For those of us that work from home, sometimes it can he harder to stay motivated and focused on our tasks at hand. Here a few productivity hacks that work for us that I wanted to share.

1. Wake up early — I know, everyone says this, but I promise you it it key to be successful while working from home. Josh and I get up at 5:30 am, even though we don’t have an office we have to be to. It gets our bodies and minds ready to take on whatever the day will bring.
2. Make you bed — this is the easiest thing you can do in the morning to already get your brain’s reward center fed. It takes about 30 seconds and gives you an instant feeling of satisfaction.
3. Hit the gym or do some sort of physical activity — Josh and I hit the gym for a quick 30–45 minute workout. This really helps us get the juices flowing in the morning. I love doing spin classes in the morning because it keeps me accountable, plus I love group workout classes. If you haven’t done them, I highly recommend them.
4. Quiet time — I spend about 10–20 minutes in the morning having my quiet time with my devotions and in prayer. This gives me that extra boost of confidence that I need to tackle anything in my way. If you want to get started with this I suggest ‘Jesus Calling’ book.
5. Hit lists — I call my ToDo lists hit lists because it makes them sound more deadly and important. We both create high level lists of what we want to tackle that day. Usually consists of 3–5 things. From there we take one and break it down further into actionable items. I love doing this on good old pen and paper giving my much satisfaction when crossing things off.
6. Intermittent fasting — okay now this is something that I just do and I absolutely swear by it. This is a 14–16 hour fast. I will start at 8pm and go till about 12pm or 1pm the next day. For me I find that I am able to focus better because I know I can’t eat until 12 therefor I don’t need to think about it, therefor clearing up mind space for me to focus on my task at hand.
7. Take breaks — for those of us working from home taking breaks can be easier. Josh and I take breaks around 3 / 4 ish to go for a run. We live on a running path which we take full advantage of. It is a great escape for our brains to be able to get fresh air and escape the blue glow of our computer screens. If you aren’t a runner, go walking! When I was working in an office I would take planking breaks. 1–2 minute break to just focus on something other than my work.
8. Treat YO self — For me its with coffee. I love making different types of coffee and when I finish my first couple of tasks ( depending on level of difficulty ) I will treat myself to a little break where I go and make myself a latte. It is something so small and simple but I find myself looking forward to it at the beginning of my day.
9. Happiness folder — Okay, you are probably thinking WHAT THE HECK is a happiness folder!?! This is a folder that you keep on your desktop where you keep snapshots of compliments you have received from others. Sometimes we can get in a funk where our code isn’t working or we feel that a particular task is taking too long that we forget that we are rockstars. When we start feeling negativity about ourselves you just open up this folder and look at all the great compliments you have received. It is a great way to just give yourself a little boost and back onto the productivity train.
10. Have FUN — find enjoyment in the work that you are doing. We have all been in jobs that we hate but it is our jobs to find the fun in it. For instance, I used to work at an agency and everyone there seemed to HATE doing WordPress sites. For me, I loved seeing how fast I could create the templates and how much of the process I could automate. It became a game to me. I started telling the other developers and we started to see who could automate the most and make the sites the fastest. It turned what could have been a boring job into a fun and friendly competition.