MBA1780 Q&A Wednesday: I hate working from home. Any tips?

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Hey O. Welcome to the $100 MBA show. Power to the people, the business people that is every single day with our daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of Webinar Ninja, an independent software company I started with my co host back in 2014 and today's episode is Q and A Wednesday. On Q and A Wednesday, answer a question from one of you, one of our listeners. If you have a question you want to ask, just email me over@omar00mba.net Today's question is from Hugh and Hugh asks. I hate working from home. I've had to work from home for the last year because of COVID I usually go to work in a co working space where I get to meet and see other people. I'm a single guy and it's really hard for me to work from home because there's just so much distraction. Whether it's a nap or jumping on Netflix, I always seem to find something else to do other than my work. Do you have any tips on creating a better space at home until we get through this pandemic? Thanks a bunch Hugh. Hugh we actually wrote a huge blog post on this topic over@webinarninja.com blog but I want to give you some of my personal favorite tips when it comes to working from home because I found that that was my biggest, biggest obstacle, biggest challenge when I became a full time entrepreneur. I went from highly structured environment in the teaching world where I was given a schedule and a curriculum and told exactly what to teach, when to teach, how to teach it to. I need to manage every minute in my day and my environment and my outcomes. So in today's lesson I'm going to give you some tips because I definitely sympathize with you to get organized, be more accountable to yourself and just be more productive in general when working from home. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business.

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So in today's Q and A Wednesday, Hugh says he hates working from home. He's been doing it for the last year because of COVID He finds too many distractions. He just enjoys working in person with other people at the coworking space. Any tips? I did mention we have a blog post over@weatherinja.com blog. It's titled Work From Home Without Losing youg Shit. And it actually has a great infographic that you can download as a freebie. But I totally get it. Hugh. Many people enjoy going somewhere for work, changing their environment from home to work, seeing other people and those other people motivate them to stay focused and stay on task. Now, this is not an option right now because of COVID So we're going to create something similar at home. So you're lucky you're a single guy, meaning you're probably living alone. You kind of alluded to it in your question so you can make the space your own. My first tip is to dedicate a workspace. Don't just work from anywhere at home. This is a big no. No. Dedicate a room if you can, with a door that you can close or a corner of a room where that's just like the working corner. You only sit there or you stand there. You Work from there. When you're working on your business, you don't work anywhere else. You don't work on your balcony with your laptop, you don't work on your dining table. And you don't go there to relax. Okay? This allows you to say, this is the workplace. I go there to work. Now, I know there's not other people, but we're going to create some incentives or some other systems to allow you to have it a little easier on yourself. But a dedicated workspace is very important. Make sure the space is conducive for you to work, meaning there are no distractions. I like just a clear table or desk where I can just sit there with my notebook, my laptop, my screen, and just go for it. The less distractions, the better because I'll be forced just to get to work. One of the tactics I like to do is create a to do list at the end of my day for the next day. So I have my work cut out for me the first thing in the morning. I know exactly what I'm going to do. I have all my list of to dos. I'm ready to go now. There is an advantage of working from home. There's no commute back and forth. There's no wasted time where you're chatting with other people. That stuff can add up. You can add up to hours a week. Even just going out for lunch or going to the bathroom could be quite a hike. And all those minutes add up. Why am I mentioning this? Because you're probably trying to work the same amount of hours that you spend in the office, including the time that you're working, when you don't have to commute, when you really shouldn't. You really should incentivize yourself to finish early. If you finish everything you're supposed to do today, you should not continue working. Okay, I like to wake up early at 5 in the morning and I start my day that way. But I spend about two hours getting ready, having breakfast, reading, just setting myself up for the day. I start working at seven. And if you're being totally honest with yourself, if you get five solid hours of work, that's probably equivalent to eight hours in an office. Because again, I'm not wasting time with my commute or with chatting with other people or going here and there, going out for lunch, all that kind of stuff. I can have my lunch 30 minutes at home. So if I wanted to, I can actually work, let's say 7 to 11, have a quick lunch break and finish my day at 1. Okay? That's five hours. And if I'm working that whole time, I'm efficient, I'm productive. I probably get more done than I would at the office. So if you incentivize yourself and say, hey, if I just stick to this and work and stay in my working room and stay focused and get all my tasks done and don't jump around and go to Netflix or go and take a nap, I can finish my day at 1. Awesome. That's like a half day. You could spend it doing whatever you want, whether at home or elsewhere if you can because of COVID restrictions. But the point here is that then you can go and binge all you want on Netflix at 1 o'. Clock. You can jump on the PlayStation guilt free because you did what you're supposed to do next. A lot of your laziness is coming from your physical well being. I am telling you right now. I've experimented with this over the years. If you don't exercise, you will be more tired, more lethargic, more lazy. If you want to feel sharp, if you want to feel efficient, if you want to feel that kind of can do attitude, dedicate 30 minutes to an hour to exercise every single day. Whether that's, you know, doing some workouts at home, going for a run. The point here is that if you get in that exercise in the morning, in the evening, you will feel better about yourself, you will feel more energy, and you will feel less likely to slip into that lazy, lethargic feeling of hey, I want to maybe take a nap or veg out. One of the ways to stay more productive you asked me about Productivity is really Omission is addition by omission, which means you're going to remove as many distractions as you possibly can. Put your phone on silent mode or busy mode or or do not disturb. Shut off all notifications Only check email at the start of your day. At the end of the day, periodical times do not check it. Have it open the whole time. Social Media get rid of it on your phone. This is one of the best things I've done is get rid of social media on my phone. It's made me so much more productive in my life and a lot calmer and less stressed. Check social media only once or twice a day at scheduled times. Put it in your calendar. I also use a News feed eradicator. It's a great Chrome extension that just basically stops my newsfeed on all my social apps like Twitter and Facebook. I don't see any news feed, so I don't see what's up without everybody else with their posting all that kind of stuff. I only see my notifications if I need to reply to somebody or comment on somebody's comment. That's all I need to do. This is essential if you are running a Facebook group or part of a Facebook group and you don't want to get lost for an hour on Facebook. Use Newsfeed Eradicator. It's fantastic. I'm going to tell you, this is a muscle you're going to need to build. One of the best books I've read on this topic is called Deep Work by Cal Newport. It's a great book on how to get into the zone and remove all distractions from your workplace.

