Working from home. Sounds pretty nice, right?

It’s something that a lot of us would love and even try to build a life around it (i.e. me).

But for some, it can be a bit of a nightmare. (also me)

A lot of people actually rely on the ritual and accountability that working at a workplace can have.

I really know that feeling, the ONLY thing that would get me out of bed in the morning for years was the fear that I would get fired for being late! And sometimes, not even that would help (I was late for work A LOT, whoops!)

Working from home takes a crazy amount of discipline and willpower, especially during a pandemic when your motivation is at an all-time low!

Fortunately, as a seasoned work-from-home-er (and as someone who generally relies on accountability to get things done), I know the struggles that accompany working from home – and I have some awesome and unusual tips for overcoming them!

Disclaimer: Products on this page may contain affiliate links. We only promote products that we think are super awesome and will provide value to you! You can read more about our terms here.

Top tips for maintaining willpower at home! (during a pandemic!)

Now there are a few standards – like having a daily routine and a dedicated workspace that are important, but these tips will go a bit further than that!

My first few tips are pretty standard, thought definitely worth mentioning,  and the last few are where things get interesting!

Tip 1: Get creative with your motivation

I think that one of the biggest reasons for my willpower and discipline is that I have very big goals! And I’m very excited to achieve those goals.

That being said, sometimes on a daily basis, it can be hard to maintain motivation when those goals are so far away.

That’s why I also like using daily motivation strategies.

For example: I hate waking up early (but I know it’s good for me) – so I try to make getting up as nice and easy as possible. So I chose my alarm music to be a song that I really like and when I wake up I make myself a latte (which I really look forward to!)

Another way to motivate yourself daily is to plan something you really enjoy doing for after you finish work! And only let yourself do it if you have completed the task!

But sometimes you need a bit more motivation than that. The laziness is real, folks!

Sometimes, “just planning something fun” isn’t going to be enough motivation.

So here are a couple even more creative things you can do to maintain your motivation!

 1. Keep yourself on track with a friend. Having a sense of accountability is the best way to motivate yourself, but you can lose that when you’re all alone at home.

Instead, get a friend to check in on you to make sure you have done what you were supposed to and you can do the same for them!

2. For extra motivation – put some money on it! The website stickK allows you to place money on yourself, like a bet. If you do your task, you can keep your money.

If you don’t, then the money gets sent to charity (or a charity or person that you don’t like, which is further motivation to stick with it)! This honestly might be the best motivator! 

Tip 2: Eliminate distractions as much as possible

When you don’t have to worry about your boss peering over your shoulder while you’re “taking a break” and looking at videos of puppies eating cheetos, it can be very tempting to get caught up in the weird, but entrancing rabit hole of instagram or facebook videos.

There are also other at-home distractions, such as your family and your oh-so-cozy-looking bed!

Here are a few ways to eliminate those distractions.

• Use Freedom – it’s an app that blocks whatever you want across all devices. So it blocks website AND apps! You can check it out here here! It has helped me SO MUCH to not browse facebook and instagram all the time!
• Have your designated workspace that is secluded (or if you don’t have an extra room, try and face a wall or something, so you don’t look at things that might distract you!
• Have a do-not disturb sign of some sort, so that your family knows not to disturb you when you’re in a deep focus mode!

Tip 3: Find ways to use your willpower LESS

Your daily willpower is limited. And your willpower gets used for every single decision you have to make.

And it is deceiving how many decisions you make in a day!

What kind of breakfast will you have? What will you have for lunch?

Where will your desk be for the day? And should you work on the oh-so-comfy-looking couch?

Will you work out before you work or after you work? What will your workout be?

And as trivial as these may seem, they are slowly depleting you of your will power!

So the solution?

Plan as many things as you can for the day – in advance!

And when you work from home, there are just that many more decisions!

Such as:

Where will I work? When will I have lunch? When will I start work?

When you work from home, your day almost becomes too flexible and ends up hindering your ability to do work.

