How to Be Productive When Working from Home | Jim Kwik

How to remain productive when you're working from home or you are traveling. One of the challenges as we reset to a new normal is what's the future of work look like? And it's different for different people. Some people are used to going to an office or studying at school. Others are working in some kind of hybrid situation, or maybe you're watching this and you are traveling and you travel and you're in different locations. How do you really maximize your productivity From a brain standpoint, mental productivity when you are working from home or a different location. I think the biggest challenges for this have to do with the supervillains. We talk about superpowers, superpowers like your focus, superpowers like your memory, superpowers like your ability to read faster and to be able to focus and concentrate. Well, there are also these supervillains, if you will, and you might struggle with some of these things, whether you're working in an office or you're working from home, things like— How do I balance things? If I am home, I have all these distractions, I have laundry to do, there are children that are there. Maybe it's a situation where it's not just distraction, maybe it's a lack of motivation, procrastinate and put things off and put on the television. Also things like exhaustion or loneliness. These are real things that are interrupting not only your performance and your productivity, but also your profitability and your peace of mind. So I just wanna give you a couple of quick tips and thoughts On how to get the most out of your workday when you're working from home or you happen to be traveling. Of course, I'm gonna give you an acronym, REMOTE. And the R for me stands for routine. Routine. You've heard this phrase that first you create your habits and then your habits create you. I think one of the challenges when you are working from home or you are traveling is to establish structure because a confused mind tends to— Confused mind tends to— tends to not do anything. You may be one of those individuals like me that needs structure. And by having a routine, a set of behaviors, they provide a system, something I could go to. And that reduces something called decision fatigue. A lot of times, if you have to think about things that you are doing on a regular basis too much, it could expend a lot of energy. And one of the challenges people report in our private Facebook group and our app and our social media is they just feel exhausted. And part of that exhaustion comes from using your brain overloaded in too many ways. So what I would say is have systems. And so for example, for me, I have my morning routine and you've heard me talk about this, uh, maybe in our podcast, maybe in our books and our courses, some things that are specifically for getting my mind right first thing in the morning. I believe if you wanna win the day, you have to win that first hour of the day. You have to win that morning. And my goal is really not to distract myself. So when I wake up first thing in the morning, I will go through and I will say, Okay, what's the most important things I get done today? Because it's not about being busy, right? We're addicted to busyness. Sometimes we say, oh, people ask, how was your day? And what are you up to? It's just like, I'm so busy. And we use busyness as maybe like a badge of honor. And what we're really saying is that we're busy, so we must be important. But the goal is not to be busy because then we start designing our day around being busy and we wonder why we're stressed. We wonder why we are overloaded. So what I do is I say, okay, let's say, and do this with me please, wherever you are in your day right now, if you were to fast forward at the end of the day and somebody was to ask you, a fam— maybe a family member or friend, how was your day? And you said, wow, it was amazing. Today was an incredible day. I crushed it. Reverse engineer it. What had to happen in order for you to say those words? What happened during those days? What things did you accomplish? Who were you being, doing, sharing, and so on? For me, I think of 3 professional things I wanna accomplish. I feel that if our to-do list is 20 things or 50 things or even 100 different things, then we're just being busy. The most important thing is to keep the most important things the most important things. And you could do anything, but I believe you can't do everything. Certainly you can't do everything at once. So what would 3 wins be for your day? Part of my routine, as you've seen me talk about with the acronym LIMITLESS, also is really managing my energy, right? I want to have as much generated energy throughout the day so I don't feel exhausted, so I don't feel mentally fatigued. So I'm doing things and I'm Saying, is this, is this adding to my energy or is this taking away from my energy? Does that make sense? Even when it comes down to the joy of the work, so many people, they dread Mondays. And Monday obviously is just like any other day. And for me, you heard the phrase, thank God it's Friday. For me, it's, uh, you know, not TGIF, it's TGIM. Part of it is if you don't love what you do, if you could love what you do or find the love in what you do, you could have 5 days to every single week. So how do you bring more