ADP knows anything can change the world of work. Like what if a blocked shipping port caused a worldwide coffee shortage? Suddenly, businesses are scrambling to manage an increasingly drowsy workforce. Productivity slips 20% just due to the extended time it takes to conduct a job interview while yawning. Anything can change the world of work. From HR to payroll, ADP helps businesses take on the next anything ADP Always designing for people to wrap up today's.

Q and A, Wednesday's question from Hugh Implement those tips I shared with you today and create this system that rewards you for being productive and getting things done. But one more tip I want to give you do something to remind you of why you're doing this, why you are working on what you're working on. Even if that's just a screensaver on your computer or wallpaper on your desktop, or even just a vision board that you can put on your wall where it's like, this is what I'm working towards. Whether it's a new house, a vacation. Yeah, it's okay to get material. Okay, we need to get things done. For some people, it's just a bunch of words like financial freedom or doing what I want when I want. You got to do whatever you can to motivate yourself and remind yourself why you're doing what you're doing. Keep your eye on the prize. Thanks so much for listening to the $100 MBA show. If you have a question you want to ask, just ask it right directly to me. You can email me over at Omar mba net and I'll answer right here on Q and A Wednesday. Thank you so much for being a listener and a subscriber. If you're not a subscriber yet, just smash that subscribe button on whatever Apple Podcast app you use. We're on every app, Apple Podcast, Stitch Radio, Himalaya, Spotify. By hitting subscribe, you never miss a beat. You get the next episode automatically. And you also have access to over 1700 business lessons in our archives. It's the only way to get access to the archive. So go ahead and do that right now. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. I've been working from home for almost 10 years now, so this is my comfort zone. But I do need to get out. I need to meet other people, I need to network. So, you know, eventually I will start going back into our office in the city or co working space and spend a day or two at my desk there. The point here is that I'm not trying to poo poo co working spaces or working in an office. They have their merits. But if we can't go there now, let's make the most of it and get things done. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

ADP knows anything can change the world of work. Like what if a blocked shipping port caused a worldwide coffee shortage? Suddenly, businesses are scrambling to manage an increasingly drowsy workforce. Productivity slips 20% just due to the extended time it takes to conduct a job interview while yawning. Anything can change the world of work. From HR to payroll. ADP helps businesses take on the next anything. ADP always designing for people.