Things you can plan:

• your workout clothes (set them out the night before)
• what days you will work out and what time
• your meals for the day (you can try my meal planner!)
• when you eat
• when you start and stop work
• where you’re working – like I said, have a dedicated workspace! Or if you like variety, have different workspaces, but plan when you’ll use them.

And again, invest in a productivity app, like freedom or todoist, to keep you on track!

Tip 4: Don’t try to do too much!

This is a common problem for everyone ever. Not to exaggerate, but I think I’m right.

It can be even more tempting when you’re working from home because you have all this magical time because you don’t have a commute and people distracting you at work.

But there’s a little thing called the planning fallacy that you need to keep in mind.

The Planning Fallacy is a human tendency to overestimate how much we can do in a day.

Spoiler alert: you can do a lot LESS than you think you can in a day.

That sounds like a bit of a pessimistic thing to say, but it will actually help you achieve much MORE in life!

Doing less will guarantee that you do it, rather than the alternative: which is planning too many things, getting overwhelmed, and then not doing it.

Over time, you’ll get more done every day if you just stick to things that are manageable.

And most importantly….

TAKE BREAKS!!!

When you work from home, it can be very tempting to try to work as much as possible, in an attempt to get things done earlier in the day! That’s a good idea, right?

Well, yes, if you’re doing it right, but doing it right, involves taking BREAKS!

Your brain absolutely needs a break and it also needs fuel, which brings me to my next point…

Tip 5: Eating properly and drinking water!

If I don’t eat properly, I CANNOT concentrate!

There’s lots of evidence out there about drinking water and eating the right foods and the impact they can have on your concentration.

I know from personal experience that the days I eat healthier are the days where I feel the most energized and able to concentrate!

I actually eat a huge breakfast with a balance of fats, protein, and carbs – plus lots of veggies and fruit!

AND I try to drink a ton of water when I wake up to make sure I get hydrated. (This actually influences my concentration the most)

Also, remember that your brain runs on glucose, so you need carbs for it to work properly!! This doesn’t necessarily mean refined carbs and sugars, but things like fruit, potatoes, and whole grains.

The takeaways for developing and maintaining willpower!

• Be creative about your motivation
• Eliminate as many distractions as possible
• Use your willpower LESS
• Don’t do too much (and take breaks!)
• Eat properly and drink water (i.e. take care of your body)
• Most importantly, listen to your body and go easy on yourself!

Some days will be easier than others – and that’s OK! No one can be 100% everyday, so go easy on yourself! Especially now – it’s a goal pandemic y’all – it’s ok if you’re not disciplined 24/7 and doing 110 things a day.

Sundays are great for so many things – brunching with friends, staying in your PJs all day, roast dinners with the fam, cuddle seshes, movie nights…

Did I mention I love Sundays?

But besides all this, Sundays are also great for one other reason: because they help you prepare for the week ahead!

I know, I know, this one’s a bit less exciting than Netflix and all-day onesies, but let’s be real: if there was anything you could do to help make your Monday a bit less hectic, wouldn’t you do it?

I sure would!

That’s why I’ve started using my Sundays as a “prep day” to help me prepare for the coming week. And trust me, it’s been a total game-changer.

So without further ado, here are the 10 productive things I do every Sunday that YOU can start implementing into your routine as well! The best part? You can do almost every one of them in your PJs!

Disclaimer: products on this page may contain affiliate links. We only promote products that we think are super awesome and will provide value to you! You can read more about our terms here.

Productive Habit #1: Do a brain dump 

Every Sunday, I spend a few minutes doing a brain dump of all my thoughts, hopes, fears, and concerns about the coming week. Think of it as a stream of consciousness journal entry, but less “journal-y”.

