Home Office Time Management: 9 Essential Tips

Originally published May 8th, 2023

Effective time management is critical when working from home, not just for the individual’s job performance but also for the success of remote work as a viable option for everyone. Without proper time management when at home, productivity can suffer, leading to missed deadlines, decreased quality of work, and increased stress. 

Additionally, if remote work is seen as an ineffective way of working due to collectively poor time management, companies may be less likely to offer it as an option, limiting flexible and remote work opportunities for everyone. By effectively managing time while working remotely, individuals can demonstrate the value of remote work and ensure that it remains a viable option for everyone in the future.

What Makes Time Management When Working from Home Challenging

Time management when working from home can be extremely challenging due to a variety of factors: 

1. Distractions at home, such as family members, pets, television, and household chores,  can take up blocks of time and break focus.
2. Without a defined separation between work and personal life, it can be difficult to establish a routine or schedule, leading to poor time management.
3. Without proper performance metrics in place, it can be easy to incorrectly estimate the amount of time work takes, resulting in procrastination and missed deadlines. 
4. The lack of visual cues that you would have in a shared office can make it hard to get motivated to start or return to work. 
5. Having more autonomy can make it harder to create your own structured schedule. 
6. Working remotely can make it difficult to switch off from work and take necessary breaks, which give you time to recharge. 
7. Many who have a home office also use their office for another purpose, like a bedroom. This makes it immensely more difficult to have a separate space for work and another for rest.

We’ve compiled a list of tested tips and strategies to help address these obstacles to effective time management when working from home. 

Tips for Time Management When Working from Home 

Time management skills are not necessarily something that are easy to come by. All of these individual tips will take effort to implement. The good part about them, though, is that as a remote worker, by implementing one of them, each of them becomes easier to implement, allowing you to snowball your productivity when working remotely.

1. Minimize Distractions

Create a designated workspace that is as free as possible from household distractions or interruptions, such as a separate office or a spot in a room that is not used during working hours by other family members. Using noise-canceling headphones or playing background music can also help block out external noise. Turning off email, muting unnecessary phone calls, and social media notifications during work hours can reduce interruptions and keep the focus on work-related tasks. Website blockers or distraction-free writing tools can also help you stay on task and minimize distractions. 

2. Create a Work Schedule

In the absence of an externally-imposed schedule, create your own. Plan your work-from-home day and week to include all your meetings, tasks, and other obligations. Color coding your schedule can be a helpful strategy to give you a visual representation of how much time you spend on each type of activity. This can help you identify which types of activities you could adjust to make your schedule more balanced. 

For example, take a look at what one of my days looks like when working from home. The color blue is for focused work, orange is for meetings, and purple is for personal time or breaks. Having a designated daily schedule allows me to preemptively know what my commitments are – all I have to do is stick to the schedule.

3. Time Blocking

Time blocking involves scheduling specific blocks of time for different tasks, ensuring that each task is given the appropriate amount of attention and focus. By allocating time to tasks in advance, you avoid wasting time deciding what to do next, and you can also ensure that you have enough time for important tasks without neglecting others. This technique can also help break down large projects into smaller, more manageable tasks, making them less overwhelming. Time blocking integrates quite seamlessly with a daily schedule; just make sure you include some time for midday breaks here and there.

4. Rely on Rituals 

Rituals are routines that can help establish a sense of structure and order in the day. For example, starting the day with a specific morning routine, such as exercise, meditation, or making a cup of coffee, can help set the tone for the day and transition from personal to work time. Taking short, regular breaks throughout the day for stretching, going for a walk, or having a healthy snack can also help refresh your mind and stay focused. Having a ritual for ending the workday, such as shutting down the computer or going for a walk, can help you create a clear separation between work and personal life. These rituals help establish boundaries and prioritize tasks, ultimately leading to better time management and increased productivity. 

5. Prioritize Tasks 

Setting only a few priorities to work on in a day can be an effective way to manage time and increase productivity. By focusing on a small number of key tasks, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed and can give each task the attention it deserves. This approach can also help prioritize your work and ensure that you are focusing on the most important tasks first. For additional accountability, share these priorities asynchronously in a team Slack channel. 

6. Monotask

Monotasking means focusing on one task at a time until it’s completed. It sounds simple—just work on one thing at a time! And yet, the temptation to multitask can be tough to resist. 

Here are a few simple steps you can take to make it easier to focus:

1️⃣ Choose one task to focus on. Not two. And definitely not five. 

🪟 Open the apps and browser windows that are directly related to that task. 

📵 Close all other apps and browser windows. Don’t leave anything open that is unrelated to your specific task!

🔕 Mute or disable your notifications. 

✅ Focus on that one task until it’s completed. 

🔁 Repeat. 

The more you practice monotasking, the easier it will be to minimize distractions and preserve your energy and focus. If there is one time management tip to emphasize, it is this – learn how to monotask. Multi-tasking is not something that the vast majority of humans find easy to do, especially when working remotely.

7. Use a Time Budget 

A time budget tracks the time that’s left in the day and the time it will take to accomplish each work task you have to do. A time budget can help with time management when working from home because it forces you to acknowledge the limits of the time you have on a given day. Learn more about what a time budget is here. 

8. Deep Work 

Deep work is a concept coined by author and professor Cal Newport in his book “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.” It refers to the ability to focus without distraction on cognitively demanding tasks. Deep work involves intense concentration, working for extended periods without interruption, and pushing oneself beyond their cognitive limits. We dive deeper into deep work and the benefits of it in a separate article.

9. Use Your Tools

Utilizing project management tools, to-do lists, and calendars can be an effective way to stay organized and manage time when working remotely. Project management tools, such as ClickUp, can help organize tasks, assign deadlines, and track progress. To-do lists, either physical or digital, can be a great way to keep track of tasks that need to be completed, prioritize them, and indicate completion. Calendars can help individuals plan and schedule tasks, meetings, and events, ensuring that they don’t forget important dates or overlap their schedule. Whatever tools you use, use them to identify your priorities, allocate time to complete tasks, and adjust your schedule as needed. 

Remote workers face unique challenges when managing time due to the lack of structure and boundaries that come with working from home. However, by utilizing effective time management techniques such as the ones listed here, remote workers can overcome these challenges and thrive in their work. 

How Workplaceless Can Help You Manage Your Time More Effectively

If you want to learn more about how to manage your time effectively while working remotely, sign up for the Workplaceless Remote Work Certification course. This course offers comprehensive training and tools to help you develop the skills and strategies necessary to excel in a remote work environment. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to take your remote work skills to the next level. Sign up now!

Or, if you’re more interested in learning the best ways to function within a remote team, our Hybrid Team Success Toolkit can help you to develop crucial async and remote-first skills, all while the Workplaceless team gives you step-by-step guidance through overview videos.