Why Is It Important?
Some might think that being a freelancer or working from home is an easy task. There is nothing as hard as that. Many people even stop working for the first few weeks as freelancers because they depend on themselves entirely. They have to ensure that their devices are well and safe. That is their motivation, and so, they should figure out how and where to store their information. The lack of safety may harm the productivity of a person significantly. We've gathered a few tools to help you navigate in a new path or improve your current working process.
Device Performance
Security
Security is the first important aspect to consider. Having good antivirus software is crucial to ensuring that your working progress is not gone one day or that the device won't malfunction when you need it the most. We suggest using PC Matic antivirus or Avast antivirus, for example. If you are ready to invest in a higher performance, think about buying a paid package.
Privacy
Another quite annoying feature that many people often ignore is privacy. This element is essential. After all, the worst thing would be to allow other people to track or re-use your work, mainly if you use public Wi-Fi, or not being able to access a needed resource because you are in the other country. You may prefer NordVPN or CyberGhost as some of the great picks.
Speed and lightness
If you use your PC for work, you likely need it working at its maximum capacity. Even the most motivated person will be demotivated if the PC slows down. To avoid such anxious moments, you may choose the apps that clean your computer or boost its work. Our favorite ones are Piriform CCleaner that finds all the junk files and Ashampoo WinOptimizer that also aims at the optimization of your device based on settings.
Self-organization
The cornerstone of a person working from home is a skill of self-control. It is really tempting to spend your time on something more entertaining than your duties, especially when there is no one to control you. Similarly, some of us simply can’t focus on something for a long time. The age of the Internet has brought us some problems, but it also has given us solutions.
Time-management
There are hundreds of apps and tools that boost your time-management. You may want to search through many of them, depending on your needs and preferences. We like RescueTime because it helps to track which websites the user spends the most time. Toggle analyzes the time spent on particular tasks, which is great if you work on various projects simultaneously.
Focus
This aspect is different: even if you don’t use social media while working, you still may feel tuned out by many outside triggers. If you hate external sounds and need something to keep you on track, you may choose Noisli or Focus@Will. Some people, however, feel stressed because of the lack of organization in their lives. Focus Booster is the app based on the Pomodoro technique and helps you to reduce anxiety quite efficiently.
Notes and Reminders
If you need a place for making lists, but using paper is not your cup of tea, or it is merely uncomfortable, opt for the virtual versions. They are as effective, but you can’t forget them. We admire Wunderlist for its pleasant and simple design, as well as its functions. It helps to sort the lists depending on the categories and also sends you reminders if you set it to do so. Any.do is a tool for planning your day, work, and even a grocery list, and it also comes with reminders. Other impressive tools are Sticky Notes, Scrbl, and Simplenote.
Social
Internal communication
Keeping in touch with clients or colleagues is hard. We have to admit that using social media is not the most excellent idea because it destroys the borders between personal and professional. It is also not entirely secure. For internal communication, there are different, more business-related, and secured channels. You may probably know Slack, one of the best business communication tools that are popular among remote teams. You may also try Skype, though it is not as popular as it was before. Alternatively, HipChat connects to Google Docs, and this feature is handy.
Group work
If you have to coordinate your work with others, you may need additional help, aside from texting and file sharing. Maybe you need to provide detailed information about the time spent while working. Freelance helps a user to know for which time to bill the clients and manage your schedule. Perhaps you'll like OfficeTime, the app for tracking group and individual tasks, and creating reports. The last cool option is DeskTime that helps you as a leader to monitor the number of hours your co-workers and employees spent on work or other distracting apps or websites.
Final Thoughts
We hope that the article was helpful. We divided the main issues that people who work at home may have to show that there are really not so many of them. Remember to download only the useful apps and delete the ones that didn’t work for you. Besides, don’t forget to remind yourself that many people faced similar issues and succeeded. And so will you.
No comments:
Post a Comment