Throughout my experience so far of working online, I have found some tips that I think would have been helpful to know back when I was first starting out. Some of these may feel like basic knowledge, but I have found that just knowing versus putting something into practice are two completely different things.

 I have separated the tips into two categories, External tips; external things that affect your work. And Internal Tips: things that can be down from within your device to boost your work productivity.

External

A lot of outside factors can have an affect on both the quality and quantity of your work. For many of these factors, we actually can have a bit of control on whether they affect us in a negative or positive way. Here are a few examples of things that can be monitored and controlled to help boost work productivity.

• Comfortable Work Environment – This is one that you hear a lot when you first start out, but one that cannot be taken for granted. Having a comfortable and relaxing work environment really makes or breaks how you perceive work and ultimately will affect the overall outcome of your work performance. Making sure that you can feel comfortable in your work environment is key to working online.
  • You can find out more about creating your work environment at my post “Building your Remote Office”.

• Set a schedule / daily goals – Making sure that you set a schedule or daily goals can help immensely in boosting your work productivity. I know that I will sometimes forget to do something if I don’t write it down. I have also found that by writing down what I want/need to get done that day, that I become more motivated to finish what is left to do. As well as setting a schedule, if you know you are going to be working from a set time then it can help make it easier to focus during it. Both of these also help prevent you from overworking, which brings me to my next point.

• Take Breaks – Making sure that you take breaks is extremely important. Not only can you get extreme mental fatigue from staring at a screen all day, but you also can get restless from sitting down all day. Making sure that you take breaks will be overall beneficial to both your mental and physical health. 

• Active Lifestyle – One thing about working online is that you can be as “lazy” as you want. If you can make money while lying in your bed then there isn’t much reason to get out of it right? Wrong. Since you will most likely be sitting or lying down for a majority of your workday, you need to take extra care in having an active lifestyle. Not getting up and moving around can have extremely negative affects on your physical and mental health which can lead to a poor work performance. Making sure you get enough exercise through-out the day can not only keep you healthy, but improve your work performance.

• Get Enough Rest – Mentally & Physically – This is tied in with taking breaks. Just with breaks, you need to make sure that your body is getting both enough physical and mental rest. That means having a full 8 hours of sleep or listening to your body when it is fatigued. By doing this you can help ensure you have the energy that is needed to perform your tasks during your work day. Speaking of energy,

• Proper Nutrition – Proper nutrition is extremely important not only in life, but for your work performance. By ensuring that you are meeting your required daily nutritional intake, you help ensure a positive foundation from which to build your day on. Making sure you are well feed and hydrated can help but you in a positive mood which pretty much always as a positive effect on your work.

• Proper Posture – This is another “common” knowledge one, but one that is so often overlooked. Making sure you have a proper sitting posture is absolutely key to having a positive work week. Over time a bad posture will not only affect the way you sit but can affect your mood and your health. Making sure that you are sitting/standing in a proper posture during your work day will have an immense affect on the outcome of your work in the long run.

• Learn new skills – Skill websites – I think that one of the best things that you can do for yourself, is invest in yourself. We are super fortunate to live in a time where knowledge is so readily available and now starting to be cheaper than ever. There are a lot of websites out there that you can take online courses to further your education. From courses to become a yoga teacher to one’s teaching WordPress, there is practically no limit now to what you can learn. Some sites require you to pay a membership, some are by course, and some are free. I think that gaining new knowledge is the greatest tip I can give you for working and building a business online.
  • Check out my post ” Top Course/Learning Websites for Online Business Skills (Free and Paid)” to learn more!

Internal

Just as a lot of external factors affect our work, a lot of things that are done from within the device we are working on can be used to help boost our work productivity.

• Keep Everything Organized – Making sure that you keep everything organized is going to be a big help if you ever need to refer back to something or to get a paperwork or document.
  • Desktop – Having a clean desktop can help in streamlining your thought process and making your work more efficient.
  • Folders – As with folders, try to keep the clutter to a minimum. Make folders for corresponding content and make sure that all files are labeled and in the correct folders. This will help when looking for a file or document.

• Do Taxes Quarterly – For the most part, when working online, you will be working as a freelancer and filing your taxes under a form 1040 Self- Employed. By doing this quarterly you help minimize the amount of work that has to be done and it just helps to keep things tidier and more efficient.

• Record All Transactions – This is a very important one, make sure you have all your transactions recorded. This will help in case of any disputes that might occur as well as during filing time.

• Keep Track of Records – Another necessary on is to keep track of all your records. You are your own business now so that includes having the responsibility of keeping records, this includes payments, taxes, purchases, etc. By keeping records, you help protect yourself in case of a dispute as well as having the peace of mind of being able to find important information if you so needed.

• Have Back Ups – Keeping track of all of these files and keeping them organized wouldn’t mean anything if the data got lost. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, the recommended move would be to back up all data so in case of an emergency, you still have it. This is extremely important since some of those documents could be related to taxes, etc.

Those are the top tips and tricks for working online and improving your work flow that I have learned so far. I hope that you enjoyed these and that they helped in boosting your work productivity!

Thanks for reading!