Instead of writing everything down line-by-line, just scribble down all your thoughts about the coming week anywhere on a scrap piece of paper. It doesn’t have to be organized and it doesn’t have to make sense – it just has to be there in one big mess. The organization of this mess comes next…

Productive Habit #2: Organize your thoughts into a to-do list

This is where you pick out the most important points from your brain dump and make them into a concise to-do list.

Read over what you wrote. Was there anything in particular you wrote about a lot?

For example, if you realize that you wrote down a lot of things you have to do, then you’ll know that the week ahead may be a bit on the busy-side. Take some time here to write a list of all the tasks you need to get done.

If you notice that you wrote down a lot of worries or anxieties you have about the coming week, take time here to analyze why you’re feeling anxious and if there’s anything you can do about it. Is it because of one particular task? If so, spend time here breaking that task up into smaller chunks on your to-do list. Is it just general anxiety you have about the week? If so, I suggest checking out my free Anxiety Handbook to help you get a better idea of why you have this underlying anxious feeling.

You should spend a good chunk of time on this. The more organized and thorough your to-do list is, the more clarity and focus you’ll have in the coming week.

Productive Habit # 3 – Write down your intentions

This is different from your to-do list because it’s not about tasks you have to get done, it’s about ways you want to feel.

Spend some time clearly stating to yourself how you want to feel next week. 

Do you want to feel productive and motivated? If so, then figure out what you could do to help you feel this way and make sure that it’s on your to-do list (for example – dedicating 30 minutes each day to working on your passion project).

Perhaps, however, you want to feel calm and at peace. If so, you may want to think about replacing a certain task on your to-do list with a self-care strategy. Is there any task that can wait until the following week to get done in order to make room for some “you-time”?

If you need help getting clear on how you want to truly feel, then check out my Dream Life Goal Planner. I created this planner to help guide you in finding out what your true desires are so that you better understand how you can accomplish them. This is something that’s quite difficult to do on your own, so I highly recommend getting some guidance on it!

Productive Habit #4 – Make a schedule

Now that you’ve written your to-do list and you’ve set your intentions for the week, it’s time to combine both of those into a master schedule.

I like to begin writing my schedule from the most important task to the least important task rather than writing it out Monday to Friday. This allows me to make sure that my priority tasks get into the best time slot (therefore making it more likely I get them done!).

Remember – when scheduling your tasks, make sure to keep your intentions in mind.

For example: if my intention was to feel at peace, my most important tasks may be to exercise and to spend time doing something I love. I would therefore schedule these tasks FIRST, and I would put them in priority spots (like Tuesday afternoon when I know I’m free).

Productive Habit #5 – Plan your meals

This is something that I used to struggle with quite a bit. Instead of planning my meals in advance, I would always hem and haw trying to decide what I felt like eating in the moment. This just doubled my time in the kitchen.

So recently, I’ve made a point of setting aside 30 minutes each Sunday to plan my meals for the upcoming week. I usually do this in the early afternoon so that I have enough time to pop into the grocery store if I realize I need to buy something

Planning your meals in advance may sound like a bit of a boring chore, but honestly, you’ll be SO thankful each time lunch rolls around and you don’t have to put any brain power into making a decision!

Productive Habit #6 – Plan out your content

If you’re anything like me, you probably spend a LOT more time than you should deciding what to do in your free time (especially during your evenings!). You may know that you want to read, but you may not know what to read. And you may know that you want to watch a TV show, but you may not know what TV show.

There’s a lot of choice out there – and it can be overwhelming.

To combat this, I’ve started using my Sunday to plan out all the content I want to consume during the week. 

This means planning out:

• Books to read
• Articles to read
• Podcasts to listen to
• TV shows to watch
• Movies to watch

It may sound a little silly planning out what movies you want to watch, but it’ll save you tons of time scrolling through the never-ending feed on Netflix!

Productive Habit #7 – Go over your finances

We can sometimes go a bit overboard on our spending during the weekend. That’s why taking some time out of your Sunday to look at your bank account(s) and make sure you’re on the right track is a good plan. 

