Remote working arrangements are becoming more common and the question of productivity is perhaps discussed more frequently than ever. Does a flexible and independent work structure boost or harm worker productivity? Research shows that remote workers are happier, feel more valued and ‘91% of them say they get more work done’ this way. However, this doesn’t mean that remote workers don’t face any productivity hurdles. Feeling isolated, tendency to work from your bed or the many distractions one can face in their home environment, to name a few.

A big part of my job (which I enjoy immensely), is working with people from all around the world.

I often catch up with clients via video calls to learn about what’s happening in their territory. Each one faces different challenges or focuses on separate strategies for their region.

The nature of business emails may change depending on your working situation, but some things remain constant – there will be times when you really need a reply to your email. Some people regularly have hundreds of unread emails waiting for them. To avoid your email being scanned and left unanswered, it better be super easy to reply to, or super hard to ignore. Marking an email as ‘high importance’ just doesn't cut it anymore. It’s all about communication – the most highly valued business skill today.

For most people, working from home is much less stressful than working in an office. But it requires a good dose of discipline.For most people, working from home is much less stressful than working in an office. But it requires a good dose of discipline.

Procrastination is the art of doing everything possible except the most important work.

“I’ll just write one more status update on Facebook and then I’ll start working.”

“First, I’ll go to the kitchen and get a glass of water.”

“Never mind. I’ll watch the news and then I’ll start working. I have to know what’s going on in the world!

Several things can sabotage your concentration. If you want to change this, the first step is to figure what really steals your attention.

If you are not sure, try a time tracker like RescueTime: it tells you how much time you spend in a given app or on each website you visit. You’ll be surprised to discover how your day goes by.

We’ve been huddling for more than a year now at Wings4U. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a daily huddle is the act of gathering your team or entire company together for 15 minutes, every day. The purpose of a daily huddle is to align and maintain focus, to share priorities and clear blockers or issues that someone might be facing that day.

Like most of you, I detest meetings for the sake of meetings. I’d rather be doing something productive with my time.  

The power of comparison and contrast

In 1970, two psychologists, Tversky and Kahneman, discovered that reading numbers aloud to test subjects influenced their further numerical guesses as well as their behavior. In the experiment, the psychologists read the test subjects the number 65 and then asked them: “What percent of African countries are members of the UN?” People had to guess. The average of all responses was 45.

Time planning using a four-quadrant technique started around the 1950s, and is still one of the most useful organizational techniques in the world.

Four-quadrant time planning, or the so-called “Eisenhower Method,” teaches us one key thing: how to plan our time based on the importance and urgency of individual activities.

“I can’t work with music playing. I need complete silence.”

Yes, you’re right. Bad music distracts your mind. However, research by top psychologists shows that if you have the right “music” coming from your headphones, you can concentrate four times longer and more intensely.