joy to it? Because that for me increases the level of energy. So for example, when I wake up, I'm thinking about the 3 things that would be a win for me. I'm thinking about what do I need to feed my mind, my body to have the most energy? And I'm thinking about oxygen. I'm thinking about hydration. I'm thinking about the foods that aren't gonna deplete me, right? The junk foods, or I don't think it's like one thing, junk food. I think it's like 2 things. It's junk. And then there's, there's food, right? You go to the grocery store and you see a health food section, and then you wonder what all the other food happens to be. It's usually food that's taking away and the junk food. Depleting energy because it takes, you know, if you're in a food coma, you're not gonna feel very motivated to get a lot done when you're working from home or you're working wherever you happen to be working in. So I'm thinking about routines for my mind, routines for feeding my mind and my body. I'm thinking about routines for sleep. I'm thinking also about the routines of what I'm saying to myself every single day, like my self-talk, if you will, because that's part of a pattern that we're repeating over and over again. Why do I have to do this? Why, why do I have to pick up the kids? Why do I have to check emails? Why do I have to give this presentation? Why do I got to do this? Simple things like changing the word got to get. You know, I get to pick up my kids. I get to go through and go through my inbox, right? And it's not that it automatically magically makes it so much more joyful, but it's an attitude, right? Often the problem is not the problem. Often the problem is our attitude and our assumptions about that problem, if that makes sense. And so I'm thinking about my self-talk. How can I get this done and enjoy the process? How can I bring more magic to this moment? What is the best use of this moment? Right? I'm thinking about what is the lead domino. These are my morning routine, my rituals inside my mind. The lead domino, meaning that first domino you hit, and it makes everything else easier because it— everything after that gets easier. So think about as you're working from home, what your routines are, cuz most of those routines came from where? They just came from default, right? And if you're living a life of default, you're not leading a life based on design, if you will. Now, the E in remote stands for engage. And what do I mean by that? I mean, life, just like learning, is not a spectator sport. And one of the other supervillains— we talked about exhaustion and distraction— is loneliness. And this might not be you, but if it happens to be you, human connection is very important. especially when we want to be productive. Now, I happen to be an introvert and I like my alone time. That's where I recharge. That's where I feel creative. But as extreme as I am, I also need connection because it's not just our biological networks or our neurological networks. It also happens to be our social networks. And if you work with a team and, uh, or you happen to work with an organization, you happen to be an entrepreneur and you have a couple of people, key people on your team, or Sometimes what I'll do in terms of engage, and this is what works for me, and I'm just sharing what works for me, and you could— I love your feedback also in the comments, what works for you— is sometimes I'll have time where I will Slack video connect or Zoom connect or FaceTime connect with team members or even with a work buddy, meaning a friend that I don't actually work with, but while work and we present together. And sometimes having that person, just like having a personal trainer with you, tends to help us focus. Having a personal trainer, just even not a trainer, just somebody there at the gym with you watching you, you're more likely to do more reps. You're more likely to do one more lap because you're going to push yourself because there's some kind of external witness. And so I find that sometimes if I feel lonely, I'll schedule a time with a friend, a family member, maybe somebody on my team just to be connected on video. And even if we're not speaking to each other, there's some kind of engagement there because I feel their presence. And that also mitigates feelings of loneliness or isolation. And I think that's very important to keep us focused and on task. Also engage, meaning that for our team, every single month we have— and our team is very remote. We have many employees in different countries and different time zones where once a month we connect on Zoom and we share and we go around and we're sharing even for a minute or two where you feel seen, you feel heard. Also as well, you're able to contribute. And I ask some kind of question and everybody on the team answers those kind of questions. And we connect because that connection is so important, especially especially now in an environment sometimes where you feel stress. That connection can help you to reduce stress, reduce loneliness. And so I'll have a previous podcast guest or an expert come in, and for twenty minutes they'll share things. And there's connection that's an engagement that's built there because I think for your business to grow, your team needs to grow, and then your brains need to grow, and your body needs to grow. Most people