If you’ve been a bit heavy on the spending, know that you’ll need to tighten up in the week to come. Is there anything you were planning on buying that you could postpone until next payday?

If your finances are looking good, rest assured that in the coming week you’ll have some nice wiggle room to spend a little extra cash! Maybe you can treat yourself and go out to your favourite restaurant on your lunch break. Or maybe you can order that thing that’s been sitting in your Amazon shopping cart for ages!

Productive Tip #8 – Clean

Okay, this one’s pretty self-explanatory. 

We all know that Sunday’s cleaning day. And as much as you may not want to clean, get it into your head that spending an hour doing the dishes and getting a load of laundry done will drastically cut down your worries during the week. 

My tip? Turn on your favourite podcast while you clean to make it seem a bit less suck-y (or check out this article on how cleaning is a form of mindfulness to develop a new appreciation for it!).

Productive Habit # 9 – Catch up on messaging people

The craziness of the weekend can sometimes make us forget to respond to people over text or email. I myself have a bad habit of waiting to reply to people until the “perfect time” when I’m “fully available” – but that never seems to happen!

Instead of letting people hang, try using Sunday as a correspondence catch-up day. Reply to anyone who’s reached out to you during the week and spend some time calling/texting anyone you haven’t heard from for a while. It’ll only take a few minutes, and it’ll make you feel so much better before getting caught up in your own life during the workweek!

Productive Habit #10 – Make time for self-care 

We can’t forget about self-care.

Sunday evenings are the perfect time to set aside an hour (or let’s be honest – two or three) to engage in all things self-care. Switch your phone off, get into something comfy, and take some serious you-time before the week begins. If you want some ideas on where to start, check out these 100 self-care ideas – you’ll have plenty to choose from!

Feeling productive is probably one of the best ways to boost your mental health and make you feel more fulfilled (therefore happier!). That’s why I’ve dedicated a lot of my time to figuring out ways I can be more productive each day.

It took me quite a bit of time to learn these secrets, but it doesn’t have to take that long for you. I created my Productivity Secrets and Goal Planner to share with you ALL my top productivity tips and guide you in incorporating them into your routine.

You can get it all right here, so there’s no need to spend time searching for all this on your own. All you have to do? Sign up and get started!

We humans are a productive species, and that means that we need to do things in order to feel fulfilled. In fact, a recent study found that the more busy a person is, the happier they are!

So what does this mean for us?

It means that we should think of increasing our productivity as a worthy goal – not only for the sake of ticking things off our to-do list – but also for our happiness in general!

That’s why I’ve decided to round up 16 of my best, most effective productivity tips to share with you. So get those pencils ready, ’cause after you’re done here, you’re going to be ticking a whole lot of stuff off that list of yours!

Disclaimer: products on this page may contain affiliate links. We only promote products that we think are super awesome and will provide value to you! You can read more about our terms here.

1. Create a morning routine

We may not all be morning people, but research shows that there’s a direct correlation between how early a person wakes up and how successful they tend be. This is because of a couple reasons:

First of all, the earlier we wake up, the more time we have to spend doing healthy morning habits. These habits will then set the tone for the rest of our day. Some examples include:

• Writing stream of consciousness
• Stretching
• Mindfully drinking our coffee/tea
• Writing down things we’re grateful for
• Repeating positive affirmations to ourselves

On top of this, waking up early also means that we’ll have more hours in our day to get things done. Once we finish our healthy morning habits, we can just get straight to work (even before most people have waken up yet!).

2. Group easier tasks together and get them done first 

Here’s a good rule to follow: if it can take you 5-10 minutes to do, just do it (I promise this isn’t a Nike advert!).

Take a couple minutes (in your morning!), to list all the quick and easy tasks you need to get done – whether it’s responding to an email, calling someone back, or even unloading the dishwasher. These are super easy things to do, but if you keep putting them off, they pile up, and that’s when they start to get overwhelming.

