Working from home has become the new norm.

The Coronavirus pandemic has forced a lot of people to stay home as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the virus.

If you're not used to working from home, being stuck inside can make you feel less motivated.

It is possible to be productive and be efficient with your time while at home.

Do you want 7 productivity hacks that will help you achieve laser-like focus? If so, keep reading!

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Are you working from home right now?

In the U.S. alone, more than 100 million Americans have been told to stay at home to protect themselves and others from spreading the Coronavirus. During times like these, the Internet has proven to be a critical tool for companies and business owners around the world.

If your company has forced you to work from home and it's a new experience from you, I want to help you stay productive. The same thing goes for business owners or students. I understand the challenges that come with working from home. Yes, it's great to have the freedom and comfort of working in an environment that you're familiar with. However, it can also be hard.

I've been working online for over 12 years now. As an entrepreneur, I know how easy it is to get distracted at home. Scrolling on social media, checking your phone, or turning on the TV only serve to take your focus away from important tasks at hand.

According to a University of California Irvine study, once you get distracted, it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task. Can you relate? If you spend time doing things that aren't moving the needle forward in your work and/or your online business, you will only stay stuck in one place.

Over the years I have learned how to master the art of setting boundaries and creating healthy habits. Doing so allows me to get the most out of myself and my days. Today, I have become a master of my time. I want to help you do the same. Let's explore 7 productivity hacks that will help you be productive while working from home.

1. Plan Your Day

Improving your productivity starts with planning. When you don't have a plan for your day, you fall into the trap of reacting to everyone else's demands. As a result, you end up missing out on the highest leverage actions that will make the biggest difference in your day.

This is why I'm a big believer in being proactive versus reactive. Before I even open my computer each day, I make sure that I do my morning ritual. I start by taking out a journal or Evernote and I create a plan for my day. I ask myself, “What do I want to accomplish today?”

Once I write that down, I get clear on why I want to accomplish this goal.

This gives me the emotional juice behind why I do what I do. After that I ask myself, “What is everything that I could do to achieve this outcome?” I don't create a to-do list. Rather, I create a could-do list. Usually, I come up with 3 important things that I want to accomplish on a given day. Once I have this list of actions, I prioritize the list.

It's important for you to understand that not all of the actions on your list need to be treated equally. Some will move the needle more than others. This is referred to as the 80/20 principle, meaning that 20% of what is on your list is going to equal 80% of your results. I take it one step further and I schedule my could-do list into my computer using Google Calendar.

2. Eat The Frog

You want to spend the first part of your morning working on your hardest and most important task. This is what is referred to as “your frog.” It is the task that you will procrastinate on the most if you don't make it a priority. Your willpower is at its highest early on in the day.

In the words of Mark Twain, “If the first thing you do in the morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you.” If you leave something that's really important until the end of your day, you will be more distracted and have less energy.

Have you ever tried going to the gym after a long day of work? I don't know about you, but my motivation is at its highest when I exercise first thing in the morning. The longer I wait, the harder it gets. When it comes to your business or your career, make it a priority to execute your highest leverage task first, before doing anything else. I promise that it will make a huge difference in your productivity levels.

3. Eliminate Distractions

We live in an age of digital distraction. We are constantly “on” which means that our attention is being pulled in multiple different directions. When you work from home it’s very easy to get distracted. Distractions disrupt your focus and take you away from what you need to do. 

This is why it’s really important that you limit or switch off anything that will distract you from completing important tasks. If you have an overactive mind, I highly recommend starting a meditation practice. It helps to calm the mind so that you are less inclined to fall back into compulsive behaviors.

4. Set A Timer

This has been a game-changer for me. I like to work with a sense of urgency because I believe in the speed of implementation. A lot of people aren’t productive because they move too slow. If I’m working on a project, whether it’s writing a blog post, creating content, or crafting an email, I like to set a timer. I give myself a realistic amount of time to achieve an activity. 

When I set that timer I’ve created a deal with myself. If I don't get a task done in time, I have to live with that result and move onto my next task. Creating a sense of urgency will allow you to work faster and more efficiently. High standards are great. However, at a certain point, you just have to take messy action. Trust me… success loves speed.

