from home? Then check out these articles:
- Struggling to Work From Home? Our remote team here at GF share their expert advice…
- Working Remotely the Gravity Forms Way (Top Tools from the GF Team)
Which strategies will you be trying out this week to help you beat procrastination? Please share your thoughts in the comments below…
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