Plus, when you do these quick tasks first thing, it’ll get you in the “get stuff done zone”. Once you start doing even the simplest of tasks, you’ll be surprised to see how motivated you are to keep going!

3. Do your most dreaded task right away

We all have that ONE task on our to-do list that we keep putting off because we just don’t wanna do it.

Whether it’s a big time-consuming project or just one little chore that we shiver at the thought of actually doing (returning a phone call that makes you uncomfortable, perhaps?) – you just have to get it done.

The easiest way to do this? Get it done first thing in the – you guessed it – morning! After you’ve done a few of your small tasks, get the cringe-worthy one done and dusted and OUT of your mind (and enjoy how amazing it feels after you do so!).

4. Write everything down on paper

Sunday is great for so many things – movie nights, roast dinners, and planning out your next week!

Spend some time on Sunday evening listing all the things you want to get done in the following week. But here’s the catch – leave your computer and your phone turned off. Instead, write it all down on – GASP – physical paper!

Okay, in all seriousness, writing things down on paper rather than on your electronic devices has SO many benefits (as this article does a great job explaining). For me, the biggest benefit is being able to physically cross everything out when I accomplish it – there’s no better feeling in the world, I swear. 

And lucky for you, my Goal Planner was designed to help you with just this! I created this planner to guide you in getting clear on your goals so that you can break them up into smaller tasks to do throughout your day. It’s a fantastic resource for helping you take charge of your daily habits so that you can manage stress much better!

5. Don’t hesitate

Shout out to all my fellow procrastinators out there! Okay, this is one tip that I struggle following the most, but it’s also one of the most important ones (funny how it always seems to work like that!).

When we look down at our to-do list (handwritten on paper of course!), it can be overwhelming to see everything we have to get done. Often when this happens, we have this funny little habit of doing nothing at all rather that just doing something!

This is called procrastination, but I like to call it inaction. Why? Because it has the solution right there in the word – ACTION!

Honestly, just start doing something. I promise, once you do, you’ll get in the zone.

6. Eat healthy

If you want to be productive, there are 3 key times during the day you’re gonna want to pay special attention to:

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner (okay, let’s be honest – snack time too!).

What you put inside your body is going to make all the difference with how many things you’re able to get done throughout the day. Food is fuel, and your body and mind need fuel to be able to focus hard and work harder (if you want more insider tips and tricks on how to incorporate healthy eating habits into your daily routine, I suggest heading on over to my website and checking out my Design Your Anxiety-Free Life course!).

7. Take breaks

We’re all human, and that means we can’t be operating on superdrive all day long.

No matter how overwhelming your to-do list may seem, you MUST take breaks. Not only will it give your mind and body a much-needed rest, but it will also allow you to be more productive when you start back up again!

Schedule in advance small chunks of time throughout your day that you will dedicate to doing something that isn’t work.

Now, as much as our phones and the TV remote may be tempting, I advise against just flipping on a screen. Instead, the best thing to do on your breaks is something that rests you but also charges you. These things include:

• Reading a book
• Stretching/working out
• Spending time in nature
• Doing something creative
• Listening to an inspirational podcast
• Cleaning (yup, I said it! But honestly, you’d be surprised at what epiphanies you can have about your work while washing the dishes!)

8. Get in some exercise

Exercise is like the cousin of eating healthy – and you need the help of both these cousins if you want to get stuff done during the day! 

Working out is such an underrated component when it comes to being productive. I can’t stress this enough – if you want to feel motivated and productive, you need to get moving!

Whether it’s a stroll down your street, a quick yoga session, or even just a 5-minute stretch in your office – any and every form of physical activity is going to be your saving grace during your working day (which my Habit Tracker will help you stay on top of doing!).

9. Group similar tasks together 

This is what many people would call a productivity “hack”. Why? Because it’s a super easy yet not very well-known tip that only THE most successful people do (which will soon be YOU!).