5. Manage Your Emotional State 

Your emotional state is going to dictate your behaviors throughout the day. How you feel determines how you perform. If you want to be unstoppable, you need to be at your best. This is why I'm such a big believer in creating a morning ritual. Top athletes and performers always carry out a routine before they play a game or go on stage.

This could be in the form of stretching their bodies, listening to music or meditating. Rituals like these help them perform to their maximum potential. The same line of thinking applies to you in your business or your career. If you spend time every morning nourishing your mental and emotional state, you will be more productive in your job and you will feel more grounded. It's a win-win.

I have a very detailed morning ritual. No matter where I am or what is going on in my life, I never waver from it. Every morning I exercise to loosen up my body and turn on my mind, take supplements, practice gratitude, recite affirmations, read a book, and meditate. I believe that how you start the day is how you end the day.

Engaging in these rituals allows me to be in a peak state. As a result, I'm faster and more efficient throughout my day. If you are interested in creating a morning ritual, I encourage you to download my free morning ritual habits cheatsheet. Inside you will find 21 rituals that will help nourish your mind, body, and spirit. If you want to go deeper, I've also got a 30-day Morning Ritual Mastery program.

6. Have an Accountability Buddy

One of the biggest challenges that I had when I was building my business is that I lacked accountability. I didn't have a boss because I was my own boss. Hence, it was easy to slack off and waste away my days. The best solution that I found was to get an accountability buddy. This is someone who is also working from home and in a similar situation as yourself.

My accountability buddy and I did check-ins every morning at 9 am via Skype. Both of us shared 3 things that we were committing to achieving every day. We held one another accountable for accomplishing these tasks. At the end of every day, we touched base and debriefed about how our days went.

If we accomplished our 3 tasks, we congratulated one another. If we didn't, we troubleshot why this happened and how we could learn from it. The power of a debrief like this is far-reaching. It allows you to get better and be more productive in moving forward.

7. Reward Yourself

If you have a productive day, reward yourself. Whatever gets rewarded, gets repeated. When you reward yourself, you are more likely to build positive habits moving forward. If you don't have a productive day, don't beat yourself up. This will only cause you  pain, frustration, and anger.

It teaches your brain to give up. The line of thinking becomes, “Why even try if I keep experiencing pain?” Before you know it, you will fall into a mode of learned helplessness. You won't even want to try because you will link pain to taking action. Instead, acknowledge yourself for things that you do well. You deserve it.

These are my 7 productivity hacks for how to be productive.

I hope these strategies help you be more efficient while working at home. Keep in mind that it takes time to adapt to new habits. This is why I try to set up a different environment in my home that is designated solely for work. Play around with what works for you.

I have no doubt that if you implement these 7 productivity hacks into your daily life, you will be more productive than you've ever been. Which productivity hack will you experiment with?

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Work from home jobs was the dream that started with the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss and became a subtle reality to many who desired to have the freedom to work and live wherever they want.

Today, the idea of working from wherever you want and experiencing ultimate freedom to have the lifestyle you choose is becoming a reality to several across the globe.

What if it were a reality for you to pack your laptop in your bag, live where you want and to maintain the lifestyle you desired simply by working from home?

There are hundreds, and possibly thousands, of possibilities that can help you build your career from the comfort of your home. However, it requires finding what you are passionate about, tapping into the opportunities and expanding this in a way that fits with your lifestyle.

If you are ready to leave your job and continue looking for opportunities but don't make the move, then it's time to start stepping forward into the reality you want to create.

Before You Find That Work From Home Job…

Not all individuals work best when they are out of the office. In fact, it can bring several trials with those who are not prepared to take the next steps to a different lifestyle.

When you are not in a structured setting, you are responsible for everything. That means you have to set your own timetable, create your own goals and stick to a certain schedule.

It also means your approach to work changes. The mindset you have towards work and your ability to maintain a stable position requires looking at your entire schedule and structure in an alternative way.

If you want to know more about how you can be productive, then check out my video on How to Work From Home Effectively.