they don't leave a job because of income. It's actually about feelings of growth. You know, are they changing and are they transforming in that process? So think about ways that you can engage so you don't feel isolated in this process. Now, the M in remote stands for mute, M-U-T-E. And this is really, you can imagine, because the supervillain here has to do everything with distractions, there could be a lot of shiny objects around, especially if you are working from home or you're traveling and there's things that in your environment, there's interruptions. And so what can you do in order to Mute distractions, and it's never going to be perfect. That's never the goal because things happen, because that's like life. Sometimes learning and life happens to be messy. But what can you do to be able to mute distractions to the best of your ability? Does it have to do with turning off your phone? Maybe you're turning off the alerts on your phone. Maybe you're doing certain deep work and focused work. You want to put a sign on your door, or you're telling family members or friends, please do not disturb me, that even though I am here, I am working at this time, and you're mitigating distractions. And so So that's what I mean about mute, because your brain primarily is a deletion device. It's trying to keep distractions out. It's trying to keep noise out. And you're only letting in the things that really matter. And to the best you could stand guard to the doors of what's going inside your mind and what's going to your attention and really get things done quickly. The O in remote stands for organize. This is your organization. This is your personal organization, because the opposite of that is disorder. Is, is chaos. And clarity is power. So organization allows you to have clarity. And I really do believe clarity is a superpower. When you know what you're headed towards, it's hard to stop somebody who knows where they're going. And most people lack clarity because they lack personal organization. And organization, for me, the metaphor that I'm thinking about is even like a computer. If you have too many tabs open or your desktop Maybe this is you. You have files everywhere on your screen, right? You know that if you took the time to be able to put all those files, those audios, those images, those text files into specific folders, not only do you have an organized computer, but you have an organized mind. And that's really what we do with a lot of our programs. When I teach you in the memory course our memory palace, right, and the location technique, it's a way of organizing information with clarity so that way if you're giving a speech, you know you're the 10 points to the speech that you need to be able to deliver. If you want to memorize parts of a book, we do whole things in the Kwik Reading Program where it's not just about speed reading, it's about smart reading. I show you how to organize a chapter and organize a book and take notes and break down specific chapters into specific sections. So in our Kwik Reading Program, it's not just about speed reading, it's about smart reading. And part of it is I show you how to take technical textbook quality material and organize it. How to organize your notes, how to organize a chapter into the areas that are most important. And that organization gives you a roadmap, if you will, to take you from where you are to where you want to be. The challenge, if you're not organized, you have to use a lot of energy to mentally remember where everything is. Become even more obsessed about personal organization. And I find that your productivity will grow exponentially. And specifically when you're at home, What's your organization, not just in your environment, but your internal environment, right? It's not just about environmental management, it's about mind management. And so how are you organizing your personal space? And every single person is different, but we know that a clean environment, that your external world is a reflection of your internal world. So how can you Marie Kondo your mind and your life? So for me, this is a weekly task. Where I actually schedule time once a week. Maybe it's even 30 minutes or 45 minutes to get organized, personal organization, whether it happens to be my inbox. And I have certain folders for things that I have deleted, things that I've delegated, things that I'm doing right now or I'm deferring for the future. The frequency is really up to you. For me, once a week, I happen to do it on a Friday so I could hit the ground running on a Monday. But schedule your personal organization. The T in remote stands for time, and time management is often associated with productivity because the truth is not everybody has equal resources. They don't have equal income, they don't have equal connections or network, equal education. But we all have what, 24 hours in the day, right? So how are we utilizing that time? And when I'm thinking about time working from home, I build it around my personal chronotype. Chronotype, chrono meaning time. So what is your time type? Some people are early birds, some people are more night owls. So how are you organizing your time where the hormonal expression of how you are exhibiting energy, for instance, are you scheduling time around the activities that matter around the amount of