When you’re planning out what you want to get done during your day, try as best you can to schedule similar activities in during the same time frame. For example, let’s say you have a lot of correspondence to do (phone calls, emails, texts) – schedule those in for one time block. If you have a bunch of cleaning that needs to get done, schedule each cleaning task in another block together.

When you do this, you’re allowing your brain to stay in similar “zones” as it does similar tasks. This means that you’ll spend less mental energy “switching” from one task to another completely unrelated task.

10. Break up bigger, daunting tasks into smaller chunks

This one is for that MONSTER on your to-do list (you know that one I’m talking about!). In order to defeat the beast, you gotta take it in chunks.

Instead of focusing on the WHOLE task, break it up into 3, 4, 5, or as many smaller tasks as it requires. Separate each task on your to-do list so that your brain just thinks of them as small, not-so-daunting tasks. 

11. Focus on one thing at a time

You have a million things to do. I know. I totally get it. But the only way you’ll get everything done is when you work on One. Thing. At. A. Time.

Whenever I have a never-ending to-do list, I tend to lose focus on one task because I’m thinking about that other thing I need to do, and that other other thing I need to do. I have to constantly remind myself that this way of thinking is NOT helping me – in fact, it’s distracting me from doing what I need to do!

Just take it one step at a time. You’ll get to everything. Don’t worry.

12. Have a good organizational system in place

If you’re anything like me, then you naturally have about TEN different places where you keep all your thoughts and notes organized (email, Google Grive, Dropbox, Microsoft Word, notes on my phone, notes in my notebook etc etc…). This is no way to be, and it will just end up adding more time to each of your tasks.

One of the best decisions I ever made in terms of my productivity was to streamline my organizational system. How did I do it? One word: Evernote. 

Evernote has been an amazing help in keeping all my many (MANY) thoughts organized an in their place. Honestly, if you haven’t already, I recommend downloading it (it’s totally free!).

13. Minimize distractions

Social media is great way to connect with people. It’s also a great way to lose FOCUS.

I, along with many of you I’m sure, have often fallen into the trap of taking a “five minute break” that turns into me scrolling down my Facebook newsfeed for HALF AN HOUR (I swear that social media distorts the time-space continuum).

My best advice to you? Switch your devices off. Your friends can wait, you can upload photos later, and you definitely don’t need to see who posted the latest vacay pic.

I know that this can be difficult to do on your own, but there are some super helpful apps out there that can help you out with this.

14. Get enough sleep

Who could say no to some extra Zz’s?!

Just like eating healthy and exercising, sleep is another vital function that our body NEEDS in order to be in tip-top condition to get things done.

If you struggle getting enough sleep, then I recommend you check out my Free Anxiety Handbook. In it, I share one super effective relaxation technique that works absolute wonders in helping you fall asleep easier and faster!

15. Say ‘no’ sometimes

One of the biggest things that has helped me focus more on the important things is learning the art of saying ‘no’.

It can be difficult to tell people that two-letter word, but honestly, once you learn how to, it’ll be a total game-changer. Whether it’s taking on more responsibilities at work, running some errands for your family, or doing a favour for your friend – you are always allowed to say ‘no’.

People will understand if you just explain the truth – “I’m really sorry, I won’t be able to do this for you because I have a lot of pressing things I need to get done but I’ll be happy to do it [insert time when you’re free]”.

16. Realize that the world will go on if you don’t get everything done

Go easy on yourself. If you don’t get everything on your to-do list done, it’s okay. You’ll survive. The world will go on.

You need to work through your to-do list with less of a “I-need-to-get-everything-done-OR-ELSE!” mentality and more of a “I-just-have-to-work-through-this-step-by-step” mentality. All is good, all is well.

You’ll get it done.

If you want more help crushing your to-do list and living a stress-free life, then check out my Productivity Secrets and Goal Planner! In it, I’ll be giving you worksheets and planners that guide you in structuring your day in a way that works for your schedule and aligns with your goals!