Discipline, perseverance and creating certain schedules will help you be effective with how you work.

This way, you don't become distracted by the other things which can be done from home and your ability to maintain self-discipline is easily reached.

Is Working From Home a Reality?

Most look at working from home as a distant reality that someone else is able to achieve but may not be for them.

In some instances, this is true. Working out of your home office is difficult to attain when it is not your personality or lifestyle.

However, if you really want to work in your PJs, then it can be a reality that you can begin to achieve.

There are millions of opportunities that are available, guiding you on the path to finding what you really love to do and to work from home in the way you really desire.

Here are five possible ways to begin working from your living room.

1. Affiliate Marketing

I've found a huge amount of success with affiliate marketing and have found it is a great way of earning passive income. According to recent statistics, an average of 16-20% of all orders is generated through affiliates.

Even better is that 81% of businesses are using affiliate marketing as one of their main ways to reach success. That means there are thousands, if not millions, of opportunities that are available with those who want to earn a passive income.

The reason affiliate marketing is one of the best work from home jobs is you get to choose. You decide what you are most interested in and leverage this to build your passion by promoting the things you are most passionate about.

Affiliate marketing alone is not the only format to make passive income. Check out these 7 passive income ideas that will help you to find some of the best work from home opportunities.

2. Online Services

The gig economy began with websites that allowed web designers and virtual assistants to make money as a side hustle. Today, it is one of the fastest growing areas for those who want to work outside of an office.

You may find several websites that allow you to offer services and your talent as a side job or full time. You will want to find a specific niche, such as graphic designs, writing or web development to help land income and find work from home jobs.

3. Amazon FBA

Fulfillment by Amazon is a great opportunity to develop your own business and to use this as an approach to earn income.

Amazon FBA allows you to find products you are interested in selling and maximizing the return you are interested in. By doing this, you will easily be able to sell products you love while staying in your PJs.

4. Travel Agent

The growth of companies such as Expedia has allowed many to build work from home jobs. This allows you to work as a receptionist that sells travel packages and helps customers when they are traveling. It is a simple process that allows you to have free time and work from where you want.

5. On-Demand Services

Companies such as Air BnB and Uber have introduced a new format for working. If you stay in one location, then this is a simple way to make income.

You can find anything from renting your room to walking dogs as a part of the on-demand services that are available. If you are interested in simple, to-do tasks, then this is a good side hustle or way to work from home.

How to Get Into Work From Home Jobs

I always suggest that when someone wants to find work from home jobs that they move into the changes gracefully.

It takes time to build an income with affiliate marketing, online gigs or Amazon FBA. Make sure you have a grasp on how much you can make before you start to change your position.

Give yourself a minimum of 6 months to build your work from home jobs into more than a secondary income. This will help you experiment with what you love to do while leaving behind what already works.

Once you reach certain goals with the income you make online, then you can begin to shift and build your side hustle into your full-time income.

Look at work from home jobs as a way to boost your income first and set goals to increase the amount you make by a minimum amount each month. From this point, you can easily begin to extend how much you make and the results you are able to get.

I always recommend that you start by setting goals with the new possibilities you are looking at. Set how much you want to make, how long this will take and what you expect the results to be by a certain time. By doing this, your dreams will become achievable quickly.

I also suggest that the goal setting you look at includes your lifestyle preferences. For some, traveling is important. This means that the opportunities may not be as effective as others to help you reach the goals you desire.

Your goals should each be connected together so that you are living the best life in every area.

I've developed a blueprint of 10 areas that I believe are important to consider with your life. You can read more about that here.

If you want to move into possibilities such as how to work with ultimate freedom and into a completely fulfilled life, then consider joining my Life Mastery Accelerator. You will find that this will help you to achieve your goals in every area of your life.

The reality of finding work from home jobs helps you to enjoy the life you want while doing something you are passionate about.

It also requires a unique mindset, discipline and the ability to build into the new way of working you are interested in.

Finding the right opportunities and being realistic about how to achieve these goals can help you build the lifestyle you want and begin working the way you want to.