energy you have at that time? Some people, they wanna be more productive and they wanna do research for school or they wanna do research for their writing. Um, but they are a morning person and they happen to do it in the They're not gonna get the most, uh, return on their time and their attention. Some people who happen to be more night owls and they don't get the most out of working out first thing in the morning because they're exhausted, because it takes a little time for them to kind of rev up. And so I'm thinking about time. I'm thinking about the things working from home. I'm thinking about things like Mm-hmm. ultranium cycles and rhythms, that 90-minute cycle of deep work. I'm thinking about the Pomodoro technique, about 30 to 45 minutes, uh, before I wanna take a brain break. Right. To be able to increase the primacy and the recency, the beginnings and ends, to improve my focus and my retention, keep my energy levels high. Brain breaks are so very important because it's about energy, right? So I'll go maybe 45 minutes to an hour and I'll take a 5-minute brain break to hydrate, to be able to move, to be able to do some deep breathing also as well, to keep my energy high because you need energy to be able to go and work throughout the day. And so time is very important and it's not just the amount of time, it's the scheduling around your events at home where you're going to be least distracted, where you're going to be most productive. And again, there's an art and a science to all of this, right? There's certainly a science for it, but there's an art, meaning sometimes you're— you might be working nights, you might be a night shift worker, you might have the kids coming back and you have to pick them up. So you have to schedule and reschedule a day. And it's not about Balance. You know, balance is where you have equal time, and I don't necessarily look for balance. I think that the words we use affect how we perceive things. Balance for me is very stressful. It sounds like I'm on a balance beam. I have to keep everything equally weighted, and I don't necessarily want to spend equal amount of time working as I do working out, for instance. My goal is to create a harmony while working at home, and it's never perfect, but it's like your own personal symphony. And so you're doing your brain breaks. For me, I probably take a good 8 brain breaks a day, maybe almost at every hour, if you will, to keep my brain refreshed. And I don't find that I hit a wall like a lot of people do around 2 or 3 o'clock or maybe at 4 o'clock. So I keep my energy high and then I do certain things in my personal routine to be able to wind down for sleep and family time. And so that is the T, which is time. How are you managing the 86,000 400 seconds in the day, getting the most out of each individual moment. And what I do is I schedule it because one of the most important productivity performance tools you have is your calendar. And so I will time chunk certain work where I, I'm only checking email twice a day. That's all I do. I check it twice a day so I don't have to waste energy switching contexts. You know what I mean? When you're, when you're doing a specific work, like maybe checking messages, whether it's Slack or email or what have you, social media, a certain part of your brain lights up. But then if you're switching and you're trying to multitask and you're task switching to something else, it takes an immense amount of energy to be able to go from one thing to another and back and forth. It uses a lot of brain glucose. How can you manage your time around time blocks? For this 90 minutes, I'm gonna do deep work, right? Where I'm not taking information in, I'm exporting it out from my mind. So I'm writing or I'm doing creative thinking, I'm doing problem solving, right? Or maybe I'm going for a walk and I'm doing my communications. While I'm walking the dogs, right? I'll be on my phone and I'll time block all my 6 calls around that time to be able to return messages. And that's the T, time. And then finally, the E in remote, this, the final E is environment. And our context changes the content, meaning our environment gets linked to the activity that we're constantly doing. Talked about a study where they took individual subjects and they submerged 'em underwater, gave 'em breathing apparatus, and they gave 'em a list of words to memorize, and they took 'em out the water and tested them and then put them back under the water and tested them again. And in which context did they remember more? Back in the water, because the information got linked to the environment. Well, we are constantly getting triggered by our external environment. If you ever walked into a room and it has an energy to it, maybe there's certain colors or maybe there's certain fragrances that put you in a specific state. My goal for you is to be conscious of this and to do it by design. So how are you designing your environment? So for instance, when I'm working from home, I do not work in my bed, right? Because I don't want to associate that beta wave state, right? That fight or flight or drive and to succeed while I'm in bed, because that's my rest and my digest place, because that environment will get linked to that activity. Some people will work in their bedroom, and if you have to do that because you're in a studio, totally understandable. You try to maximize what you have, but they wonder why they're having trouble phasing down. Yeah. And relaxing. You know, maybe you have an iPad, but that iPad, you don't use it for work. Use that just for Netflix, right? Because you don't wanna associate that, uh, those change of states because you have to change your state of being inside in order to be able to do that activity. And if you're associating that to, to relaxation, you might not be able to, to get into that beta wave state where you're just driven to succeed. Part of environment has to do with the elements, and we've talked about the elements. Are you, do you have proper lighting in your environment? Because sometimes the Fluorescent lights, they could be very taxing to your eyes and your external focus. Your visual focus is going to lead your mental focus. And if your eyes are fatigued because they're looking at a screen or poor compromised lighting, you wonder why you get tired, right? So indirect sunlight obviously is wonderful for you, or you could go to your local home goods place and get lighting that closely matches. Maybe you're getting tired because you have stale air in your environment. And so maybe you're opening— you need to open up a window. Maybe you have air purifier. That's why I like going for walks, because it gives you an opportunity to change your environment, to get sunlight, right? Fresh air, to get grounded to nature. Some people in the environment, it's not just the lighting, but it's also the sounds. Some people prefer to have music in the backgrounds. For some people, it's distracting. For a lot of people, they like to use music without lyrics because though they don't have to think about the words, and that music is power. Right? Sometimes you can listen to music when you're working out and it gives you more energy. For me, I'll use something like NuCalm, N-U-C-A-L-M. There's a focus track and I just put it on and I just go into that zone and I almost become undistractable. Some people use binaural beats. They use nature sound also as well. Sometimes use white noise because it'll drown out distractions. So I'm thinking about lighting. I'm thinking about air. I'm thinking about sound, the temperature. And some people feel like if they set it too warm, They get tired. But if they set it a little bit cold where it's not distracting you, not so cold that you're just thinking about the temperature and you're, and you're shivering, but it keeps you awake. And my thing is, what moves the needle for you? Because everybody's a little bit bio-individual. There's something that's idiosyncratic that might work for somebody and not work for somebody else. Some people, again, they need the television in the background to be able to— maybe it's something that they've seen. 30 times, so they don't really pay unique attention, original attention towards it, but they know it's in the background and it motivates them and it keeps them focused. Some people, they change the environment by going to a coffee house. That helps them actually focus. All the ambient speaking and the espresso machine and people laughing and on their phones helps them to actually compress their focus, and they have more of that foveal vision and that guided alertness because it pushes them to focus on Other people like dead silence and they use earplugs or noise-canceling headphones. So my main message for you watching this right now is find out what your superpowers are. What are the elements that help you to have greater focus, greater levels of alertness, to be able to reduce stress, reduce mental fatigue? You know, some people need to take breaks more frequently than others. Other people, they've trained their mind and they could go and maybe do 60 minutes or 90 minutes of deep work. And here's the thing, not one thing fits all. And I would love to get your feedback. What is your favorite productivity hack, if you will, whether you're working in an office, at school, when you're traveling, or at home? What's the thing that moves the needle most for you? The other opportunity that we create here is a community where I'm hoping that you learn as much from each other as you do from me. And I know I'm learning too, because I'm in there reading all the comments, because there's no such thing as failure. There's only feedback. And that's how we become limitless in a limited world. We do it together. If I give you, for example, some form of currency, let's say I give you a dollar and you gimme a dollar back, nothing has changed. We have the same dollar as we originally started with. But if I give you a brand new idea about something that's working for me and my productivity while working at home, and you share a brand new idea with, with me and with, with the group, you know, this army of, of brain health, brain fitness, learning leaders, if you will, Then all of a sudden we have 2 brand new ideas. And if we multiply that through all the people that we have that's watching this from, you know, all the different countries around the world, then we could be there to support each other. And that's really what it's all about. It's about being smarter. It's about being faster. It's about being better, but also about being together. I'm your brain coach, Jim Kwik. Until I see you again, be limitless.